Chips, Not Fries!

classic33

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Chips, Not Fries

To British eyes, these are chips. You can tell they’re chips because they’re quite thick, they look like they were once a potato and (this is the giveaway) they’re lying next to a fried and battered fillet of fish:
fishnchips.jpg

Fish ‘n’ chips (Pic: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

However, these things here, the golden spindly fingers that look like what happens when the potato is mashed up and squeezed through a Play Doh-sized garlic press directly into a deep fat fryer (note: don’t actually do this unless you’re wearing splashback protection), these and their curly brethren are fries. Even the Brits have taken to calling them fries, having been forced to do so—with some personal embarrassment—when American fast food chains first arrived in the U.K.
fries1.jpg

(Pic: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)




 
Hun,
The second picture is skimpy, horrid things pretending to be fries. If you got that picture from a certain American restaurant then they start with dehydrated potatoes, process them to look like that, partially cook them, then freeze and ship to their restaurants to be deep fried way too long. Oh and that place is not considered a true restaurant but a fast food place.
They are not a good representation of french fries.
Good french fries look very similar to your chips.
 
I think in North America what we call chips are called fries (and what we call crisps are chips). But I'm not sure if there is a distinction in nomenclature between fat and thin chips (fries) in America. The term 'French Fries' came about (I think) because in France, if you order chips you will get the skinny type. Nowadays in the UK we have both fries and chips and both can be found in the frozen food cabinet in the supermarket. McDonald's do fries, fish and chip shops do chips. However, we have now spawned a whole lot of other types of chips: Home-style fries (which are chunky), Chunky chips, Southern Fries, Crinkle Cut, Curly Chips, Thin and Crispy etc.

I don't like the skinny ones very much at all. Give me a fat chip for preference!
 
What you call chips, we call steak fries. I guess because they are meaty.

I've seen "chips" also called railroad spikes, and nails, just for fun.

Btw, why would anyone be embarassed by the name of a food that is native to another hemisphere, and its preparation from an entirely different country?
 
What you call chips, we call steak fries. I guess because they are meaty.

I've seen "chips" also called railroad spikes, and nails, just for fun.

Btw, why would anyone be embarassed by the name of a food that is native to another hemisphere, and its preparation from an entirely different country?
Possibly because the places selling them, calling them fries, refuse to acknowledge the word chips.

@morning glory, not all fries are French Fries, and they may have origins outside of France.
 
Lol, home fries are skinned and par boiled cubes of potatoes that are then griddled or pan fried in fat (bacon grease is best, then butter, then oil) just a bit, often with diced onions and bell peppers.

They are a perfect vehicle for absorbing runny egg yolk.
 
why would anyone be embarassed by the name of a food that is native to another hemisphere, and its preparation from an entirely different country?
I think the journalist quoted in the above article is talking about having to go into a McDonalds (when they first appeared in the UK) and ask for 'fries'. In the UK at that time it seemed (to him) to be a pretentious and silly word for chips. I can understand that in a way. Take-away chips were (are?) part of working class culture in the UK. To start calling them 'fries' would have seemed daft.
 
Possibly because the places selling them, calling them fries, refuse to acknowledge the word chips.

@morning glory, not all fries are French Fries, and they may have origins outside of France.

I've read that American servicemen returning from WWI brought home their love of fried potatoes, and having served mostly in France, called them French fries. It was more likely that the European versions were from Belgium. However, aren't most of the varioys types called pomme frite in France?

Nonetheless, you sell to your customers. Call them what is appropriate for sales.
 
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Possibly because the places selling them, calling them fries, refuse to acknowledge the word chips.

@morning glory, not all fries are French Fries, and they may have origins outside of France.

I know but I think possibly the American use of the word fries derives from the skinny French Fries found in France. But I really don't know. What are chips like in Italy?
 
I've read that American servicemen returning from WWI brought home their love of fried potatoes, and having served mostly in France, called them French fries. It was more likely that the European versions were from Belgium. However, aren't most of the varioys types called pomme frite in France?

Nonetheless, you sell to your customers. Call them what is appropriate for sales.
Yes pommes frites (potato fries) - so easily changed to French fries.
 
Who likes skinny, from a foodie point of view?

And I'm on board with thick cut spuds. I greatly dislike what we call shoestring fries.

Or worse, many South American countries like their potatoes fried just until done, but still somewhat flaccid.
 
Lol, home fries are skinned and par boiled cubes of potatoes that are then griddled or pan fried in fat (bacon grease is best, then butter, then oil) just a bit, often with diced onions and bell peppers.

They are a perfect vehicle for absorbing runny egg yolk.

So they are what we would call fried potatoes. :D
 
These are the sort of fries sold by McDonalds in the UK. The same in America I think. Are they typical of American fries?

mcdonalds-french-fries.jpg
 
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