How to make McDonalds french fries

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/05/the-burger-lab-how-to-make-perfect-mcdonalds-style-french-fries.html

by dpatru • 16 years ago

396 93 16 years ago

aht.seriouseats.com

arthurdent• 16 years ago

The vinegar hack is brilliant. Cooking is chemistry and should be treated as such.

ars2• 16 years ago

I wonder if cream of tartar would work. (I really hate vinegar, it smells like rotten food to me.)

someone_here• 16 years ago

Well, it is in a sense.

KC8ZKF2• 16 years ago

McDonald's main problem is that they sacrifice quality for consistency. I can understand why a chain restaurant would want that. I can even understand why a customer would want that. What I can't understand is why a home cook would want that.

Pommes frites are fresh potatoes cooked in animal fat, and seasoned with salt and rosemary. http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/4205683848/

rbranson• 16 years ago

If you read the article, he actually tries to improve on McDonalds fries. He says they get soggy too quickly, and tinkers with the recipe to achieve longer crispness.

KC8ZKF2• 16 years ago

"McDonald's used to fry their potatoes in beef tallow, giving them extra flavor and making them extra crisp, but they stopped doing that years ago."

Something home cooks can still do.

rue• 16 years ago

Some people - me included, rarely as I eat them - prefer McDonald's fries to most others.

philwelch• 16 years ago

I used to prefer McDonald's fries, and I still prefer them over other fast food, but most bars and sit-down restaurants seem to have better fries to me now. (And, unlike McDonald's, they will give you barbecue sauce.)

matwood• 16 years ago

I agree. I don't each fast food much at all, but the only craving I get is for McDs fries. When they are done right they very tasty regardless of how unhealthy they might be :)

DrJokepu• 16 years ago

Responding to you first two sentences, I don't think that's actually a bad thing. It's very far from being the best food ever but it has a consistent quality - you can walk into any McDonald's restaurant anywhere in the world and you will know exactly what you will get. Sometimes (especially when you travel) you don't have that many options when it comes to food and you know that at least you won't get food poisoning at McDonald's.

jrnkntl• 16 years ago

That is some serious reverse engineering

RevRal2• 16 years ago

You know you're awesome when you bust out the micrometer to systematize the rendering of perfect french fries.

joe_bleau2• 16 years ago

That's actually a dial caliper, not an outside micrometer.

mark_h• 16 years ago

If you liked all that, you'd probably enjoy the tv show "In search of perfection" by Heston Blumenthal, which is all about optimising common recipes (supposedly in a manner reproducible in a domestic kitchen, although I'm often a bit skeptical about that part).

The first episode I saw was on fish and chips too.

xtacy• 16 years ago

Lot of attention to details. I liked the part where due attention was given to those without a temperature controlled water bath. Awesome!

stefanp• 16 years ago

tl;dr but this reminds me a lot of "The Quest For French Fry Supremacy", a two part article on Cooking Issues.

http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/04/27/the-quest-for-french...

stfp• 16 years ago

Hmm, I'm not sure I get the downvotes - is it the "tl-dr" part ?

No biggie, but it'd be a shame, the article I linked to is as impressive, it not more in terms of cooking-engineeringness.

ryanelkins• 16 years ago

Yeah, I would guess people don't like "Hey, I didn't actually read this, but here is something that I imagine must be related." (Even if it does turn out to be relevant and worthwhile.)

ComputerGuru• 16 years ago

OT: why do you have two accounts?

bryanh• 16 years ago

This is an incredible site, I just read http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/04/cook-your-meat-in-a-beer-... on a whim and am trying it tonight.

Very cool.

lincolnq• 16 years ago

I have done that twice now. It works amazingly well, especially if you have a good grill to finish them on.

tptacek9• 16 years ago

Broken record: if you're liking the results you're getting from the beer cooler, drop a couple hundred on a PID-controlled rice cooker setup. You don't need to shell out for a Sous Vide Supreme appliance to get professional results (in fact, a friend who wrote a review for the SVS was hard pressed to come up with any advantage to the SVS over the "ghetto" setup, other than that it doesn't make your kitchen look like a meth lab.)

nadim• 16 years ago

My gf just pointed out the potential danger of heating plastics. I googled, and found this: http://camping.about.com/od/campingrecipes/a/ziplocbaggies.h...

jeff182• 16 years ago

That article talks about boiling a plastic bag, whereas sous vide is usually no hotter than 140° F.

tszming• 16 years ago

Some interesting stuffs - Patents related to French fries.

http://www.google.com/patents?lr=&q=french+fries&btn...

wazoox2• 16 years ago

The premise is wrong. I mean, McDonald's fries are about OK as far as frankenfood goes, but they are really horrible compared to anything home-made with fresh potatoes, no question about it. They're too small, they have absolutely zero taste, they're greasy... This is supposed to be a model to follow? Gimme a break.

JimmyL• 16 years ago

This guys picked something he likes - McDonald's fries - and did some impressive food-hacking to revere-engineer and improve them. Regardless of your thoughts on the thing he's imitating, surely you can respect the rigor and discipline the author applied to the problem.

He's not saying "this is how you make the world's best fries" - he's saying "if you really like McDonald's fries (like I do), here's how to replicate them". If you don't like that type of fry, then don't make them.

wazoox2• 16 years ago

I'm all for the food hacking and the article was quite interesting, however I shivers to the idea of McDonald's as a cooking reference.

jeff182• 16 years ago

He clearly defines the characteristics that make a good french fry and then explains how to match that consistently. He concludes that almost all of McDonald's practices (freezing the fries) are not simply economically important, but essential to the taste as he defines them.

sushi• 16 years ago

I have the RSS feed of this site for quite some time and this site delivers every single time with amazing recipes.

micheljansen2• 16 years ago

For those who enjoyed reading this post, I have some recommendations:

* Anything by Hervé This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hervé_This#Bibliography)

* Nicholas Kurti's "But the Crackling is Superb: An Anthology on Food and Drink by Fellows and Foreign Members of The Royal Society of London" (ISBN 0-7503-0488-X)

* Stuff by Heston Blumenthal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heston_Blumenthal)

I first learned of the obsession with perfecting food through understanding the chemistry behind it through Cook & Chemist (http://www.cookandchemist.com). Unfortunately, the two books they have published are in Dutch and there appear to be no translations yet.

davnola• 16 years ago

May I add 'On Food and Cooking' by Harold McGee (ISBN 0684843285)? McGee also writes at http://curiouscook.com/.

tptacek9• 16 years ago

On Food And Cooking is an awesome, awesome book. It's on my bookshelf next to my reading chair; I flip it open to a random page any time I get bored. The charts and sidebars alone (for instance, breakdowns of the volatiles in different herbs and spice) are worth the price of admission.

It's also written absurdly well.

mtts2• 16 years ago

-1 redundant. These are heros of mine as well.

The major influence Heston Blumenthal has had in my (sparsely equipped kitchen) is this: fennel should be microwaved. Wrap the stuff in microwave foil and zap it five times for one minute (leaving time inbetween to allow the heat to dissipate).

Best fennel you've ever had.

Also works with asparagus.

whatusername• 16 years ago

microwave foil? Am I missing something -- by "zap" it are you really suggesting putting aluminum foil in the microwave -- or is that something else.

dangrossman• 16 years ago

The way McDonalds makes its fries isn't a secret. They let Food Network film part of a documentary on fried food in one of their french fry factories, and showed the entire process from potato to frozen product ready to ship. It was basically cleaning and sizing (large potatoes cut in half), shot through pipes by water pressure with a grate on the end of the pipe that cuts the potato into fries, steamed to make the inside fluffy, then fried twice at two temperatures.

Nycto• 16 years ago

While that may be true, the interesting thing about this article is that it presents a recipe that can be reproduced in an average kitchen. I'm no chef, so I don't know if this has done before, but if it hasn't, it's pretty cool.

tptacek9• 16 years ago

That's kind of like saying that the way Google processes mail for Google Mail isn't a secret. It's not, but knowing how "it's done" and knowing how they "actually do it" are two different things.

morphir• 16 years ago

prove that algorithmically, thank you.

soyelmango2• 16 years ago

With a bit of social engineering... aka "asking someone who works in a McD kitchen"... he could have got the oil cooker temperature and timings.

The McD website, or a pamphlet you can get instore, would list the ingredients.

Anyway, kudos to the writer for doing it the hard way.

Finally, telling a McD fry lover (I put my hand up to that!) that the fries are rubbish is like telling a smoker that cigarettes are bad for them. We know.

Splines• 16 years ago

> asking someone who works in a McD kitchen

While that may have answered the "how", only through this type of process could the author have answered the "why".

soyelmango2• 16 years ago

...as well as discovering how/why _not_ to do it, which can be more valuable knowledge.

ivankirigin• 16 years ago

It has been too long since I had a fry party. I think I'll try this.

A fry party is exactly what it sounds like. You make kilos of fries and dozens of dips and get drunk on the power.

Raphael• 16 years ago

I prefer darker, unblanched fries.

Aegean• 16 years ago

I am curious to know - do they use preservatives or unnatural additives?

code_duck2• 16 years ago

They don't know how to make anything without preservatives and additives. They don't care. Of course they're full of absolute death wax, not to mention all the petro/organochlorines the potatoes, canola, corn and soybeans were probably soaked in while being grown (highly likely to be genetically engineered, too)

here you go, from http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/ingredients...

Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives], citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean 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)

danielle174• 16 years ago

I worked at McDonalds long ago, and I am a huge fan. If you are interested in understanding why they are so incredible, make sure to read "Grinding It Out" which is the story of McDonalds told by Ray Croc, who turned a small local store into one of the greatest franchises the world has ever known. He was in his mid-50s when he stated, and the whole thing is just inspiring for entrepreneurs no matter how many time you might have failed before. But I digress...

The thing about working at McDonalds is that you learn exactly what everything tastes like - and you notice all the little changes. For example, the difference in quality between a quarter pound patty used in the quarter pounder and double quarter pounder, and a "10" (1/10 pound) patty used in the regular cheeseburger and double-cheeseburger. I have eaten everything on the McDonalds menu, and can tell you what the most disgustingly unhealthy thing by caloric density is (not the fries!).

So, the most important factor we noticed about the french fries was how old the fry grease was. Each night 1 of three things happen to the fry grease:'

1) it is skimmed for any remnants of fries and left to simmer at a low warm temperature for the next day

2) it is run through a cleaning machine (2-3 times per week)

3) it is completely replaced by a technician (every 1 or 2 weeks depending on time of year)

New grease is very clear, like fresh motor oil you put into your car. As the grease gets older turns more and more golden brown as it gets more carbon in it from little bits of fries that break off and burn in the hot oil and disintegrate. Eventually, right before it is replaced, the grease is very brown and the fries will actually come out with tiny brownish bits on them. Some people really liked the "dirty grease fries" but the majority of staff knew when the best french fries were made - when the grease was about 4 days old, right after the first cleaning. I can't tell you exactly why, but these fries were the yummiest to the point where I would only eat them at this point (gotta stay thin somehow working there!) and crew members would bring in their kids on that day to eat.

Its also important to know that fries are never ever cooked in the same grease used for chicken nuggets, fish filets, etc. I'd be curious to know what that tastes like if anyone has every broken the rules and tried it, but that was a religious issue at the McDonalds locations I worked at so we never did.

Anyway, if you're curious and have a regular McDonalds you can always ask them when the last time the grease was cleaned or changed.

brianwillis3• 16 years ago

You really should have been filtering your oil ("run through a cleaning machine") daily. The filtering process removes the carbon build up that causes oil to degrade. The labour cost to doing this daily is far smaller that the cost of the oil you save.

danielle174• 16 years ago

Yeah I agree, and I think the oil replacement cost is pretty high (one of the top monthly line items after people expenses). McDonalds provides guidelines to franchises and then they decide how to implement, in our case we lived in a small town (an island actually) and I think the cleaning guidelines are "per X batches cooked". But yes, generally the more frequent the better both for the oil and also for the vats.

pan69• 16 years ago

Since MacDonald's is the Ford assembly line of today I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing. Especially with thousands of "restaurants" around the world.

someperson2• 16 years ago

Fries aren't cooked in the same oil as the fish fillets and nuggets because of vegetarian concerns. Never tried the fries in any oils other than its oil (mainly because they were in different areas in the building).

The oil of the fried chickens (the nuggets, McChicken patties and Crispy Chicken patties (maybe more or less different types depending on what country you are from)) are kinda interchangeable.

xsmasher• 16 years ago

>Fries aren't cooked in the same oil as the fish fillets and nuggets because of vegetarian concerns.

That seems unlikely, considering that the fries still contain "natural beef flavor."

joezydeco• 16 years ago

I'm an ex-MCD, and we never did fries (or hash browns) in the fish or apple pie vats because the taste would carry over. You don't want fishy-tasting fries.

Tangurena2• 16 years ago

The oil in the fry vats, when it got too old for fries, was put into the pie or fish vats.

> Its also important to know that fries are never ever cooked in the same grease used for chicken nuggets, fish filets, etc. I'd be curious to know what that tastes like if anyone has every broken the rules and tried it

The fries would pick up the flavor of the fish or pies and taste weird. Since the vat temperatures are different, and the vat sizes are different, the fries would not come out consistently fried either.

cacaolat• 16 years ago

This is one of best blog posts I have ever read!

malkia• 16 years ago

Okay, I'm just not used their taste.

Nothing is better than fresh potatoes, made by my wife with feta cheese on top of them and beer. I like them to have some meat in them.

code_duck2• 16 years ago

I really don't like fries of this style. I'll take a real, honest fench fry where one can tell it is made from a sliced potato. Five Guys, for instance, makes excellent fries. They appear to do so by cutting up a potato and immersing it in boiling oil. Imagine that!

I have absolutely no desire to eat processed, partially synthesized corporate potato product.

How to make McDonalds french fries

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