February 15, 2019 • 36 mins
Fried potatoes in their many forms are one of the world’s most popular side dishes. (Or main dishes, we’re not judging.) Anney and Lauren explore the uncertain history and intense science of French fries.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello, and welcome to Savor. I'm Any and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum,
and today we're talking about French fries. I love French fries.
Oh yeah, They're a perfect food. Yeah, I agree, end
of episode, the perfect food. And I will say I
do love French fries, not just for the catchup now,
because I did used to eat them primarily for the
(00:30):
catchup for a while. I I was in Belgium for
a couple of months, and I would eat them every
day because they come in those cones like a little
paper cone. Yeah right, and you can find them everywhere,
every like on every street corner, and then in between
just fruits. And they have like twenty four sauces you
(00:51):
can choose from. I wanted to try every sauce um.
And recently we had our company holiday party. To save money,
we had it in January. I can admit this because
our boss admitted it, and also I learned it was
a real thing that a lot of companies are doing now,
having them kind of in the middle of January, Happy
(01:13):
New Year, Happy New times. But what I invited as
my plus one, one of my best friends, one of
the Katie's Oh yeah yeah, and it was supposed to
be the semi formal, and I had a suspicion because
our office isn't really semi formal. We're pretty casual. Yeah,
that no one would dress up for it. So I
(01:35):
came in address. But because it was happening right after
work in her office building, well it was happening at
like six thirty. I were a pretty late office though.
I don't know sure, Yeah, I feel like people are
still here at six thirty. But okay, So I show up,
no one is dressed up and the office in the
(01:55):
morning and I my friend is texting me and she's like,
should I dress up? And I said, well, it looks
like you'll be the only person that does apart from me,
so take your pick. And she shows up in a
shirt that like a black sweatshirt and jeans, and on
the black sweatshirt it says more exercise but exercise is
marked out and it says fries and has a big
(02:17):
picture of Frice on it. Yeah, and then it turns
out everyone went home and changed and came back and
she wasy mad at me, very very mad. She kept
bringing it up. She still brings it up. Um, sorry, Katie, Uh,
but people loved her shirt more than one person. Yeah,
it was a great shirt. Yeah. I don't think I
(02:39):
told her specifically, but Katie, if you're listening, it was
a quality shirt. It was uh. And also, if you
want to see proof of this, I posted a picture
on Instagram where she didn't like either. She also has
towels that say fries before guys. So perfect. She's wonderful.
(03:01):
When I was a kid, you said this McDonald's device.
Did you Did you ever have one of these? You
put a piece of white bread in there and you
spun the little thing on the side, and then it
would give you fry shaped pieces of bread like crank
out a little like. Oh no, no, I never never
had one of those. It was the most exciting thing.
It sounds so boring now, but I would just say
they're like whoa, and it tasted better somehow. Oh man,
(03:28):
I have so many fry stories. I tried to move
out of the US when the freedom fry thing happened.
Oh that would like that was the that was the
final Yeah, I will like my neighbor. Actually Katie's I
checked her mom into taking me to the airport because
I had a school trip. But I was just trying
to leave the country. How old were you o? My goodness, yeah,
(03:53):
the police didn't it didn't fly. But anyway, do you
have a favorite fry, Lauren? All of them which which
everyone is in my mouth at the time. Um uh, well,
one of my happy hour spots, it will serve you
fries with the side of kso dip, and I say
(04:13):
that that's pretty ultimate. Um. But my favorite in the
Atlanta area might be Leon's Indicator. I think they do
like a handcut duck fat fry. Real good. Um. I
still daydream though about Nathan's famous restaurant, like the hot
Dog restaurant, like back when they had handcut fries and
they would they do these really like thick crinkle fries.
(04:34):
Oh goodness, this is gonna be all long. This is
with a lot of cravings. At the end of this episode. Yeah, yeah,
behind the curtain, y'all, we're doing this topic and we're
also recording an episode about cocktails today and I'm it
was a craving filled week. Yes. Indeed, speaking of cravings,
if we're talking about fast food fries, I was always
a Zack s f person. You can get that extra
(04:56):
cagent sauce or I went through a big Arby's face.
It's kind of strange. Oh, I went to a Checkers
phase in college. I think that's kind of like fry,
like fry related. They're like fried cousins. Yeah, yeah, but
like McDonald's is just made of magic. I don't know
what it is. Yeah, well they do something special, because
(05:16):
I remember writing about it at one point in my life.
So there is something about we did that McDonald's episode.
I'm sure we probably mentioned it in there. I really like,
um Bocados fries in Atlanta. Great burger, great fries. Expensive
but worth it anyway. All this brings us to our
question here at last, fringe fries. What are they? Well, Um,
(05:43):
there are many styles of fry and many methods of
creating them, but at the root of the issue, we
are talking about slicing a potato lengthwise into sticks and
then deep frying those sticks and oil until they're crisp
and golden on the outside and cooked creamy on the inside.
And the golden color of Burger King's fries and most
(06:04):
likely McDonald's fries is due to a sugar solution that's
sprayed over the fries just before freezing and shipping them out.
To their restaurants. The sugar browns when frying, giving you
that golden hue, not caramelizes, though it's a different kind
of browning reaction. Yes, specific Well, we'll talk more about
that later. Supposedly, Okay, here it is McDonald's fries their
(06:26):
fries twice, the entire process taking about twenty minutes. That
is scientifically the better way to do fries. Again, again,
we will get into there's a long science section at
the end of this one guy, so so hold tight,
but related to science nutrition, yes, yes, well okay, so
(06:47):
so again, this is gonna vary based on the recipe
you're using, um and how much fry you're consuming. But
let's take, for example, a McDonald's medium sized fry, which
is about a hundred eventeen grahams or just over four
ounces of fries. For your average a two thousand calorie
a day diet, that's gonna account for just under twenty
(07:09):
of your daily caloric intake of your recommended carbs for
the day and of your recommended fats. So it's a
high calorie food. Yes. The good news is is that
there's a smattering of vitamins and minerals in there because
potatoes are rich and lots of stuff, so you know,
I don't know, just like deefrying things makes them delicious,
(07:30):
not really nutritious. Yeah, I'm hard pressed to think of
anything that's fried. It probably doesn't exist yet. And this
is another fun both words episode because, as I briefly
mentioned in our episode around, ranch fries are called chips
in the UK. Actually, a lot of listeners rode in
(07:51):
and solved my mystery that probably one of their letters
will show up in a listener mail, so so listen
out for that. But in most of the English speaking world,
there are two different words for thin cut fries and
thickly cut fries, which I sometimes confusingly see both labeled
as steak fries. Here in North America, we just add
(08:14):
an adjective to differentiate whether they be curly, thick, thin,
steak wedges, waffle, all kinds of fries. One of my
first memories of moving to the small town and for
the most part grew up in was eating at this
small Italian restaurant and getting the largest curly fry I've
ever seen. It was so big the staff came out
(08:34):
to look at it, like we were all staring at
this thing and I took it home as though I
was going to preserve it or keep it as a pet,
but I ate it, my resolved it and last very
long and uh. Speaking speaking of names for fries, though
um fries have a lot of them and a lot
of different preparations around the world. Right, French fries are
(08:56):
incredibly popular, one of the world's most loved sides. The
primary dipping sauces are ketchup, mayo or vinegar, but there
are so so, so many more. There's dishes like almost
out of Peru, steak frets and muscles with fries are
moul frets out of France, Fries with an egg on
top at the Belgium, fish and chips in the UK,
Potatos bras out of Spain, fries wrapped up in a
(09:18):
chicken peeda in the Middle East, topped with passabi powder
in Japan, and of course poutine are puttin out of Canada,
fries topped with brown gravy and cheese carts. YEP. When
I was in Canada a couple of years ago with
my parents who were staying, this tiny town called Tofino,
and I was determined to get some poutine for them
(09:41):
to try and this town is so small. There were
two taxis and the visitors center was a foam booth.
And I found somewhere that served poutine, and I convinced
the taxi driver to stop so I could get some
and take it back to the hotel with us. And
we sat in ate pot seen in this nice hotel
in Tofino, the ocean right outside, fire going, local beer,
(10:05):
wine and chocolate. And it's a real winner. My parents
still bring it up. Yeah, any time that you have cheese,
curds and gravy on fries, I recommend it. Yes. Also,
my ex boyfriend used to always say, I think it
was Modern Family is a quote from Modern Family, where
I don't know, I've never watched my own family, but
one of the characters bought out a thing of putine
(10:25):
and the other characters like, I'm not poutine it in
my mouth. I always think that every time I hear it.
What's wrong with that guy? It's so good? Um, if
we're looking at your The Belgians show down on the
most French fries per capita, which given my experience there
does not surprise me at all. And they have a
(10:46):
French frime museum, a French museum. Wow, if you have
been right, right in right in send pictures everything, And
I am not the only American old French fries by
a long shot. Twenty nine pounds that's how much fries
we Americans eat on average per year. Wow, Oh my goodness. Yeah,
(11:08):
that's a lot. Toddlers and in several surveys called it
their favorite vegetable, which if it counts me too, I mean, really,
I can't argue with Toddler logic in this one, that's true.
Fries have also been involved in some pretty high profile
art uh takes the faun Bohenburger's piece Poem Door, which
(11:33):
was a gold cross made out of French fries, and
they had a room of their own for display and
an immuniate gallery. According to Bonenberger, the piece is meant
to represent quote the metamorphosis of a profane, everyday object
into a sacred artwork. But intrigue, art intrigue. We so
(11:53):
rarely get to talk about art intrigue. In two thousand five,
the original French fries that served as the basis of
the cross we're discovered to be missing, missing missing gasp
bone Berger suit and one receiving two thousand euros for
the fries, which, if you think about it, seems like
the ultimate conclusion for this piece of art, one thousand
(12:15):
euros of fry, the metamorphosis of something. Did he do
you think he stold him more in ge That is interesting, Lauren, Okay,
we're gonna we're gonna think a little bit more about this,
and we're going to take a break for a word
for our sponsor. But when we come back, we're going
to get into the history of the French fry. And
(12:44):
we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. I suppose
the first question you probably have is is the French
fry from France? No? Probably not, because obviously probably not um.
There are. There are a couple of origin stories, as
with most everything we talked about, and one does include France,
(13:05):
but it seems historians and probably not probably not um.
They probably come from Belgium. We're records show that folks
had potatoes and we're frying them by the end of
sixteen hundreds or maybe the seventeen hundreds, depending on the source.
If we stepped back a bit to the potato, and
we did touch on the history of the potato and
specifically its history in Europe interlock capsa briefly. One day
(13:30):
we will do a whole potato episode, yes, but for
this episode. The Spanish are the ones generally credited with
introducing the potato to Europe in fifteen fifty seven, when
him andez Dick Cassata brought them back from Colombia. At
the time, the Spanish called potatoes truffles. Around the same time,
(13:52):
the Italians were growing potatoes too, but in both of
these countries potatoes didn't grow very well, and what did
grow results in a bitter and smallish potato. As sign passed,
this change and the crops became overall less bitter and larger.
Legend goes that impoverished Belgium people residing in the Moose
(14:13):
Valley would catch and fry small fish that they caught
in the river, but when the river froze over during
the winter, they had to find a replacement. And what
they found, what's the potato. They sliced out the potatoes
and fried them the same way that they did with
the fish, and there you go. Proto fries, protato fry.
(14:36):
I'm so sorry. Yes, you're not sorry at all, No,
but I should be, and I know it worth mentioning
Spain controlled a good chunk of modern name Belgium when
it first brought potato back to Europe, so that would
food logic. Yeah, alright, So during World War One, American
soldiers in Belgium, after having their first taste of these
(14:58):
sliced and fried potatoes, dubbed them French fries, since French
was the official language of Belgium. All right, America, And
that does they say? Is that? Or is it more intrigue?
I love some good intrigue. Another version of French Fried
(15:19):
past does attribute the fry to France, and specifically to
one dude, Frenchman, Antoine Augustine Promontier. He was a medical
officer in the French army. And yes, he came up
in our lat episode as well, right right, because he
was really big and promoting the potato. He was captured
during the Seven Years War and he subsided on the
(15:39):
potato during his imprisonment and after he was freed, he
went around France and Europe, France specifically, but also Europe
a little bit um singing the praises of the potato.
It's health benefits, it's filling qualities, it's cheap, it's easy,
to grow right, and because the potato was not popular
at this point, it wasn't something people eight. It was
(16:01):
something that people fed to their hogs. Not only because
of bitterness, but also potatoes were believed to cause various
health ailments. Yep, like that, like the Tomato watch out exactly.
French parliament went as far to prohibit potato cultivation in
seventeen forty eight du belief that it caused leprosy. Yeah,
(16:22):
I mean, you know, leprosy is a big enough problem.
You're like, but serrery whatever that thing. Potatoes, Yeah, they're bitter.
Thanks to Pomentier's efforts, or at least in part to
his efforts, the Paris Faculty of Medicine gay potatoes the
Edible for Humans stamp in seventeen seventy two, which is
not a real stamp, but yeah, they were like, okay,
(16:43):
they seem cool enough for humans to eat. It took
a bit for people to get over their reservations around potatoes, though.
While working as a pharmacist at a French hospital, Pomentier
was not allowed to grow adding potatoes in his garden
for potato, but Palmentier was undeterred, and also in seventeen
(17:04):
seventy two, and I would presume as soon as this
edible for humans proclamation came out, he started hosting these
dinners for well to do influential types like Benjamin Franklin,
Queen Marie Antoinettes, and King Louis the sixte Of course,
Thomas Jefferson got in on the action. Of course he did,
and in eighteen o two he asked his chef, who
(17:27):
was French, to prepare potatoes quote served in the French manner,
which in his mind was potatoes deep fried while raw
in small cuttings for a dinner party. These were probably
thinly sliced rounds are curly cues. Curly cues is a
word I don't get to say very often, but I
appreciate it. I can't. Yeah, take take it, curly cues.
(17:51):
And I love this next fact so much. Palmentier hired
armed guards to stand touch over his potato patch. Yeah,
not because of vandalism or something like that, but to
convince people they were highly valuable. And on top of that,
(18:13):
he instructed the guards to accept any bribes for the
potatoes and to allow people to steal them. Well played, sir,
that's do you think we can use that as a
marketing thank for like our podcasts. I want to and
I'm going to think on that a lot later, because
(18:33):
that is an excellent ploy. I've gotta give it to him.
We also accept bribes, folks right to listen to this podcast.
We do accept bribes. But it was famine in seventeen
eighty five that really changed the potatoes fortunes in Europe.
A decade later in large scale potato operations were present
(18:55):
in France. Even the woral gardens made way for potato fields. Yeah,
and the history is murky, but somewhere around this time
is when French people either invented or learned how to
make French fries fry. Well, I guess they wouldn't have
called them French fries. It sounds since silly, but anyway,
fries were particularly common in Paris, where there were vendors
(19:17):
who sold them out of carts as fritz. Some things
don't change. Worth mentioning here is that all of this
was taking place against the backdrop of the Franco Austrian
War a k a. The War of Austrian Succession, which
is worth mentioning because a lot of this war took
place in what is now Belgium. Oh right, so possibly
(19:39):
French soldiers encountered fries in Belgium, and then as the
potato became popular and common in France started making fries.
O there room and yet another thing worth mentioning. And
it's another fun language thing for some folks. Cutting things
into long strips like you traditionally would with fries is
called julienne, and others call it's french ng like French fries.
(20:03):
Huh yeah, there you go. Yep. Possibly Belgium and France
discovered French fries separately around the same time. Fried potatoes
just makes sense to me. Deep frying things as great
potatoes are great fried potato, especially if you've got a
lot of them. August A Scoffier included a recipe Palm
de pont Enuf in his three Complete Guide to the
(20:24):
Art of Modern Cookery. Quote cut the potatoes square at
the ends and size, and cut into batons of one
cinameter wide size. Deep fried until crisp on the outside
and soft in the center. This is the basic type
of fried potato. Mhm. The name references vendors who would
sell their fries on the pont Enuff bridge Oh yeah, yeah,
(20:46):
that's a good spot, whatever the case. After American and
British soldiers were exposed to fries in Belgium and were France,
they brought them home and they spread from there. Thanks
to the spreading of America's fast food chains, sliced fried
potatoes were introduced to countries outside of Europe under the
(21:06):
name of French fries, but nowadays you're just as likely
to see them under the name of American fries. Really yeah,
before this, between the eighteen fifties and nineteen thirties, they
were commonly known as French fried potatoes. The New York
Times called fish and chips England's hot dog. I also
(21:27):
love that by the sixties, Americans commonly called them fries
just fries. Poutine started popping up in Quebec in the
nineteen fifties, but of course there's something to dispute that. Yes,
field drifts abound for that one. I hope and Belgium
petitioned Unst Goo to grant the French fried to Belgium
(21:48):
as an object of cultural heritage. Recently, Oh yeah, we'll
have to We'll have to keep keep And that's kind
of a whirlwind at the history of the French fry. Yeah,
and we've got some French fries science for you coming
up after one more quick break for a word from
our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you,
(22:20):
and we're back. Okay, before I get into the science
of fries. Uh, our friend Ramsey, yes, who you heard
on the Chicken Wing episode? Yeah, just dropped by. He
heard that we were doing an episode about French fries,
and he told producer Andrew that he had a joke
to tell us, and uh, Andrew vetted it and then
let him come on Mike and say it. Um. So,
I mean, we just did the history section, so sold,
(22:41):
so hold back your snark, y'all. But did you hear
that the first French fries were not cooked in France? No,
they were cooked in Greece. Yeah. It was pretty spectacular.
I said, it was like having your own hype joke. Guys, Yeah,
in our fact that we take even though there's no
(23:02):
real reason. No, nope, okay, Um, but yes, fries are
cooked in Greece. They are. And there's a lot of science.
Oh it's French fried science is intense and it is beautiful,
and there has been much digital ink spilled about it. Uh.
We got into the science of deep frying in our
fried chicken episode a little bit, but I do not
(23:24):
begrudge repeating this. Um. Also, to be fair, like potatoes
and breaded chickens are slightly different objects. Yes, I would agree.
So the cool hot. The thing about oil is that
it can be It can be heated to temperatures away
above the boiling point of water without burning the oil.
This means that when you put slices of potato into
(23:45):
such heated oil, any water hanging out in the outer
layer of those slices is going to vaporize into steam
and jet straight out of the potato. Um. No, No,
this is good. It does It does a few things. Okay, well, First,
visually and alarmingly, it creates that bubble and spatter and
the oil that's terrifying. But second, more crucially to our
interests in deliciousness here, it totally desiccates that outer layer
(24:09):
of potato, forming a hard shell around the interior. Third,
the steam forms a protective layer around that shell, keeping
the direct heat of the oil at bay and preventing
the fry from from getting soggy with oil and the
combo of the shell and the protection of the steam
layer means that the interior of the potato can heat
(24:30):
up and and steam itself to perfect creamy cookedness, all
while the outer layer gently browns. I'm so hungry, it's okay,
I ate a lot of lunch, and potatoes are uniquely
adapted to make the most of this cooking method. Um.
They're both starchy and dense. That the density means that
(24:53):
the oil has a harder time penetrating too deeply, which
again would lead to a soggy fry. And uh and
starch okay this is and most fried foods are breaded
before they're deep fried because starch molecules like to chain up,
and those chains like to to innerlink, and those lattices
of molecules help form a firm, crunchy crust. Plus starch
(25:15):
helps create the mayard reaction, which just took us about
seven minutes of trying to figure out how to pronounce.
It's usually why I just call things browning. Um. It's
the specific browning process where chain reactions among amino acids
like proteins and sugars create deeper colors and tastier flavors.
One of these days we'll have to do a whole
(25:36):
episode about it anyway. Um Some some recipes call for
blanching ear strips of potatoes before you fry them. Um
as this can help the starches on the surface interlace
more tightly. Um. This both prevents those starches from from
breaking down into sugars and then caramelizing and blackening during cooking,
and it helps these starches form that thicker crust after blanching.
(25:59):
You should dry fries out either blotting with towels or
if you just happen to have a vacuum packer around.
Um yeah, you can drive out some moisture that way.
I mean, you know said there there's a lot of
science tips out there about French fries, and we thought
about this a lot. Yeah. Yeah, And and speaking of science,
(26:21):
does dictate that that double fry produces a superior fried potato.
Not just cooking first and then frying. That's different. It
needs to be a double fry. My very favorite food
science writer, Jake Kenji lipez alt Ransom home experiments and
found that a boiled or microwaved potato will not crisp
up properly. It will form like a really thin papery
(26:43):
crust instead, of that big crispy one that you're looking for.
Because you see, by frying once at a relatively low temperature, um,
then letting your potatoes cool and frying them again at
a higher temperature, you have primed the potato for arguably
the ultimate crust. More on that arguably in just a second.
But this is because during that that low, slow first fry, um,
(27:06):
hot oil gets into the potato just a little bit
as water evaporates and exits. That helps break up the
starch chains on the surface a little bit and um,
and then the individual like warm as heck, starch molecules
can interact with remaining water in the potato and gelatin ezelin. Yeah,
(27:27):
and this creates like a thick sheath of starch on
the outside of the potato, which will brown and crisp
when you put it in for a second hotter fry.
Mm hmmm, delicious. But y'all, here's here's the arguably Okay,
because there are all kinds of innovations going on in
French fries. People want to know. Greek chemists uh used
(27:49):
a center fuge to find the gravity at which fries
cook best. Oh my goodness, Um, they say it's three
times Earth's usual gravity. Um as that is the pressure
sure at which the water escapes his steam and like
smaller puffs, which lets the oil seep in more uniformly
and and heat it to a to a thick, crisp
crust more quickly. Man, do you think these Greek chemists
(28:12):
were just one night? I think we can make these
fries better. They had to go. The centrifuge that they
did this in was in the Netherlands, so I mean
so unless I mean, I think it involved quite a
bit of planning. So if it was just them sitting around,
well then you think we can do this, we can
(28:32):
do and then you make a plan and then you
execute and you learn that you want these best fries supposedly,
and yeah, wow, that's that's by the way, approximately the
pressure of like the surface of Jupiter. Jupiter doesn't really
have a surface, but if you're ever on Jupiter, you
can make some fries. Excellent time for French fries, okay.
(28:57):
Noted the researchers found that, um, there's a particular enzyme
that will that will dissolve pect in, and you can
apply that to sliced potatoes to make the insides of fries.
Extra smooth and creamy, oh my goodness. And over at
modernist cuisine, Uh folks, Okay, first they first a souvied
(29:18):
uh potato sticks until tender, and then put them in
an ultrasonic bath. Um. You know, like the device that
like dentists and jewelers used to clean their implements and watches,
you know what, whatever kind of stuff. Yeah, it's this
like mini tank that blasts whatever is placed inside with
ultrasonic waves. The potatoes surfaces fissured into these wee little
(29:42):
crackles um releasing starch molecules, so when they were put
through a deep fryer, the resulting fries had little crispies
on their crests and reportedly a quote amazingly satisfying texture.
I bet they did. They also tried using vacuum packing
to infuse extra starch into the potatoes to produce an
extra thick and crispy shell, which they said works wonders,
(30:04):
especially as a double whammy. With that, I've got a
lot of extra tools I need to purchase. Let's start
my fund right now. Put the jar Ultimate French Frie
fund go fund specifically for this office. Yes, perfect, Oh,
I don't think we're allowed to. I don't. I'm not.
I'm not allowed to work with deep friars. Yeah. I
(30:27):
shouldn't really either. Maybe we can. We can get somebody
to help out with that part. We have a lot
of talented people who are less calmty around here. Yes,
yes we do. I am not giving up on this
dream because I love French fries and this sounds amazing.
So yeah, fry science. You know, if you want help
(30:48):
making your fries at home tastier, the internet is here
for you. Hopefully it won't fry your brain. But I
think that's all we have to say about French fries
unless you want we're fried puns. No, okay, well that
brings us to that actually is courtesy if somebody I
(31:14):
saw in the street last night who did this weird
wave at me, and I'm still thinking about it. It's
like a for those of you for getting along at home.
It's like it's like a double handed like up and down.
It's a phonetic wave excited jazz hands that hadn't up
and down alternate yeament. I don't know what she was
up to. I hope it was a good night. Sarah wrote,
(31:38):
I'm a born and raised Buffalonian and just finished listening
to the Ranch and Wings episode. I wanted to send
along a few fun facts about wings. You are correct,
there are no buffalo, wings and Buffalo that listeners may
find interesting. One. It is a huge point of contention
when it comes to Ranch versus blue cheese as the
optimal dipping sauce. Most people here will say it's blue
(32:00):
cheese and anything else is heresy, and I have seen
more than one social media war over the two condiments.
Since Ranch definitely has its loyal fans here, I personally
don't care for either, So I personally have no wing
in this fine medium sauce and no other frills for me.
While the anchor bar deserves due credit for inventing the wing,
(32:22):
most locals hold the point of view that it doesn't
have the best wings in the city by a long shot.
The best ones come from your local mom and pop
pizza joint, and if you're going to go to a
chain restaurant, Duff's is the better option. I also believe
that Buffalo has some of the best pizza in the country,
which may be because it's equidistant from New York and
Chicago and has a very appealing, middle of the road,
medium thickness crush. Yeah. When the Buffalo Bills made the
(32:48):
NFL Playoffs for the first time since nine, Duff's sent
one thousand, four forty wings, pounds of cellar and carrots,
six gallons of blue cheese, and nine gallons of wing
sauce to the Cincinnati Bengals as their victory over Baltimore
secured Buffalo spot in the playoffs. That's wonderful. No hard
(33:09):
feelings were forgetting that the Bills exist. Sometimes I'd like
to forget. I personally have never been to the Wing Festival,
but as I'm currently living abroad and miss wings more
than any other food item, I may just have to
go this year after I return, and ordering them from
my favorite piece of place will probably be one of
the first things I do when I get home. Thank
you for the nostalgia for my hometown. Thank you. I've
(33:34):
been hearing from all these people from Buffalo has been very,
very spectacular. Yes, Sean wrote. Back in my college days
the early nineties, I used to frequent a gay bar
called Reflections in Memphis, Tennessee. On weeknights. They only opened
the lower section, which was a smaller rectangular shaped room
with a floor to ceiling mirrors on all four walls,
(33:55):
which served to make the place look larger and more crowded.
There was a square shaped bar in this center of
one end of the rectangle, and the dance floor was
on the other end of the rectangle. I always assumed
the floor to sealing mirrors is why they called it reflections. Anyways,
I was out with a few friends one night, and
we were probably having a few too many drinks, but
we were having fun. There's about thirty or forty people
(34:16):
around the bar, clustered in groups. At some point in
the evening, I noticed a guy cross the room checking
me up. I'm generally shy by nature, so I don't
really do anything at first, hoping he might come say hi.
So I have another drink with my friends, and every
now and then I glance over to see what he's
up to, and every time I do, I see him
checking me out. Eventually I have enough liquid courage to
get up and walk over to say hi. As I
(34:37):
casually head over his way, I see he's headed towards
me too. I'm about halfway across the bar when I
come to the horrible realization that I have spent the
better part of the last hour or so flirting with
my reflection in the mirror. Every time I was looking
at him, he was looking at me. The silver lining
to the story I realized, when I've had enough to drink,
(34:59):
do me. That's pretty spectacular. I've had my own mirror mishaps,
but nothing. That's I think speaking is to like intensely
awkward human people. Um I I both appreciate and uh
and sympathize with that. Yes, yes, um, I mean I
(35:25):
would love to know when you came back to your friends.
Oh yeah, goodness, Yeah, follow up? Do they know? Have
you been talking to them about him? All questions? Oh
my goodness, yeah, that's wonderful, wonderful and we understand no
judgment here, zero. Thanks to both of them for writing in.
(35:49):
If you'd like to write to us, you can. Our
email is hello at the saber pod dot com. We're
also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at saber Pod. We hope to hear from you.
Thank you so much to our super producers Dylan Fagan
and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we
hope that lots more good things are coming your way,
Hello, and welcome to Savor. I'm Any and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum,
and today we're talking about French fries. I love French fries.
Oh yeah, They're a perfect food. Yeah, I agree, end
of episode, the perfect food. And I will say I
do love French fries, not just for the catchup now,
because I did used to eat them primarily for the
(00:30):
catchup for a while. I I was in Belgium for
a couple of months, and I would eat them every
day because they come in those cones like a little
paper cone. Yeah right, and you can find them everywhere,
every like on every street corner, and then in between
just fruits. And they have like twenty four sauces you
(00:51):
can choose from. I wanted to try every sauce um.
And recently we had our company holiday party. To save money,
we had it in January. I can admit this because
our boss admitted it, and also I learned it was
a real thing that a lot of companies are doing now,
having them kind of in the middle of January, Happy
(01:13):
New Year, Happy New times. But what I invited as
my plus one, one of my best friends, one of
the Katie's Oh yeah yeah, and it was supposed to
be the semi formal, and I had a suspicion because
our office isn't really semi formal. We're pretty casual. Yeah,
that no one would dress up for it. So I
(01:35):
came in address. But because it was happening right after
work in her office building, well it was happening at
like six thirty. I were a pretty late office though.
I don't know sure, Yeah, I feel like people are
still here at six thirty. But okay, So I show up,
no one is dressed up and the office in the
(01:55):
morning and I my friend is texting me and she's like,
should I dress up? And I said, well, it looks
like you'll be the only person that does apart from me,
so take your pick. And she shows up in a
shirt that like a black sweatshirt and jeans, and on
the black sweatshirt it says more exercise but exercise is
marked out and it says fries and has a big
(02:17):
picture of Frice on it. Yeah, and then it turns
out everyone went home and changed and came back and
she wasy mad at me, very very mad. She kept
bringing it up. She still brings it up. Um, sorry, Katie, Uh,
but people loved her shirt more than one person. Yeah,
it was a great shirt. Yeah. I don't think I
(02:39):
told her specifically, but Katie, if you're listening, it was
a quality shirt. It was uh. And also, if you
want to see proof of this, I posted a picture
on Instagram where she didn't like either. She also has
towels that say fries before guys. So perfect. She's wonderful.
(03:01):
When I was a kid, you said this McDonald's device.
Did you Did you ever have one of these? You
put a piece of white bread in there and you
spun the little thing on the side, and then it
would give you fry shaped pieces of bread like crank
out a little like. Oh no, no, I never never
had one of those. It was the most exciting thing.
It sounds so boring now, but I would just say
they're like whoa, and it tasted better somehow. Oh man,
(03:28):
I have so many fry stories. I tried to move
out of the US when the freedom fry thing happened.
Oh that would like that was the that was the
final Yeah, I will like my neighbor. Actually Katie's I
checked her mom into taking me to the airport because
I had a school trip. But I was just trying
to leave the country. How old were you o? My goodness, yeah,
(03:53):
the police didn't it didn't fly. But anyway, do you
have a favorite fry, Lauren? All of them which which
everyone is in my mouth at the time. Um uh, well,
one of my happy hour spots, it will serve you
fries with the side of kso dip, and I say
(04:13):
that that's pretty ultimate. Um. But my favorite in the
Atlanta area might be Leon's Indicator. I think they do
like a handcut duck fat fry. Real good. Um. I
still daydream though about Nathan's famous restaurant, like the hot
Dog restaurant, like back when they had handcut fries and
they would they do these really like thick crinkle fries.
(04:34):
Oh goodness, this is gonna be all long. This is
with a lot of cravings. At the end of this episode. Yeah, yeah,
behind the curtain, y'all, we're doing this topic and we're
also recording an episode about cocktails today and I'm it
was a craving filled week. Yes. Indeed, speaking of cravings,
if we're talking about fast food fries, I was always
a Zack s f person. You can get that extra
(04:56):
cagent sauce or I went through a big Arby's face.
It's kind of strange. Oh, I went to a Checkers
phase in college. I think that's kind of like fry,
like fry related. They're like fried cousins. Yeah, yeah, but
like McDonald's is just made of magic. I don't know
what it is. Yeah, well they do something special, because
(05:16):
I remember writing about it at one point in my life.
So there is something about we did that McDonald's episode.
I'm sure we probably mentioned it in there. I really like,
um Bocados fries in Atlanta. Great burger, great fries. Expensive
but worth it anyway. All this brings us to our
question here at last, fringe fries. What are they? Well, Um,
(05:43):
there are many styles of fry and many methods of
creating them, but at the root of the issue, we
are talking about slicing a potato lengthwise into sticks and
then deep frying those sticks and oil until they're crisp
and golden on the outside and cooked creamy on the inside.
And the golden color of Burger King's fries and most
(06:04):
likely McDonald's fries is due to a sugar solution that's
sprayed over the fries just before freezing and shipping them out.
To their restaurants. The sugar browns when frying, giving you
that golden hue, not caramelizes, though it's a different kind
of browning reaction. Yes, specific Well, we'll talk more about
that later. Supposedly, Okay, here it is McDonald's fries their
(06:26):
fries twice, the entire process taking about twenty minutes. That
is scientifically the better way to do fries. Again, again,
we will get into there's a long science section at
the end of this one guy, so so hold tight,
but related to science nutrition, yes, yes, well okay, so
(06:47):
so again, this is gonna vary based on the recipe
you're using, um and how much fry you're consuming. But
let's take, for example, a McDonald's medium sized fry, which
is about a hundred eventeen grahams or just over four
ounces of fries. For your average a two thousand calorie
a day diet, that's gonna account for just under twenty
(07:09):
of your daily caloric intake of your recommended carbs for
the day and of your recommended fats. So it's a
high calorie food. Yes. The good news is is that
there's a smattering of vitamins and minerals in there because
potatoes are rich and lots of stuff, so you know,
I don't know, just like deefrying things makes them delicious,
(07:30):
not really nutritious. Yeah, I'm hard pressed to think of
anything that's fried. It probably doesn't exist yet. And this
is another fun both words episode because, as I briefly
mentioned in our episode around, ranch fries are called chips
in the UK. Actually, a lot of listeners rode in
(07:51):
and solved my mystery that probably one of their letters
will show up in a listener mail, so so listen
out for that. But in most of the English speaking world,
there are two different words for thin cut fries and
thickly cut fries, which I sometimes confusingly see both labeled
as steak fries. Here in North America, we just add
(08:14):
an adjective to differentiate whether they be curly, thick, thin,
steak wedges, waffle, all kinds of fries. One of my
first memories of moving to the small town and for
the most part grew up in was eating at this
small Italian restaurant and getting the largest curly fry I've
ever seen. It was so big the staff came out
(08:34):
to look at it, like we were all staring at
this thing and I took it home as though I
was going to preserve it or keep it as a pet,
but I ate it, my resolved it and last very
long and uh. Speaking speaking of names for fries, though
um fries have a lot of them and a lot
of different preparations around the world. Right, French fries are
(08:56):
incredibly popular, one of the world's most loved sides. The
primary dipping sauces are ketchup, mayo or vinegar, but there
are so so, so many more. There's dishes like almost
out of Peru, steak frets and muscles with fries are
moul frets out of France, Fries with an egg on
top at the Belgium, fish and chips in the UK,
Potatos bras out of Spain, fries wrapped up in a
(09:18):
chicken peeda in the Middle East, topped with passabi powder
in Japan, and of course poutine are puttin out of Canada,
fries topped with brown gravy and cheese carts. YEP. When
I was in Canada a couple of years ago with
my parents who were staying, this tiny town called Tofino,
and I was determined to get some poutine for them
(09:41):
to try and this town is so small. There were
two taxis and the visitors center was a foam booth.
And I found somewhere that served poutine, and I convinced
the taxi driver to stop so I could get some
and take it back to the hotel with us. And
we sat in ate pot seen in this nice hotel
in Tofino, the ocean right outside, fire going, local beer,
(10:05):
wine and chocolate. And it's a real winner. My parents
still bring it up. Yeah, any time that you have cheese,
curds and gravy on fries, I recommend it. Yes. Also,
my ex boyfriend used to always say, I think it
was Modern Family is a quote from Modern Family, where
I don't know, I've never watched my own family, but
one of the characters bought out a thing of putine
(10:25):
and the other characters like, I'm not poutine it in
my mouth. I always think that every time I hear it.
What's wrong with that guy? It's so good? Um, if
we're looking at your The Belgians show down on the
most French fries per capita, which given my experience there
does not surprise me at all. And they have a
(10:46):
French frime museum, a French museum. Wow, if you have
been right, right in right in send pictures everything, And
I am not the only American old French fries by
a long shot. Twenty nine pounds that's how much fries
we Americans eat on average per year. Wow, Oh my goodness. Yeah,
(11:08):
that's a lot. Toddlers and in several surveys called it
their favorite vegetable, which if it counts me too, I mean, really,
I can't argue with Toddler logic in this one, that's true.
Fries have also been involved in some pretty high profile
art uh takes the faun Bohenburger's piece Poem Door, which
(11:33):
was a gold cross made out of French fries, and
they had a room of their own for display and
an immuniate gallery. According to Bonenberger, the piece is meant
to represent quote the metamorphosis of a profane, everyday object
into a sacred artwork. But intrigue, art intrigue. We so
(11:53):
rarely get to talk about art intrigue. In two thousand five,
the original French fries that served as the basis of
the cross we're discovered to be missing, missing missing gasp
bone Berger suit and one receiving two thousand euros for
the fries, which, if you think about it, seems like
the ultimate conclusion for this piece of art, one thousand
(12:15):
euros of fry, the metamorphosis of something. Did he do
you think he stold him more in ge That is interesting, Lauren, Okay,
we're gonna we're gonna think a little bit more about this,
and we're going to take a break for a word
for our sponsor. But when we come back, we're going
to get into the history of the French fry. And
(12:44):
we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. I suppose
the first question you probably have is is the French
fry from France? No? Probably not, because obviously probably not um.
There are. There are a couple of origin stories, as
with most everything we talked about, and one does include France,
(13:05):
but it seems historians and probably not probably not um.
They probably come from Belgium. We're records show that folks
had potatoes and we're frying them by the end of
sixteen hundreds or maybe the seventeen hundreds, depending on the source.
If we stepped back a bit to the potato, and
we did touch on the history of the potato and
specifically its history in Europe interlock capsa briefly. One day
(13:30):
we will do a whole potato episode, yes, but for
this episode. The Spanish are the ones generally credited with
introducing the potato to Europe in fifteen fifty seven, when
him andez Dick Cassata brought them back from Colombia. At
the time, the Spanish called potatoes truffles. Around the same time,
(13:52):
the Italians were growing potatoes too, but in both of
these countries potatoes didn't grow very well, and what did
grow results in a bitter and smallish potato. As sign passed,
this change and the crops became overall less bitter and larger.
Legend goes that impoverished Belgium people residing in the Moose
(14:13):
Valley would catch and fry small fish that they caught
in the river, but when the river froze over during
the winter, they had to find a replacement. And what
they found, what's the potato. They sliced out the potatoes
and fried them the same way that they did with
the fish, and there you go. Proto fries, protato fry.
(14:36):
I'm so sorry. Yes, you're not sorry at all, No,
but I should be, and I know it worth mentioning
Spain controlled a good chunk of modern name Belgium when
it first brought potato back to Europe, so that would
food logic. Yeah, alright, So during World War One, American
soldiers in Belgium, after having their first taste of these
(14:58):
sliced and fried potatoes, dubbed them French fries, since French
was the official language of Belgium. All right, America, And
that does they say? Is that? Or is it more intrigue?
I love some good intrigue. Another version of French Fried
(15:19):
past does attribute the fry to France, and specifically to
one dude, Frenchman, Antoine Augustine Promontier. He was a medical
officer in the French army. And yes, he came up
in our lat episode as well, right right, because he
was really big and promoting the potato. He was captured
during the Seven Years War and he subsided on the
(15:39):
potato during his imprisonment and after he was freed, he
went around France and Europe, France specifically, but also Europe
a little bit um singing the praises of the potato.
It's health benefits, it's filling qualities, it's cheap, it's easy,
to grow right, and because the potato was not popular
at this point, it wasn't something people eight. It was
(16:01):
something that people fed to their hogs. Not only because
of bitterness, but also potatoes were believed to cause various
health ailments. Yep, like that, like the Tomato watch out exactly.
French parliament went as far to prohibit potato cultivation in
seventeen forty eight du belief that it caused leprosy. Yeah,
(16:22):
I mean, you know, leprosy is a big enough problem.
You're like, but serrery whatever that thing. Potatoes, Yeah, they're bitter.
Thanks to Pomentier's efforts, or at least in part to
his efforts, the Paris Faculty of Medicine gay potatoes the
Edible for Humans stamp in seventeen seventy two, which is
not a real stamp, but yeah, they were like, okay,
(16:43):
they seem cool enough for humans to eat. It took
a bit for people to get over their reservations around potatoes, though.
While working as a pharmacist at a French hospital, Pomentier
was not allowed to grow adding potatoes in his garden
for potato, but Palmentier was undeterred, and also in seventeen
(17:04):
seventy two, and I would presume as soon as this
edible for humans proclamation came out, he started hosting these
dinners for well to do influential types like Benjamin Franklin,
Queen Marie Antoinettes, and King Louis the sixte Of course,
Thomas Jefferson got in on the action. Of course he did,
and in eighteen o two he asked his chef, who
(17:27):
was French, to prepare potatoes quote served in the French manner,
which in his mind was potatoes deep fried while raw
in small cuttings for a dinner party. These were probably
thinly sliced rounds are curly cues. Curly cues is a
word I don't get to say very often, but I
appreciate it. I can't. Yeah, take take it, curly cues.
(17:51):
And I love this next fact so much. Palmentier hired
armed guards to stand touch over his potato patch. Yeah,
not because of vandalism or something like that, but to
convince people they were highly valuable. And on top of that,
(18:13):
he instructed the guards to accept any bribes for the
potatoes and to allow people to steal them. Well played, sir,
that's do you think we can use that as a
marketing thank for like our podcasts. I want to and
I'm going to think on that a lot later, because
(18:33):
that is an excellent ploy. I've gotta give it to him.
We also accept bribes, folks right to listen to this podcast.
We do accept bribes. But it was famine in seventeen
eighty five that really changed the potatoes fortunes in Europe.
A decade later in large scale potato operations were present
(18:55):
in France. Even the woral gardens made way for potato fields. Yeah,
and the history is murky, but somewhere around this time
is when French people either invented or learned how to
make French fries fry. Well, I guess they wouldn't have
called them French fries. It sounds since silly, but anyway,
fries were particularly common in Paris, where there were vendors
(19:17):
who sold them out of carts as fritz. Some things
don't change. Worth mentioning here is that all of this
was taking place against the backdrop of the Franco Austrian
War a k a. The War of Austrian Succession, which
is worth mentioning because a lot of this war took
place in what is now Belgium. Oh right, so possibly
(19:39):
French soldiers encountered fries in Belgium, and then as the
potato became popular and common in France started making fries.
O there room and yet another thing worth mentioning. And
it's another fun language thing for some folks. Cutting things
into long strips like you traditionally would with fries is
called julienne, and others call it's french ng like French fries.
(20:03):
Huh yeah, there you go. Yep. Possibly Belgium and France
discovered French fries separately around the same time. Fried potatoes
just makes sense to me. Deep frying things as great
potatoes are great fried potato, especially if you've got a
lot of them. August A Scoffier included a recipe Palm
de pont Enuf in his three Complete Guide to the
(20:24):
Art of Modern Cookery. Quote cut the potatoes square at
the ends and size, and cut into batons of one
cinameter wide size. Deep fried until crisp on the outside
and soft in the center. This is the basic type
of fried potato. Mhm. The name references vendors who would
sell their fries on the pont Enuff bridge Oh yeah, yeah,
(20:46):
that's a good spot, whatever the case. After American and
British soldiers were exposed to fries in Belgium and were France,
they brought them home and they spread from there. Thanks
to the spreading of America's fast food chains, sliced fried
potatoes were introduced to countries outside of Europe under the
(21:06):
name of French fries, but nowadays you're just as likely
to see them under the name of American fries. Really yeah,
before this, between the eighteen fifties and nineteen thirties, they
were commonly known as French fried potatoes. The New York
Times called fish and chips England's hot dog. I also
(21:27):
love that by the sixties, Americans commonly called them fries
just fries. Poutine started popping up in Quebec in the
nineteen fifties, but of course there's something to dispute that. Yes,
field drifts abound for that one. I hope and Belgium
petitioned Unst Goo to grant the French fried to Belgium
(21:48):
as an object of cultural heritage. Recently, Oh yeah, we'll
have to We'll have to keep keep And that's kind
of a whirlwind at the history of the French fry. Yeah,
and we've got some French fries science for you coming
up after one more quick break for a word from
our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you,
(22:20):
and we're back. Okay, before I get into the science
of fries. Uh, our friend Ramsey, yes, who you heard
on the Chicken Wing episode? Yeah, just dropped by. He
heard that we were doing an episode about French fries,
and he told producer Andrew that he had a joke
to tell us, and uh, Andrew vetted it and then
let him come on Mike and say it. Um. So,
I mean, we just did the history section, so sold,
(22:41):
so hold back your snark, y'all. But did you hear
that the first French fries were not cooked in France? No,
they were cooked in Greece. Yeah. It was pretty spectacular.
I said, it was like having your own hype joke. Guys, Yeah,
in our fact that we take even though there's no
(23:02):
real reason. No, nope, okay, Um, but yes, fries are
cooked in Greece. They are. And there's a lot of science.
Oh it's French fried science is intense and it is beautiful,
and there has been much digital ink spilled about it. Uh.
We got into the science of deep frying in our
fried chicken episode a little bit, but I do not
(23:24):
begrudge repeating this. Um. Also, to be fair, like potatoes
and breaded chickens are slightly different objects. Yes, I would agree.
So the cool hot. The thing about oil is that
it can be It can be heated to temperatures away
above the boiling point of water without burning the oil.
This means that when you put slices of potato into
(23:45):
such heated oil, any water hanging out in the outer
layer of those slices is going to vaporize into steam
and jet straight out of the potato. Um. No, No,
this is good. It does It does a few things. Okay, well, First,
visually and alarmingly, it creates that bubble and spatter and
the oil that's terrifying. But second, more crucially to our
interests in deliciousness here, it totally desiccates that outer layer
(24:09):
of potato, forming a hard shell around the interior. Third,
the steam forms a protective layer around that shell, keeping
the direct heat of the oil at bay and preventing
the fry from from getting soggy with oil and the
combo of the shell and the protection of the steam
layer means that the interior of the potato can heat
(24:30):
up and and steam itself to perfect creamy cookedness, all
while the outer layer gently browns. I'm so hungry, it's okay,
I ate a lot of lunch, and potatoes are uniquely
adapted to make the most of this cooking method. Um.
They're both starchy and dense. That the density means that
(24:53):
the oil has a harder time penetrating too deeply, which
again would lead to a soggy fry. And uh and
starch okay this is and most fried foods are breaded
before they're deep fried because starch molecules like to chain up,
and those chains like to to innerlink, and those lattices
of molecules help form a firm, crunchy crust. Plus starch
(25:15):
helps create the mayard reaction, which just took us about
seven minutes of trying to figure out how to pronounce.
It's usually why I just call things browning. Um. It's
the specific browning process where chain reactions among amino acids
like proteins and sugars create deeper colors and tastier flavors.
One of these days we'll have to do a whole
(25:36):
episode about it anyway. Um Some some recipes call for
blanching ear strips of potatoes before you fry them. Um
as this can help the starches on the surface interlace
more tightly. Um. This both prevents those starches from from
breaking down into sugars and then caramelizing and blackening during cooking,
and it helps these starches form that thicker crust after blanching.
(25:59):
You should dry fries out either blotting with towels or
if you just happen to have a vacuum packer around.
Um yeah, you can drive out some moisture that way.
I mean, you know said there there's a lot of
science tips out there about French fries, and we thought
about this a lot. Yeah. Yeah, And and speaking of science,
(26:21):
does dictate that that double fry produces a superior fried potato.
Not just cooking first and then frying. That's different. It
needs to be a double fry. My very favorite food
science writer, Jake Kenji lipez alt Ransom home experiments and
found that a boiled or microwaved potato will not crisp
up properly. It will form like a really thin papery
(26:43):
crust instead, of that big crispy one that you're looking for.
Because you see, by frying once at a relatively low temperature, um,
then letting your potatoes cool and frying them again at
a higher temperature, you have primed the potato for arguably
the ultimate crust. More on that arguably in just a second.
But this is because during that that low, slow first fry, um,
(27:06):
hot oil gets into the potato just a little bit
as water evaporates and exits. That helps break up the
starch chains on the surface a little bit and um,
and then the individual like warm as heck, starch molecules
can interact with remaining water in the potato and gelatin ezelin. Yeah,
(27:27):
and this creates like a thick sheath of starch on
the outside of the potato, which will brown and crisp
when you put it in for a second hotter fry.
Mm hmmm, delicious. But y'all, here's here's the arguably Okay,
because there are all kinds of innovations going on in
French fries. People want to know. Greek chemists uh used
(27:49):
a center fuge to find the gravity at which fries
cook best. Oh my goodness, Um, they say it's three
times Earth's usual gravity. Um as that is the pressure
sure at which the water escapes his steam and like
smaller puffs, which lets the oil seep in more uniformly
and and heat it to a to a thick, crisp
crust more quickly. Man, do you think these Greek chemists
(28:12):
were just one night? I think we can make these
fries better. They had to go. The centrifuge that they
did this in was in the Netherlands, so I mean
so unless I mean, I think it involved quite a
bit of planning. So if it was just them sitting around,
well then you think we can do this, we can
(28:32):
do and then you make a plan and then you
execute and you learn that you want these best fries supposedly,
and yeah, wow, that's that's by the way, approximately the
pressure of like the surface of Jupiter. Jupiter doesn't really
have a surface, but if you're ever on Jupiter, you
can make some fries. Excellent time for French fries, okay.
(28:57):
Noted the researchers found that, um, there's a particular enzyme
that will that will dissolve pect in, and you can
apply that to sliced potatoes to make the insides of fries.
Extra smooth and creamy, oh my goodness. And over at
modernist cuisine, Uh folks, Okay, first they first a souvied
(29:18):
uh potato sticks until tender, and then put them in
an ultrasonic bath. Um. You know, like the device that
like dentists and jewelers used to clean their implements and watches,
you know what, whatever kind of stuff. Yeah, it's this
like mini tank that blasts whatever is placed inside with
ultrasonic waves. The potatoes surfaces fissured into these wee little
(29:42):
crackles um releasing starch molecules, so when they were put
through a deep fryer, the resulting fries had little crispies
on their crests and reportedly a quote amazingly satisfying texture.
I bet they did. They also tried using vacuum packing
to infuse extra starch into the potatoes to produce an
extra thick and crispy shell, which they said works wonders,
(30:04):
especially as a double whammy. With that, I've got a
lot of extra tools I need to purchase. Let's start
my fund right now. Put the jar Ultimate French Frie
fund go fund specifically for this office. Yes, perfect, Oh,
I don't think we're allowed to. I don't. I'm not.
I'm not allowed to work with deep friars. Yeah. I
(30:27):
shouldn't really either. Maybe we can. We can get somebody
to help out with that part. We have a lot
of talented people who are less calmty around here. Yes,
yes we do. I am not giving up on this
dream because I love French fries and this sounds amazing.
So yeah, fry science. You know, if you want help
(30:48):
making your fries at home tastier, the internet is here
for you. Hopefully it won't fry your brain. But I
think that's all we have to say about French fries
unless you want we're fried puns. No, okay, well that
brings us to that actually is courtesy if somebody I
(31:14):
saw in the street last night who did this weird
wave at me, and I'm still thinking about it. It's
like a for those of you for getting along at home.
It's like it's like a double handed like up and down.
It's a phonetic wave excited jazz hands that hadn't up
and down alternate yeament. I don't know what she was
up to. I hope it was a good night. Sarah wrote,
(31:38):
I'm a born and raised Buffalonian and just finished listening
to the Ranch and Wings episode. I wanted to send
along a few fun facts about wings. You are correct,
there are no buffalo, wings and Buffalo that listeners may
find interesting. One. It is a huge point of contention
when it comes to Ranch versus blue cheese as the
optimal dipping sauce. Most people here will say it's blue
(32:00):
cheese and anything else is heresy, and I have seen
more than one social media war over the two condiments.
Since Ranch definitely has its loyal fans here, I personally
don't care for either, So I personally have no wing
in this fine medium sauce and no other frills for me.
While the anchor bar deserves due credit for inventing the wing,
(32:22):
most locals hold the point of view that it doesn't
have the best wings in the city by a long shot.
The best ones come from your local mom and pop
pizza joint, and if you're going to go to a
chain restaurant, Duff's is the better option. I also believe
that Buffalo has some of the best pizza in the country,
which may be because it's equidistant from New York and
Chicago and has a very appealing, middle of the road,
medium thickness crush. Yeah. When the Buffalo Bills made the
(32:48):
NFL Playoffs for the first time since nine, Duff's sent
one thousand, four forty wings, pounds of cellar and carrots,
six gallons of blue cheese, and nine gallons of wing
sauce to the Cincinnati Bengals as their victory over Baltimore
secured Buffalo spot in the playoffs. That's wonderful. No hard
(33:09):
feelings were forgetting that the Bills exist. Sometimes I'd like
to forget. I personally have never been to the Wing Festival,
but as I'm currently living abroad and miss wings more
than any other food item, I may just have to
go this year after I return, and ordering them from
my favorite piece of place will probably be one of
the first things I do when I get home. Thank
you for the nostalgia for my hometown. Thank you. I've
(33:34):
been hearing from all these people from Buffalo has been very,
very spectacular. Yes, Sean wrote. Back in my college days
the early nineties, I used to frequent a gay bar
called Reflections in Memphis, Tennessee. On weeknights. They only opened
the lower section, which was a smaller rectangular shaped room
with a floor to ceiling mirrors on all four walls,
(33:55):
which served to make the place look larger and more crowded.
There was a square shaped bar in this center of
one end of the rectangle, and the dance floor was
on the other end of the rectangle. I always assumed
the floor to sealing mirrors is why they called it reflections. Anyways,
I was out with a few friends one night, and
we were probably having a few too many drinks, but
we were having fun. There's about thirty or forty people
(34:16):
around the bar, clustered in groups. At some point in
the evening, I noticed a guy cross the room checking
me up. I'm generally shy by nature, so I don't
really do anything at first, hoping he might come say hi.
So I have another drink with my friends, and every
now and then I glance over to see what he's
up to, and every time I do, I see him
checking me out. Eventually I have enough liquid courage to
get up and walk over to say hi. As I
(34:37):
casually head over his way, I see he's headed towards
me too. I'm about halfway across the bar when I
come to the horrible realization that I have spent the
better part of the last hour or so flirting with
my reflection in the mirror. Every time I was looking
at him, he was looking at me. The silver lining
to the story I realized, when I've had enough to drink,
(34:59):
do me. That's pretty spectacular. I've had my own mirror mishaps,
but nothing. That's I think speaking is to like intensely
awkward human people. Um I I both appreciate and uh
and sympathize with that. Yes, yes, um, I mean I
(35:25):
would love to know when you came back to your friends.
Oh yeah, goodness, Yeah, follow up? Do they know? Have
you been talking to them about him? All questions? Oh
my goodness, yeah, that's wonderful, wonderful and we understand no
judgment here, zero. Thanks to both of them for writing in.
(35:49):
If you'd like to write to us, you can. Our
email is hello at the saber pod dot com. We're
also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at saber Pod. We hope to hear from you.
Thank you so much to our super producers Dylan Fagan
and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we
hope that lots more good things are coming your way,
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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