News on the French Fries Front

In frivolous news, the pandemic affected the world of French fries in interesting ways this past year and a half.  As you already know, more and more people purchased food via drive-thrus or takeout.  Wendy’s customers, in particular, complained that their fries were cold and soggy by the time they got them home.  With more people in line to order, it became understandable, but not acceptable.

To counteract this problem of soggy fries, Wendy’s unveiled a new type just a couple of weeks ago.  In a recent taste test, people preferred Wendy’s new version of fries over McDonald’s by a margin of two to one. (In case the thought  crossed your mind, McDonald’s sells over one-third of all French fries sold in the United States, so they are a strong competitor to Wendy’s.)

Wendy’s fries will be made, using a different fry system, a different cut of the potato, and more skin left on the potato before frying.  These changes come after Wendy’s research team considered twenty possible solutions to the problem.  Customers are saying that the new method allows fries to stay crispy for as long as thirty minutes, which is a big improvement over the past five, ten, or fifteen.

But they might not have considered what Serendipity 3 in Manhattan did this summer to keep their fries crisp and tasty.

After Serendipity 3’s closure during the worst of the pandemic, it reopened on July 9th with some special fries, The Crème de la Crème Pommes Frites, which sold for $200 a plate!  The restaurateurs felt that something special and unique would more quickly draw people back in.

What made them so special?  First of all, the potatoes were blanched in Dom Pérignon champagne and then rinsed in vinegar.  (The vinegar is said to  prevent overbrowning of the potatoes.)  Then the potatoes were fried in goose fat imported from France, making the outside crispy and the inside fluffy.  After that, they were sprinkled with edible gold shavings and seasoned with truffle salt and oil.  Lastly, they were served on a crystal plate with an orchid and a Mornay cheese dip made of three different cheeses, including Gruyère.

So how did these French fries taste?  They must have been delicious because they sold out with a ten-week waiting list.  Serendipity 3 had advertised them as “an escape from reality.”  Yup, $200 for a plate of fries is an escape from reality!

One other tidbit of French fry news… French fries lost out to hot dogs and potato chips at last week’s Potato Bowl, an annual event in Grand Forks, North Dakota, to celebrate the local potato industry.  Because of Covid-19 protocols, the annual French fry eating contest was canceled.  Free French fries were not available to the public, as they usually are at the world’s largest French fry feed, but hot dogs and packaged potato chips were available, free of charge.

In the Potato Bowl’s French fry eating contest in 2017, Benny Irvine set a record by eating just a little over a pound of French fries in three minutes.  For that accomplishment, he won gear from the local football team plus a $100 gift certificate for other sports equipment in Grand Forks.  Did he enjoy those fries?  Were they hot and crispy?  We probably don’t care.