McDonald's french fries recipe. Homemade french fries - tastier, more natural and cheaper than McDonald's

There is an opinion that fried potatoes contributed to the rise of McDonald's even more than the hamburgers themselves. This opinion is reinforced by the fact that today 4 out of 5 visitors to this fast food restaurant order french fries for lunch and dinner.

I've always wondered what the secret of this dish is? After all, everyone who tried to create something similar at home, for sure, failed. I once heard that McDonald's potatoes are so delicious because they supposedly add sugar to them. But it turned out that everything is much more complicated.

The famous French fried potato (as it was originally called in the USA) is the result of a long search. In the first 10 years of the company's existence, McDonald's System Inc. spent more than three million dollars on improving the quality of french fries!

From the very beginning, McDonald's has used only one variety of potato, the Idaho Russet No. 1. It was most suitable for french fries because of its oblong shape and high content solids.

At first, all research on the process of cooking french fries consisted only of observing how potatoes were fried in restaurants and trying to determine optimum temperature and roasting time. But it soon became clear that this seemingly simple task is more difficult than studying the secrets of the atomic nucleus.

Even frying potatoes of the same variety, obtained from the same supplier, the company's specialists could not get stable results. Chefs have noticed that some batches of potatoes are fried through, while others, under the same conditions, turn golden on the outside, but remain undercooked on the inside.

Investigating the processes occurring in potatoes during storage, the McDonald's laboratory, originally equipped in the basement of one of the restaurants, found the following. Those potatoes that were stored underground for a longer time fried much better than those that were put into cooking immediately after delivery.

Now everyone employed in the industry fast food it is known that before frying, potatoes should be stored for almost three weeks in order to most of the sugar it contains has been converted to starch. Otherwise, the sugar will quickly turn the potatoes golden and look ready even before they are well fried from the inside.

They set out to analyze solids to find out what levels of solids make a crisp, and ultimately concluded that McDonald's should accept potatoes with at least 21% solids.

Over time, in their pursuit of excellence, McDonald's experts have reached the network of food suppliers. They got farmers to grow potatoes differently to meet the high demands of McDonald's, buying companies started building new, state-of-the-art storage facilities with automatic temperature control and processing potatoes differently.

In fact, the corporation "McDonald's" has changed the entire system of growing and processing potatoes in the United States! True, not all french fry improvements have been related to raw materials. Deeper changes have taken place in the roasting process itself.

One day, in a diner of another chain, where they served sausages with potatoes, the founder of McDonald's, Ray Kroc, spied on a different technology for frying potatoes. Whereas at McDonald's the fries took about five minutes, at the Chicago diner he went to, the process was split into two stages.

The potatoes were blanched in the morning for about three minutes, and upon receipt of the order they were fried for another two minutes. Convinced that this method made the potatoes crispier and also served customers faster, Kroc introduced the new system to McDonald's as well.

Following the example of the same Chicago diner, to achieve friability, they began to add beef fat-based combi fat to deep fat (yeah, that's where the dog rummaged!).

The supplier even brought special grade for McDonald's, calling it "Formula 47", reminiscent of those 47 cents that then (in the late 50s) cost at McDonald's a purely American snack of a hamburger for 15 cents, french fries for 12 and a cocktail for 20 cents.

However, this was not enough to satisfy the desire of McDonald's management for excellence, and the experiments continued. In the laboratory, they tried to establish what happens to potatoes when they are fully fried?

Temperature sensors were installed in the brazier and the potato slices themselves. Potatoes were fried with dyes, and then cut into pieces and examined under a microscope, etc.

After about a year (!) of research, a discovery was made that finally made it possible to obtain stable results and automate the process of cooking potatoes.

Every time a cold and wet potato is thrown into a roasting pan with melted fat at 325 degrees Fahrenheit (162.8 degrees Celsius), the temperature drops sharply, but each time to a different level.

Potatoes always have time to fry when the temperature of the deep-fryer rises by three degrees Fahrenheit (1.7 Celsius) compared to the level to which it has dropped.

This discovery allowed the introduction of automatic temperature control. A "potato computer" was placed in each fryer - an electrical sensor that determined when the temperature would rise by three degrees and signaled that the potatoes were ready.

A modified version of this sensor is used in all fryers today, and not only for frying potatoes, but also for preparing other fried dishes: from Chicken McNuggets to fish fillets.

Ray Kroc, founder of the company, said: "Competitors could sell the same hamburgers as ours, and we had nothing to oppose them, but french fries were our signature, exceptional dish, because you cannot find an equal to it in quality. This, one might say, is the result of our love and care."

Many decades have passed, the secret of french fries has been revealed. The technology of its production is known to everyone in the fast food industry. Necessary equipment anyone can buy it, the Interstate company sells combizir not only to McDonald's, but also to other chains: Burger King, Wendys, Hardys, KFC, etc.

But I still don’t understand why such delicious fried french fries as in McDonald’s are still not found anywhere else?

Of course you want french fries. The cashier may not even ask. Let's face it, no McDonald's meal is complete without these delicious sticks.

And for the record, the world famous french fries were only added to the menu retroactively. They were replaced with plain old chips in 1949, nine years after the world's first McDonald's opened its doors to business in California.

So, you understand that this yummy is bad for you, don't you? Before you turn your back on the screen so we don't have time to ruin the others for you forever delicious dishes read this: there are many fast food menu items that are much more unhealthy (we will mention some of them later in this article).

Suspect: Large McDonald's French Fries (153 grams)

Detective: Dr. Christopher Ochner (Research Fellow at the New York Obesity Research Center at St. Luke Roosevelt's Clinic) is familiar with the McDonald's menu. A few years ago, Ochner, who has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, conducted his own Super Size Me diet experiment in which he ate one meal at a fast food restaurant every day for two months during the study. Its results have not yet been published.

Label: 500 kilocalories, 25 grams fat, 63 g carbohydrates, 350 mg sodium, 6 g fiber, 6 g protein

Ingredients: potato, vegetable oil (rapeseed oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium pyrophosphate acid (to maintain color), salt and dimethylpolysiloxane. The oil used for frying also contains tert-butyl hydroquinone.

* natural flavor beef contains hydrolyzed wheat and milk as original ingredients.

Under the microscope:

Vegetable oil

In order to make french fries, you need to deep-fry it, in other words, spoil it. healthy carbohydrates something greasy. McDonald's potatoes are dipped in the oil bath twice.

Producers cut and boil the potatoes and possibly roast them before freezing them and then send them to restaurants to roast them again, Ochner said. Here's what's in the fryer:

1. Rapeseed oil is a common vegetable oil that is generally considered “harmless” compared to others in this category, but it is still high in calories and therefore promotes weight gain if consumed in excess. It is difficult to say what percentage this is in comparison with less useful and too fatty oils. Because canola oil is a little more expensive, Ochner suggests McDonald's uses less healthy oil and more than others, such as corn and soy.
2. Hydrogenated soybean oil. When conventional soybean oil goes through the hydrogenation process, its unsaturated fats become saturated, which in turn simplifies the cooking process and helps preserve the volume of the potatoes. The downside is that these fats become trans fats, which are strongly associated with heart disease. You might think that the mandatory Lately the call to remove trans fats from all foods led McDonald's to rethink its recipe. Nope. Ochner says the FDA's definition of "zero trans fat per serving" means less than 1 gram per tablespoon and that McDonald's has found a loophole and still continues to use relatively a large number of trans fats in your deep fat.
3. Natural beef flavor. About 50 years ago, McDonald's cooked French fries in beef fat. When he switched to vegetable oil, so that the french fries would not lose their famous flavor, he decided to add natural beef flavor to the oil. Hydrolyzed wheat and milk are used as initial ingredients for flavoring. Surprisingly enough, these potatoes are not vegetarian. In 2002, McDonald's paid $10 million to members of the vegetarian Hindu community who sued the chain for revealing how the food was prepared.
4. Lemon acid. This common preservative is considered safe, but there's something troubling about how it affects food. If you remember 2004 and Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me documentaries, then you remember that McDonald's french fries can last for months without spoiling and looking like they were bought yesterday.
5. tert-butyl hydroquinone. This super-powerful preservative found in many foods helps citric acid make a zombie out of a long-dead potato. Although it is also considered safe, animal studies have linked it to peptic ulcer stomach and DNA damage.

Dextrose

Dextrose, another name for sugar, is the third ingredient - besides potatoes and butter - used to make french fries. Why are there sweets?

Well, it's simple: sugar makes it taste better and is also addictive. A recent study shows that it is easier for the body to convert the sugar found in food products, into body fat than to convert food fat into body fat. So sugar can be worse than fat.

Sodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate

This preservative is the reason McDonald's french fries stay fresh golden brown instead of turning black when stored in a jar for two months.

This ingredient is often found in ready-made cakes, puddings, waffles, pancakes and baking mixes, as well as in chilled dough products, flavored milk, jerky, potato products and canned fish.

Dimethylpolysiloxane

What is the defoamer doing here? Strangely enough, this silicone is there for a reason: McDonald's manufacturers probably add a small amount to the water in which potatoes are boiled before frying and freezing.

This most likely helps to speed up the cooking process (foam does not splash over the edge) and reduces cleaning time. There is no evidence that this substance is harmful, but would you like it to be?

Verdict: This all sounds pretty dubious, right? Despite all the potentially dangerous ingredients hidden in french fries, Ochner says the saturated fat found in such foods is the most dangerous part of the composition.

However, there are many other menu items at McDonald's (and other fast food restaurants) that are worse than french fries for their calorie and fat content alone. Some foods to avoid: McDonald's bacon and cheese burger, which has 820 calories and 41 grams of fat; chicken pie from KFC, which contains 790 kcal and 45 grams of fat; and the Burger King Double Burger, which has 830 calories and 50 grams of fat.

Verdict: McDonald's french fries contain questionable ingredients, high amounts of fat, and minimal amount nutrients(proteins, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants).

However, we understand that some of you may still be finding the cashiers song “Would you like French fries?” very tempting. We hope this information can encourage you to eat less french fries, or at least choose a smaller portion.

By simply ordering a small portion instead of a large one, you can avoid 270 calories, 14 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, and 34 grams of carbohydrates.

Do you want your french fries to be just as crispy and delicious? like McDonald's? Try this amazing recipe!

In order to cook french fries at home, we need:

• potatoes - 0.5 kg
• vegetable oil - 1 liter
• salt - to taste or 0.5 tbsp without top

The first cooking secret delicious potatoes fries - it must be cut correctly. To do this, we take a large potato tuber and divide it into 1 cm plates, and then cut these plates into 1 cm wide sticks.

Now we put our potatoes for a short time in very cold water (it is possible with ice). And then the potatoes need to be very well wiped dry with a clean kitchen towel.

Second secret cooking french fries- it needs to be fried twice: the first time in not very hot oil, but for a long time - 7 minutes. And the second time in very hot oil, but quickly - 2 minutes.

So for the first time we put the potatoes in deep fat not hot (somewhere around 150-160 degrees). It is better to fry potatoes in small portions.

And the third cooking secret delicious potatoes fries like in mcdonalds- as soon as you pulled the potatoes out of the oil after the first frying, you need to blot them very well with paper towels so that the oil in which the potatoes were fried does not soak. Before the second fry, the potatoes should cool for at least 10 minutes.

And now we throw the potatoes into hot deep fat (the oil can even smoke a little) and fry for about 2 minutes. We take out our potatoes on a paper towel. Now you can finally salt it. Eat with your favorite sauce.

McMuffin with egg and bacon

Caesar Roll from McDonald's

Filet-o-fish like McDonald's

6 Comments on “French fries like McDonald's”

It is better to choose large potatoes, rinse and peel, then chop, preferably on a special shredder, or simply cut into long slices 0.5 - 1.0 cm thick. Put on a towel and let dry well, excess moisture can ruin your mood and appearance- potatoes in hot oil will begin to “shoot” and you risk getting a severe burn and pretty dirty clothes with oil splashes.

The easiest way to cook fries in a special fryer - in stores household appliances big choice such devices. If there is no deep fryer, take a deep pan and pour vegetable oil into it so that one tab of potatoes is completely covered with oil. Dried potatoes are carefully placed in hot oil and "cooked" until golden brown. With the help of a slotted spoon, the finished potatoes are laid out in a colander or on a napkin to allow excess oil to drain, sprinkled with salt to taste. Can be served, for example, with barbecue sauce or plain ketchup.

You can save on oil. To do this, cut into strips and dried potatoes, it is necessary in small quantities, not in a “slide” but in one layer, to fry in a very hot frying pan with Not big amount oil until crispy.

Immediately you just need to put on a big fire then it will crunch.

"like in McDonald's" - Why is this phrase in the title? Then add “patented fries flavor” and flavor enhancer to the composition ...

Wouldn't it be easier to just call the recipe "deep-fried potatoes", which it is?

and no fryer?

Try it in a frying pan with plenty of oil, and big fire I think it will work, good luck :)

Everything worked out. the recipe is super, only when you cook in a frying pan the potatoes do not crunch.

French fries look great on the table both on a weekday and during the holidays. This crispy dish with a fried crust and a soft core is loved by both adults and children! In addition, it is so quickly and efficiently prepared that it has won the love of all chefs in the world. The only negative of the dish is its high calorie content! But that won't stop us from enjoying some great fries!

Making french fries at home is not at all difficult. After peeling the potatoes, they are cut into medium-sized cubes, washed (or better soaked, especially starchy varieties) in cold water and dry with a paper towel.
Then vegetable oil is poured into a deep frying pan or deep fryer, in such an amount that the potatoes float freely in it during frying, and potato slices are fried in portions in it. Fishing out ready potatoes slotted spoon, put it on a plate. It should first be laid out with napkins, which will collect the remaining fat from the potatoes. Salt the french fries directly on the plate before serving.

French fries - food preparation

To get tasty and crispy fries, it is important to choose the right fries. These should be fairly large mature potatoes. A dish will not work out of a young potato, since it does not have the desired taste or density. Also, you should not take varieties that contain a lot of starch for cooking, as they will quickly soften after frying.
Preparation of potatoes for frying begins with the selection of potato tubers of the desired shape, which do not have defects and damage. Then we wash them thoroughly, peel them and cut them into long sticks with a section of 1x1 cm. After washing the resulting potato sticks in running water, dry them thoroughly paper towel or napkins. Our potatoes are ready to fry!
For 4 servings of crispy potatoes you will need:
- 4 large potatoes;
- 3-4 pinches of salt;
- 150 g flour;
- 200 ml of vegetable oil.

Agree the list necessary ingredients present in almost every home! In the recipe, french fries are breaded in flour, and then only fried in boiling oil. Thus, potatoes will always have a crispy crust and appetizing golden color after frying! It will turn out even for inexperienced cooks or beginners taking their first steps in this field.
Peel the potato tubers and wash them in water. If necessary, cut out all black dots and pollution. In order to cut potatoes into neat strips, there are many devices, but if you don’t have any, then cut the potatoes into layers, and they are already straws.

Put the chopped potatoes in a container with high sides, sprinkle salt on it and wheat flour. mix everything so that each potato straw is breaded in salt and flour.

In a deep saucepan or frying pan, heat up the vegetable oil and put the potato strips in it, trying to lower in portions so that the entire portion of the potato is covered with boiling oil. Do not immediately add all the potato mass to the stewpan - the straws will simply stick together and will not fry. In progress heat treatment you will see the french fries begin to turn golden - at this stage, mix them with a spatula, being careful not to damage them, and fry for about 1 minute more. Then, using a slotted spoon, the fried potatoes must be pulled out of the container onto a paper towel or napkin so that it gives all excess fat, and add the second portion of potatoes to the boiling oil. Keep in mind that only 1-2 servings of breaded potatoes can be fried in 1 serving of oil, since then carcinogens accumulate in it, which also enter the potatoes. Don't skimp on your health!

Serve hot, but slightly fat-free french fries with any sauces - they perfectly complement it and add piquancy to the taste! Enjoy your meal!

4 servings of crispy french fries is an elementary savings! And, although the lion's share of the cost of the recipe in it is vegetable oil, the cost of the dish is still quite low:
- 4 potatoes - 12 rubles;
- 150 g flour - 3 rubles;
- 200 ml of vegetable oil - 12 rubles.
Total: the cost of four servings is equal to 27 rubles, and the cost of one - 7 rubles. Isn't it budget friendly? Just like you just made sure of it. Moreover, potatoes cooked at home will be much healthier than potatoes fries prepared in fast food establishments - there you will not be able to regulate the "cleanliness" and the change of vegetable oil!
cook with us delicious recipes and spend the money you save for your own pleasure!

Other french fries recipes

Recipe 1: Classic French Fries
If you are a fan of fast food french fries, then this recipe is for you. Potatoes prepared according to this recipe turn out exactly the way you are served, for example, at McDonald's. Therefore, with our recipe, you can enjoy your favorite dish at home.
Ingredients:
7 medium potatoes;
300 gr. vegetable oils;
salt to taste.
Cooking method:
1. After peeling and washing the potatoes, cut them into cubes and dry them with a napkin.
2. Pouring any vegetable oil to your liking into a saucepan or other deep form, heat it up.
3. Putting in a frying pan small portions potatoes, fry it until golden brown and spread it with a slotted spoon in a colander. When the oil drains, put it on a plate. Only then salt and serve hot.

Recipe 2: French fries with egg white

If you love french fries, but limit yourself to fried foods, then you will surely come in handy with such a recipe. This potato can be safely given even to children, and it comes out very ruddy and crispy, in a word, the kind for which we love french fries.
Ingredients:
7 potatoes;
whites of 2 eggs;
salt and paprika to taste.
Cooking method:
1. After washing the potatoes and peeling them, cut them into slices 1 cm thick.
2. Whisk lightly with salt egg whites. Pour them into the prepared potatoes and mix well so that each bar is covered with protein.
3. Preheat the oven well. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, place the potatoes on it and sprinkle paprika on top. Place the tray in the oven and bake until golden brown. Serve hot.

Recipe 3: French fries "dietary"

Another french fries recipe for those who love them but are horrified at the thought of how many calories and health damage they get with a serving of such a coveted dish. This method of cooking provides a minimum amount of fat, but contains spices that give the french fries a slight spiciness.
Ingredients:
1 kg of potatoes;
50 gr. rast. oils;
50 gr. breadcrumbs;
1 tsp powder sweet paprika with ground cumin;
a pinch of ground red pepper
salt to taste with black ground pepper.
Cooking method:
1. After washing and peeling the potatoes, cut them into 8 parts and dry them well with a napkin or paper towel. Place the prepared potatoes in a large bowl, sprinkle with oil and mix thoroughly so that the oil evenly covers all the slices.
2. Mix in another bowl breadcrumbs with paprika powder, red and black pepper, cumin and salt. Roll the potatoes in the resulting spicy breading.
3. Warm up the oven well and cover the baking sheet with baking paper, put the potato slices on it in one layer, put in the oven. Turning occasionally, bake in a preheated oven for about half an hour until it becomes golden and crispy. Serve hot. It is important that the potatoes are thoroughly dried with a paper towel or napkins before dipping in the oil. Otherwise, the oil, coming into contact with a wet potato, may begin to splatter and burn you.
When cooking french fries, preference should be given to refined oils (preferably deodorized). Moreover, oil can be sunflower or olive, cottonseed or corn - in a word, according to your desire, while the finished dish will also have a shade of its taste.
How to determine that the oil in the pan is heated to the right temperature? Very simple - gently lowering a small piece of potato into it and watching it. If the potatoes immediately surfaced, surrounded by bubbles of boiling oil, it means that it is time to put the prepared potatoes into it for frying. If not, then you need to continue heating.
Salt french fries should be ready, otherwise it will not turn out crispy. by the most the best option will do this already when you put the potatoes from the pan on the dish, before serving.