The French Fry Toppings of the World

I make no claim for Pizza Express being authentic or traditional. Although it used to be back in the day when it had a handful of branches. I used to go to branch #2, when I visited London - pizza hadnt yet found its way to northwest England.

I’m in SoCal, so Ranch dressing is common. I used to have a coworker who was born and raised in Utah and she would always mix together ketchup and mayo to make “fry sauce”. She said that’s how everyone at it there.

There’s a hot dog place near us that does a curry ketchup. I prefer it with their tater tots over fries though.

In Singapore, you can get garlic chilli sauce to eat with your fries, even at places like McDonald’s. In Malaysia, you get plain (non-garlic) chilli sauce.

There are shops (“fry shops”) that specifically sell french fried potatoes as a novelty item, though?

Also Pizzocheri! LOVE that dish. My Italian stepdad was from just North of MIlan and loved his potatoes.

Huh. In Germany, pepperoni refer to relatively spicy, long green peppers, not bell peppers.

A friggitoria sells a huge variety of fried little things – fried rice balls, fried anchovies, fried dough (sweet or salty), fried cauliflower florets – and you are as likely to see fried potato croquettes as you are to see “french fries” (although I think french fries are increasingly popular in Italy).

Here is a picture of a friggitoria in Napoli, where you don’t see any french fries

but in another view of the shop you can see sandwiches that are filled with french fries and what is probably wurstel (hot dogs) and squirt bottles nearby

Wow, fascinating! I had no idea. I’ve been to “fry up shops” in the UK that were basically a big deep fryer with a bunch of baskets, and a chalkboard with all the stuff you could deep fry scribbled on it, and they’d fry it up as you waited. The Italian version of that seems much snazzier.

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Me too.

I think in Italy this is specifically called peperoni verdi lunghi ( I forgot to eliminate the double “p” in my first post)

There is also a fatter, long pale green pepper that would just be peperoni verdi

The deep green bell-shaped pepper is rarely seen in Italian markets, but we have bell-shaped peperone giallo, rosso and arancio, which are sweeter than green bell peppers.

All of the colorful bell-shaped peppers might also be termed “dolce” (or “sweet”), and hot small ones are peperoncini piccanti

It was only when I began gardening that I found out that they all (bells anyway) start out green and ripen to another color. Finally explained why I’ve never liked green bells.

Do none of them stay deep green?

As far as I know, yes.

I haven’t planted hot peppers in a long time so can’t remember. The green bell peppers give both Bob and me ‘indigestion.’ We’re so compatible over the important things in life :slight_smile:

My understanding is that yes they all start out green but there are some that will stay green when ripe (others will start green and change colors once ripe).

If they are not ripe, I can see why they would give most people indigestion. When I lived in the states, I ate green bell peppers, raw or grilled, but I much prefer the red or yellow, which are abundant where I live now. Long stewed red peppers in Italy are somewhat reminiscent of ketchup.

I think these must have been the ones I customarily used for salads, etc.

Oh, I think we’re the exception. We literally pick them out of dishes, call them “lurkers.”

Not the same at all - but I made romesco sauce the other night (roasted red peppers too) - that would be tasty on fries. And it has nuts … not peanuts but I can see how that would be tasty.

I love fries … lol

The thing about fries – at least many fries I ate in the US – is that they are practically flavorless except for the salt and fat, and really are only a vehicle for scooping up flavorful stuff. You can’t taste the potato. (This is different in Belgium, for sure.)

In general in Italy, there are not many equivalents to that kind of vehicle-food. It may be why skinny fried potatoes are not traditionally part of the cuisine, and potatoes are enjoyed in other dishes where you specifically want the flavor of potato, not masked by anything else.

We do have a lot of crappy fries here in the US. So I can see that perception. But there are some places that do have really good fresh hand cut fries too, very potato-y but you have to struggle to find them. And then once you do, you have to struggle to not go every day :wink:

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Hmm, that brings up something interesting (to me). Do potatoes really have much taste? Are we always doing something else with/to them? Butter, cream, cheese, ‘green stuff,’ etc. Maybe all starches are like that? Off-topic.

All the friggitorie I’ve seen in Italy are really holes in the wall, nothing snazzy. It’s poor people’s street food, in densely packed urban areas, and in summertime at the beach.