Fries poll

not trying to hear about home fries trying to stealth their way into fries polls. you are the lazy man's hash browns, home fries. accept your lot and be happy, you often get many delightful garnishes

normal size regular old frie: classic, but often soggy, oversalted, and bad for you
steak/wedge-cut: great, love to douse in ketchup
curly: addicted to these
waffle: refuse to eat at Chic fil A so my intake is almost nonexistent
shoestring: these r great when you dip em in cheese sauce
crinkle-cut: an abomination of satanic proportions

voting "curly"

head says curly heart says regular

"battered" fries are my new favorite

where pommes frites? 2nd Ave shop my only sighting of Russell Simmons.

have been doing frozen crinkle lately for budgetary reasons, + Park Slope Chip Shop closed.

Crinkle cuts. Best ratio of crispy exterior to fluffy interior, with added condiment-troughs.

Regular, if only for this side-order of fries I had in Nice which radically expanded my perspective of what fries can be. You would not believe how good these were. I talk about them a lot.

thought this would include other types of fries, such as sweet potato fries, which are my personal fave

that's like saying spaceballs is your favorite sci-fi movie

truffle

most underrated fake fries are polenta fries anyway

waffle > curly > regular > shoestring > crinkle > steak

really don't know what i'm gonna do here. have no good feelings toward the bottom four. it's kind of 'head says steak, heart says regular old'. when i think about what my basic ideological food preferences are, i'm gonna order steak or wedge fries. when i think about the platonic act of fry-eating, it's grabbing a handful of misaligned, white hot fries out of a mcdonald's bag and stuffing them into my face before wiping my hands on my jeans to using the turn signal to pull out of the drive-thru.

^otm

ideally while a little high as Coast 2 Coast AM plays on the car stereo

glad yer on yr way to the gym when doing this

steak fries are often disappointing ime. if they're nice and seasoned and crispy on the outside they can be sublime (it's been forever but i think...ruby tuesday does this really well) but too often they're just soggy

Write-in vote for UK style chip shop chips.

(and now I could murder a chip butty)

it's taken a lifetime of fry-eating to accept that steak fries are my favorite. aka "jo jos"? those were the best when i was a kid.

most other kinds get cold too quickly.

Ray, FYI favorite french fry cut

But this is a good topic to revisit

Would have said "curly", but giving a slight edge to "regular old" because you can't dip curly fries in your milkshake.

The number of times I've burned my mouth on steak cut fries. Never again

too true but the chip butty mentioned upthread, that right there is a food after my own heart

Seasoned curly with like a pound of salt.

they're all good. i went for regular, but i haven't had waffle or curly in an age and now crave them.

So McDonalds are shoestring? I am wondering whether the glorious UK style chips, which seem to be held together by surface tension as much as anything else, are better represented by 'regular old fries' or steak fries (which I've never heard of before, but appear on googling to be the right size, but possibly crunchy?)

UK style chips are definitely regular. Steak chips about twice the width of regular chips.

although if shoestring are even thinner than your typical mcdonals fry well then i don't know

is it really not lunchtime yet??

I dunno there's - oh, Australians

mcdonalds are regular. shoestring are much thinner.

I can't imagine how that's possible, without summoning visions of a machine designed by Ralph Steadman.

The Mccains.au page I was trying to link there (URL now unmangled) is definitely what I think of as the right size and shape for UK fries, though I still suspect them of crunchiness.

http://www.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2013826/rs_560x415-130926124115-1024-mcdonalds-fries-092613.jpg
http://cdn3.thecookierookie.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/fries2-1024x768.jpg

UK style chips between regular and steak chips, but definitely cleaving nearer towards regular chips

I WOULD EAT ALL THESE FRIES

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Steak cut. Doused in a gallon of malt vinegar and then covered with 7 pounds of salt.

regular fries are a poor man's large fries

I regard McD's as fairly close to a shoestring fry. Whats that fried grated mess above? Thats not even a chip!

good follow-up poll would be:

• sweet potato fries
• tater tots
• battered fries
• hash browns
• polenta fries
• seasoned fries (lumped in one category to mitigate vote-splitting)
• ???

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lj9k7315RR1qihbcpo1_500.jpg

oh yeah, those crazy fry-tot hybrids in the frozen aisle are insane

now i need a crisp that's proper and fly
so break me off a piece of that sweet potato fry

Shoestring inclusion is interfering with the comfort of my ride. Few people seem to think of them of them as The Best, but McD's-style thin & crispy fast food fries (which most Americans probably consider "regular") are closer to thick shoestring potatoes than standard cut french fries. Regular regular fries are more like 1/2 an inch across. Not that any of this matters.

Voted regular, of course.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/5023919505_3d7a3e2d3e_o.jpg

I voted for these (from LCs in KC). the thing I miss the most from KS

is it lunchtime yet?

it's all about well-salted steak fries wedged into a "sandwich grecque" aka a pita with döner meat

drool

― gr8080, Tuesday, February 3, 2015 10:05 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Yucca fries

I voted for these (from LCs in KC). the thing I miss the most from KS

haha those are barely even cut, why don't you just gnaw on a whole potato

nah, they're cut. but nevertheless dark brown veiny taters.

snort

so are "boardwalk fries" a separate thing or are they included in one of these categories? they are usually thick-cut and have lots of potato skin left on them and are crispy and well-salted

oh wait apparently boardwalk fries is a fries company or something

not a separate style, nevermind

i'm starting to feel like it was a huge mistake lumping steak and wedge-cut in the same category here

they are clearly different types of fries

I refer you to my (now superior) earlier poll favorite french fry cut

it's taken a lifetime of fry-eating to accept that steak fries are my favorite. aka "jo jos"? those were the best when i was a kid.

most other kinds get cold too quickly.

― lil urbane (Jordan), Thursday, January 29, 2015 7:21 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't know why but i remember a commercial in the states advertising "jojo's" when i was a kid. i think it might've been shakey's? anyway, other than that, i don't think i've ever heard that term

that's like saying spaceballs is your favorite sci-fi movie

― gr8080, Thursday, January 29, 2015 6:33 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
honestly, i blame it on my gf. japanese people love their sweet potato fries

and +1 to yucca fries with some spicy south american/peruvian(?) green or orangey sauce

oh shit what about plantains

regular fries, but only if they're really crispy golden on the outside and super mushy and creamy on the inside.

shoestring/french fries most consistently reliable as good fries.

The number of times I've burned my mouth on steak cut fries. Never again

― 龜

otm x 10000000

oh shit what about plantains

― gr8080, Wednesday, February 4, 2015 7:09 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
the exotic fries poll

do it!

and +1 to yucca fries with some spicy south american/peruvian(?) green or orangey sauce

― F♯ A♯ (∞), Wednesday, February 4, 2015 2:07 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ yucca fries with an aji dipping sauce are incredible

and yea those spicy green or orange sauces are peruvian

it's taken a lifetime of fry-eating to accept that steak fries are my favorite. aka "jo jos"? those were the best when i was a kid.

― lil urbane (Jordan), Thursday, January 29, 2015 7:21 PM (6 days ago)

the jojo, as available at every gas station in the pacific northwest, is wedge-cut and coated in fried chicken batter. thus not really a french fry, imo.

normal size regular old fries - hard to get right, ime, but maybe that's just because they're the default french fry style in every shitty diner/denny's etc
steak/wedge-cut - approve
curly - i voted for these
waffle - gilding the lily
shoestring - approve; too small for dipping, however
crinkle-cut - unnecessary, ridiculous

crinkle-cut fries are for accompanying fish sticks

when i think about the platonic act of fry-eating, it's grabbing a handful of misaligned, white hot fries out of a mcdonald's bag and stuffing them into my face before wiping my hands on my jeans to using the turn signal to pull out of the drive-thru.

― goole, Thursday, January 29, 2015 10:37 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^otm

― gr8080, Thursday, January 29, 2015 10:38 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I haven't managed to have a fry left on arrival at home after my last 5 trips to a drive through so I feels that

I miss The O in Pittsburgh, which had "regular" fries except they are extra long, fried in peanut oil, and plentiful.

Steak fries >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> all the other kinds.

Best fries lately:
Katsu Burger, Seattle — like McDonalds fries, except they somehow stayed hot during the entire meal.
Five Guys, Tupelo — well done, not limp, and somebody there understands taking a few extra seconds to really drain them.

Undercooked fries are the worst.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

at least there's a plurality of non-savages

yucca fries with aji pwns. also plantains. and sweet potato fries.

write-in vote for pommes frites served in a cone with curry sauce. and a hit of salt right as they come out of the fryer.

misread pwns as prawns

mmm aji prawns

anyone had taro fries? asking for a friend

xp

i had fig mole fries at a mexican place recently; would recommend.

i haven't had taro fries but i will basically eat taro anything.

how the fuck did crinkle-cut beat waffle

justify yourselves, crinkle-cut heretics

pbbbbttttt, justify schmustify

Justify youuur cut

fig mole fries

http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/fig-wasp-3.jpg + http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/048/367/original/american-shrew-mole-02.jpg + http://www.texaschicken.com.sg/menu/sides-french-fries.png = http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/1365193232_Guy-with-Question-Mark-over-his-headFotolia_102829_XS.jpeg

I never could solve that puzzle on Concentration

dammit i knew i should have used an accent mark there

Buncha people voting for fries they first tasted 20 mins ago in the noms thread I see

wtf @ curly fries scoring so high, are you thinking of the short n curlies instead maybe?

otm upthread on fries at the O in Pittsburgh; you get a mf huge pile of fries for like $3, and they are very very solid.

okay i want to try yucca fries now, can you get yucca in the uk?

crinkle cut is some flat garbage

crinkle cut is dinner at someone else's parents' house.

and they are soggy bullshit that came from the freezer and were baked in the oven

I never got the point of curly fries. by their design they look like they'd always be thick and soggy.

you get more fry surface area in your mouth at once, plus most curly fries are "seasoned" which is always a win.

They're oily spirals of deliciousness only bettered with horseradish fuiud

read that as "horseradish fluid"

Give your curly fries a much needed tune up...

seasoning of cruly fries can't be a decisive factor, otherwise your answer is "fuck fries, i like seasoning"

cruly ringleader fries

horsey sauce is an enhancement, not a requirement. I stand with curly fries in this trying time

Stevie: y but it's more likely to go by cassava here ime

thank you wins - i shall search and report back with my findings

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/02/chips-potatoes-french-fries-cassava-plantain-chickpeas

I think someone posting an image of proper british chips last time we did this discussion was what directly prompted me to move back to the UK

i tried making chickpea fries the other night, as per the grauniad's recipe, and they were... not good

potatoes 4eva fuiud

chickpea "fries" are a speciality down here (we call them "panisse") but they don't have much to do with fries imo. closer to hash browns I guess, or to latkes. but not fries. they're great though!

a google image search suggests i walk past shop after shop heaving with cassava on the way to the tube each morning. tempted. but guardian feature suggests prep is an arm-ache.

crinkle-cut comes with tiny wells to support ketchup, dawg

waffle fries have whole mini rain-gutters for the holding of ketchup or horsey sauce or what-have-you

this attempt by crinkle-cut to surpass waffle will not stand. neither is the best fry but on the great chain of fry being waffle need not languish in the shadow of crinkle

CoRT, you are nearly my contemporary, how can you consume this garbage and maintain your svelteness?

oh, farmers' hours, i guess

Crinkle vs. Waffle reminds me of some Expos vs. Padres discussion in 1973.

This poll had symmetrical results. Winner ahead by precise ratios of 2-1, 12-5, 4-1, 6-1, 8-1. It's lovely.

my posited svelteness is genuinely a function of how I talk / move / present myself. I actually have a big belly. anybody who wants to feel good about themselves with respect to the ravages of time should have a look at me in profile, an angle I studiously avoid

good to know

anyone who wants to feel good about themselves should eat some fries

I don't have the heart or fortitude to post in the politics thread, but here's a Gladwell podcast (I know) that explains why beef fat fries both taste better and are ostensibly healthier (or no less unhealthy) for you than fries fried in oil:

https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/mcdonalds-broke-my-heart

It's a fascinating and funny episode (esp. when they get to how an early veggie oil attempt led to McDonald's uniforms spontaneously combusting). The too long/didn't listen is that beef tallow is how McDonald's used to do it, until they were pressured to find an alternative by a anti-saturated fat health crusader. But not only did beef fat fries taste better than the oil substitute, because they were animal product they were more filling/satisfying, too. McDonald's used to have only one size of fries, and the shift from a set small portion of animal fat fries to vegetable oil fries (which are no healthier for you) is what made the fries less filling and led to the supersize phenomenon.

The Chicago Tribune actually did some kind of cooking article on this way back in the day. One of my relatives clipped it out and put it in one of their cookbooks, but it must've been pretty old - I think from the 1990s? From what I can remember, the writers tried making fries with various fats, mostly non-animal fats but one used lard, and indeed in blind taste tests EVERYONE thought the lard-cooked fries tasted better.