What You Need to Know Before Buying Frozen French Fries
There are few pleasures greater than a good French fry. Crisp, golden, hot, and salty, they’re great on their own or paired with a fat, juicy burger. Frozen French fries, however, are not a promising food group. But let’s get real: Making homemade fries is a project (though we recommend you still try it, so you can experience the joy of eating superlative, can’t-stop-eating-them French fries.)
But back to the real world and real-life convenience. Do any frozen fries deserve a passing grade? We sought the answer by tasting four straight-cut frozen French fry products with a side of our favorite ketchup (Heinz Organic tomato ketchup, of course).
“We were pretty skeptical about this,” says Jack Bishop during a taste test segment of Cook’s Country TV.
“Well, you should be,” replies Christopher Kimball, having just taken a bite of one of the sample frozen French fries.
While researching fries, we discovered that even before you bake them at home, bagged frozen fries have already been cooked—twice. In the factory, the potatoes are blanched in hot water and then fried in vegetable oil. One product we tried uses only Yukon Gold potatoes (left); the rest rely on russets (right) or a combination of russets and other yellow potatoes.
The standout fries had a “savory,” “potato-y” flavor and a “creamy,” “fluffy” interior. They were not peeled, which probably contributed to the “earthy” flavor. This product also had the fewest ingredients: just the potatoes, oil, sea salt, and citric acid (to preserve color).
By contrast, two fry products that use sodium acid pyrophosphate, also a color preservative, tasted “packaged,” and a product with no added salt tasted “bland” even after we added enough salt to level the playing field. This no-added-salt product uses apple juice concentrate to promote browning; the fries browned, yes, but they were “oddly sweet.”
Was Kimball able to single out our expert panel’s favorite frozen French fry? Watch the video and see for yourself.
*Taste test results and TV clip are free for non-members through June 2015.
