Fries of the Future
npr.org
npr.org
[0] http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/19-mcdonalds-broke-my...
You'll find they are nothing special.
Back when I was in Illinois I remember Portillo’s fries had a particularly fatty and delicious taste, I wonder if they also fry in beef tallow?
[1] - https://blog.cheapism.com/why-mcdonalds-fries-used-to-be-bet...
Mass produced, highly engineered consumables occupy an interesting aesthetic & historical space where a particular experience could be shared by tens or hundreds of millions for decades and then disappear forever in a matter of months.
McDonald’s, among others, exploits this phenomenon with the McRib.
Moreover, nutrition is a lot more complex than "fad in, fad out". The subcutaneous fat of an animal can hold some pretty toxic stuff -- that's kind of its purpose. It wasn't a scare, people were just missing nuance and still more research needs to be done.
This reads like post-hoc rationalization about the claim (scare) that saturated fat causes heart disease, because that's what the scare was about. As far as toxins in fat goes, the primary toxin that I've seen discussed is dioxin and that scare tactic is sorely missing nuance.
This is the moment I decide I'm absolutely done battling nerds who think that because they understand computers (usually badly) they understand everything about complex metabolic processes. The lack of humility is seriously mind-boggling.
There's a scientific consensus that you understand nothing about. People spend their lives on this stuff. Recommendations have certainly changed as new information came out -- we also discovered iodine and B vitamins -- but is there any government agency in the Western world that recommends a high-lard diet? If not I think you're batting out of your league.
Not that this absolutely needs to be said, but lard isn't pure saturated fat, and the unrendered fat of an animal is an organ.
Just buy a big potatoe, cut it into thin strips. Place it on a regular dinner plate. Add seasoning. Microwave for 5 minutes.
Take out, shuffle the strips around, add oil (regular olive oil works fine) and normal, non-processed cheese. Microwave for another 3 minutes. Its done when you can poke a fork through the fry without any resistance.
Total prep time: about 10 minutes.
Costco sells Ore-Ida "Fast Food" frozen fries that have a coating on them. I hate them. You drop them on the pan for baking and your fingers get oily. They are supposed to come out crispy, and the best I can say is that they don't come out limp & soggy.
I'd much rather have fries au naturel. No coatings - just the sliced potatoes, deep-fried. And then a sprinkle of salt. Sam's Club sells a frozen waffle-cut fry that is pretty good.
McDonalds fries are actually cooked twice. And have a coating. They're briefly fried at the factory to keep them crispy, and then of course fried again at the restaurant just prior to selling them to you.
https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/mcdonalds-reveals-beloved-f...
Strangely, following this exact process results in a fantastic french fry made at home. I started doing this after reading about it in the Food Lab book by Kenji Lopez-Alt. Highly recommend that book btw.
I find it's worst with American McDonalds-style french fries - they're very thin, and steam themselves into a soggy mess very quickly, pretty much no-matter what happens.
Australian/English style chips seem to have a better longevity if they're cooked properly (double-fried, and a more developed golden colour than pale/white). The best chips for delivery are battered (light tempura style), although it's rare to find them. They remain crisp and crunchy even long after they've gotten cold.
Packaging is also a serious concern, too - plastics are right out, as steam will be trapped and condense on them much more rapidly - even if the packaging isn't closed tightly. Paper or cardboard are best. Foil can be okay as a backup option for a short period, if it's kept hot.
https://web.archive.org/web/20191121194422/https://www.npr.o...
Years ago I daydreamed about this problem (it was never a serious endeavor but fun to think about). I’d thought the key would be to make a cheap container that optimized for crispness. Maybe something that absorbed moisture but had a reflective inner coating to insulate and keep the heat.
Anyway, it’s always fun to read about more-serious folks who tackle the same problems and find good solutions!
I'm sure we've all had soggy fries before in the US so its not a new problem isolated to fast food delivery...
According to this, only Alaska is currently allowed to sell fresh potatoes to China. https://www.potatopro.com/news/2019/united-states-potato-ind...
But here goes...
Fries don't stay delicious very long. You get a couple minutes then they're blech. They don't work great out of drive-throughs, where you might take them home before eating, and now we have food delivery services where fries might sit 40 minutes before being eaten! Double blech.
This company made a coating for fries that makes them stay fresh for drive through service. That is old news. If you've had fries from fast food you've probably had these coated fries. People like them and don't know they're coated.
But that just covers a couple minutes... Could that company make a coating that keeps fries good for 40 minutes?
Awesome lady scientist says yes! Other people say no. Awesome lady scientist says, let's do it anyway!
They succeed. NPR Journalist does the Pepsi challenge on them - the fries are good. They're in the process of selling them to companies now.
Planet Money used to be a great source for learning about the economy but has recently become unlistenable. For example, I tried listening to their Halloween episode about recessions but gave up after ten minutes of bad jokes and audio "fluff".