Their website states that “The suppliers we work with first peel, cut and blanche the potatoes. They then dry, partially fry and quickly freeze the fries for our restaurants. Once in our kitchens, we cook them in our canola-blend oil so you can have them crispy and hot—just the way you like them.”
“So, the hack is simple: you need the heat to escape, so first things first – bag open. Secondly, you know how the chips are placed upwards in the bag? Put the chips horizontally because that would slow the rate of the heat escaping. It would go out one side rather than straight from the top.
The best way to keep fried foods crispy? Just place them on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet. If you're frying multiple batches, throw the whole setup into a low oven to keep everything warm as you keep frying and adding to the rack.
With their high starch content, fries absorb plenty of moisture when cooked at high temperatures, which leads to their signature puffiness and crispy exterior. When left out, the fries continue to absorb moisture from the air, which eventually leads to them turning soggy.
The now-cut and blanched fries are dipped in an “ingredient bath” which consists of dextrose and sodium acid pyrophosphate.
The soaking, Mr. Nasr said, is the secret to the crisp texture of the fries. It draws out the starch, making them more rigid and less likely to stick together.
Here's what you do. Heat a few tablespoons of the oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat just until it starts to shimmer. Think about covering the entire bottom of the skillet in oil, erring on the side of using more oil than less. The oil helps to “fry” the French fries a second time and get them extra crispy.
To reheat McDonald's fries in the air fryer, preheat the air fryer to its highest setting (usually 400°F), add the cold french fries, and cook for 1 minute. Give the air-fryer basket a good shake to move the fries around, continue air frying for 1 to 2 minutes until crisp, then toss with a pinch of salt before serving.
When fries are cooked at a very high temperature, the starches in them are hydrated (moisture goes in), puffing them up and helping the outer skin get nice and crisp. When these same fries cool, the starches secrete moisture, which makes its way to the fries' crust, leaving them soggy and limp.
At the beginning of the potato season, when we're using newer potatoes, the naturally-occurring sugar content is very low and we do need to add a small amount of sugar dextrose to our fries to ensure they maintain that golden colour.
"When our suppliers partially fry our cut potatoes, they use an oil blend that contains beef flavoring," McDonald's website states. "This ensures the great-tasting and recognizable flavor we all love from our World Famous Fries.
We use a blend including canola and sunflower oils to cook with. Like all vegetable oils, it's cholesterol free. We use only 100% Aussie grown beef to serve you the best beef burgers, sourced from farmers across the country.
Blanching. Another restaurant trick is to blanch the fries in water, then freeze them, which allows more of the potato's moisture to escape, thus producing a crispier fry.
Using ice water will stiffen the potato's cell walls which help you achieve crispier fries. Just make sure after you've rinsed your fries, you completely dry them before cooking.
Why soak potatoes in water before frying? The excess potato starch that forms when potatoes are peeled and sliced must be rinsed off the chips with water. If not, the surface starch will block the evaporation of moisture from the potato and lead to mushy, dark brown chips.
Take a large bowl and soak the potatoes in cold water. Make sure that you soak the potatoes for at least 2-3 hours. Soaking the sliced potatoes in cold water is one of the main steps to prepare perfect French Fries. The cold water removes the starch present outside the potatoes so that you get perfectly crispy fries.
One of the obvious causes of leftover fries' bland taste is that they're not fresh from the fryer. While most fried foods don't taste nearly as good reheated as fresh, they still don't taste nearly as bad as fries. The issue lies specifically in the potato itself, explains Live Science.
Vinegar: Mixed with water while boiling the potatoes. The acidity from the vinegar helps the potatoes retain their structure and not break apart while boiling. This is also the reason why fries turn out perfectly crispy.
Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.
Fill a large bowl with cold water and stir in 2 tablespoons of salt. Place the sliced potatoes in the salt water and let them soak for 15 to 30 minutes. This will help them bake up crispier. When the potatoes are done soaking, drain them, and dry very well with a towel.
“It's because McDonald's cooks their fries with beef flavoring mixed within their vegetable oil,” the San Diego-based content creator explains in a TikTok posted last week that's served up 9.6 million views. It's “why the fries taste so good,” he added, but it's “probably bad news for vegetarians.”