Elite Restaurant Equipment / Food Preparation / French Fry Cutters / French Fry Cutter Accessories / French Fry Cutter Guide
French fries (American English, with "French" often capitalized, or chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are batons of deep-fried potato. North Americans refer to any elongated pieces of fried potatoes as fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of fried potatoes are sometimes called fries to distinguish them from the more thickly cut strips called chips (while potato chips are called crisps). French fries are known as frites, patates frites or pommes frites in French, a name which is also used in many non-French-speaking areas, and have names that mean "fried potatoes" or "French potatoes" in others. Source
About Frozen French Fries Statistics
The J. R. Simplot Company is credited with successfully commercializing French fries in frozen form during the 1940s. Subsequently, in 1967, Ray Kroc of McDonald's contracted the Simplot Company to supply them with frozen fries, replacing fresh-cut potatoes.
In 2004, 29% of the United States' potato crop was used to make frozen fries – 90% consumed by the food services sector and 10% by retail. It is estimated that 80% of households in the UK buy frozen fries each year.
About Freshly Cut French Fries
Although frozen French fries are statistically more popular, freshly cut French fries are healthier and taste better. Freshly cut French fries include less preservatives in the ingredients. The way freshly cut French fries are made is by cutting a potato with a French fry cutter.
You can chose from a variety of French fry cutter blades. The blades come in different blade thicknesses which will produce different sized French fries in terms of diameter. The more popular sizes are 1/4”, and 1/2”. After the French fry cutter cuts the potato in to fries, use vegetal oil and insert them into your frying basket. Once the fries are crispy and hot shake some salt on to them for the finishing touch.
How To Make French Fries
Peel and rinse the potatoes. use a French Fry Cutter to perfectly each potato lengthwise into 4 or 5 pieces, then cut each piece into sticks. The thinner these are, the crispier they will be. Place the fries in a large bowl. Cover with cold water, then allow them to soak 2 or 3 hours (or you can stick them in the fridge and let them soak overnight).
When you're ready to make the fries, drain the water and lay the potatoes on 2 baking sheets lined with paper towels. Blot with paper towels to dry.
Heat a few inches of vegetable oil to 300 degrees F in a heavy pot. In 3 or 4 batches, fry the potatoes about 4 to 5 minutes per batch, or until soft. They should not be brown at all at this point-you just want to start the cooking process. Remove each batch and drain them on new, dry paper towels.
Once all the potatoes have been fried at 300 degrees F, turn up the heat until the oil temperature reaches 400 degrees F. When the oil is hot, start frying the potatoes in batches again, cooking until golden and crisp. Remove from the oil and drain on fresh paper towels. Sprinkle the fries with sea salt and dive in with the ketchup-mayo mixture.