Thursday, June 21, 2007
All Fried Up
In my recent post about steak 'n' chips, Ellie pointed me to a post written by Hungry in Hogtown who has been investigating chips fried in horse fat. Yep, you read that right, go and have a look, I'll wait.
Tap, tap, tap.
Okay, you're back. Did you notice the part where Rob claimed that McDonalds chips are perhaps the best ever, period? And he's not the only one either, a certain food fascist has made a similiar claim.
It looks like I'm a lonely beacon on a forlorn windswept coast, but I can't let those boasts pass idly by, because in my experience, homemade chips properly made beat Maccas fries hands down on all counts, taste, texture and staying crisp.
Just as a great wine starts in the vineyard, great chips start from the soil and from there, how they are handled has a huge bearing on the outcome. If you look closely at the photo of horse fat fried chips, you'll notice some very brown spots, rather than a uniform pale gold colour. That comes from potatoes that have been either held too long or not stored properly, causing some of the starch in the potato to turn to sugar, which then caramelizes quicker than starch at frying temperatures. Supermarkets are the biggest culprits with the way they handle their spuds, and for chips we never buy from them as we have been disappointed too many times.
Of course McDonalds know all that and take great care with their potatoes, which gives them a head start in making chips, but if you can source good potatoes from a specialist greengrocer that has a high turnover, you can certainly match Maccas potato quality.
Then comes the point about how McDonalds chips have a great flavour that originally came from being fried in animal fat, but is now achieved by adding flavour to the chips. I've been around a long time and certainly remember chips fried in animal fat and for sure they do have a different flavour to those fried in vegetable oil, but these days I prefer the cleaner taste of oil and the way it doesn't coat the tongue with grease. And I like my chips to have a creamy potato flavour.
Notice I wrote that McDonalds add flavour?
It's not the only thing they add either. If you make chips at home, there are only three ingredients - potatoes, oil and salt. Here's the ingredient list from McDonalds USA website.
That's nine separate ingredients if you don't count all the different oils they use and you probably noticed the word hydrogenated in reference to some of the oils, in other words, trans fat. Which is not the only problem with their chips either. Notice the words wheat and milk? No McDonalds fries for you if you're a celiac or vegan.
I won't repeat how I go about making chips, you can look here, or use the method Rob wrote about. But I will say, it does take a bit of practice to get them right, it's definitely not a matter of plonking them in hot oil and forgetting about them, especially if you want to keep your kitchen! But good home made chips are so worth it, go on try, you won't be disappointed.
Edited to add: If you live in Melbourne, you can source top quality russet potatoes from the Spud Sisters, Kerri & Catherine, who will deliver a ten or twenty kilo bag of them to your door for a very reasonable price, they also carry other varities, straight from the farm. The Potato Specialist at Prahran Market also carries russets from time to time.
Spud Sisters: Phone & fax 03 9503 4783, Mobile 0421 478 993
Tap, tap, tap.
Okay, you're back. Did you notice the part where Rob claimed that McDonalds chips are perhaps the best ever, period? And he's not the only one either, a certain food fascist has made a similiar claim.
It looks like I'm a lonely beacon on a forlorn windswept coast, but I can't let those boasts pass idly by, because in my experience, homemade chips properly made beat Maccas fries hands down on all counts, taste, texture and staying crisp.
Just as a great wine starts in the vineyard, great chips start from the soil and from there, how they are handled has a huge bearing on the outcome. If you look closely at the photo of horse fat fried chips, you'll notice some very brown spots, rather than a uniform pale gold colour. That comes from potatoes that have been either held too long or not stored properly, causing some of the starch in the potato to turn to sugar, which then caramelizes quicker than starch at frying temperatures. Supermarkets are the biggest culprits with the way they handle their spuds, and for chips we never buy from them as we have been disappointed too many times.
Of course McDonalds know all that and take great care with their potatoes, which gives them a head start in making chips, but if you can source good potatoes from a specialist greengrocer that has a high turnover, you can certainly match Maccas potato quality.
Then comes the point about how McDonalds chips have a great flavour that originally came from being fried in animal fat, but is now achieved by adding flavour to the chips. I've been around a long time and certainly remember chips fried in animal fat and for sure they do have a different flavour to those fried in vegetable oil, but these days I prefer the cleaner taste of oil and the way it doesn't coat the tongue with grease. And I like my chips to have a creamy potato flavour.
Notice I wrote that McDonalds add flavour?
It's not the only thing they add either. If you make chips at home, there are only three ingredients - potatoes, oil and salt. Here's the ingredient list from McDonalds USA website.
French Fries: Potatoes, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor (wheat and milk derivatives)*, citric acid (preservative), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent)), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil ((may contain one of the following: Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated corn oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness), dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent). *CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK (Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients.)
That's nine separate ingredients if you don't count all the different oils they use and you probably noticed the word hydrogenated in reference to some of the oils, in other words, trans fat. Which is not the only problem with their chips either. Notice the words wheat and milk? No McDonalds fries for you if you're a celiac or vegan.
I won't repeat how I go about making chips, you can look here, or use the method Rob wrote about. But I will say, it does take a bit of practice to get them right, it's definitely not a matter of plonking them in hot oil and forgetting about them, especially if you want to keep your kitchen! But good home made chips are so worth it, go on try, you won't be disappointed.
Edited to add: If you live in Melbourne, you can source top quality russet potatoes from the Spud Sisters, Kerri & Catherine, who will deliver a ten or twenty kilo bag of them to your door for a very reasonable price, they also carry other varities, straight from the farm. The Potato Specialist at Prahran Market also carries russets from time to time.
Spud Sisters: Phone & fax 03 9503 4783, Mobile 0421 478 993
Labels: chips
