CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
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Yes, that’s pretty much it. I looked online and it looks like they’re now offered in smaller bags, frozen, at consumer/retail level. None I saw looked quite right - I’m used to seeing a batter with at least a considerable part of corn meal in it.
This below webstaurant site links to McCain’s version as restaurant supply. Unfortunately it doesn’t give the ingredients here, but the batter looks like it might have some corn meal - it’s got that “bumpy” look.
I’d imagine most of the stuff I got from A&W and DQ would have been from industrial supply, too (can’t imagine the kids at DQ making up a batter and dipping, although maybe? - but likely not). At least one of the restaurants where I used to get them I know made their own because I had a younger distant cousin who worked there.
The real treat was a few of the local bars when peckerheads (morels) were in season. You could bring your own in and they’d batter and fry for you pretty cheaply. Your fish filets, too, if you’d been lucky at both “land and sea”, so to speak (lake/pond thereabouts).
Edit - well, according to that forager chef link I embedded, what we got were “true” morels and he says they’re not really the same as peckerheads. But that’s what I grew up calling them in smalltown podunk Midwest. I don’t think I learned the name morel until years after I left home.
They call them Brew Fries here (actually a batter that’s fried on the potatoes.) Others have the dry coat . Most are pretty easy to replicate with , relatively, cheap tators.
The other day we got some fries from a local spot. I don’t usually care for crinkle cut, but these are nice and spicy and served with a Vermont cheddar dipping sauce. Their burgers are pretty good too.
I don’t see these very often anymore, but baked potatoes cut into wedges and then deep fried till crunchy outside and perfect in side are my all time favs. Even better with sour cream and chives.
But real onion rings are my FF trade off, for burgers or fried seafood.
I will always choose French fries because they will fit me at any point I get them and I can serve them with maybe a burger or other thing and still be okay. The alternative fried foods are cool also but I don’t trust most places with the foods that is why I rarely choose them.
I don’t eat at burger joints very often, and when I do, it’s usually because I haven’t planned dinner. But if I do, I don’t get fries; they’re just not worth the calories. I like onion rings, I think they’re tasty and healthier than fries, though most of the time I’ll get a chicken sandwich. I also like to get a side salad.
I generally try not to get the fried stuff, but I really like onion rings, and sometimes a side of fries sounds just right, as long as they aren’t coated with whatever they coat them with.
i like sweet potato, mushroom, and zucchini fries, too, but they’re easier to resist. Plus, the mushrooms tend to spit boiling juice onto the diner.
I’m always happy to have the option of coleslaw or potato salad in place of fries. They’re usually just filler to me. There are certain restaurants we frequent that make fries that I like - thin, skin on potatoes that don’t come from the freezer - but I still can’t eat many of them because I get full too fast. I do like freshly-made-with-real-onions onion rings, but I can’t eat many of those either. There’s a local restaurant that offers sweet potato fries that begin their life as a whole sweet potato and cut in the kitchen, turned into fries. I will indulge in those. Haven’t had zucchini fries for a long time but I like those, too - there was a place we used to go to that served them as a hot appetizer. Breaded fresh zucchini, cut into spears and deep fried served with a horseradish dipping sauce.
I guess I like them if they are minimally processed and not from frozen. I never could eat Tots.
Tater Tots! More crunch, and they hold salt much better. There’s much room for invention with them, as demonstrated by Table 6 in Denver, one of the places where they’re made in house.
I never order fries. And if I can substitute, I will. Not because I don’t like them, but because they are so ubiquitous. They show up even if you don’t order them. Or if someone else orders them, they probably can’t finish them, so I get some of their fries. That’s enough for me. I have only so much time and attention to devote to fries.
I despise most of the fried alternatives. Tater tots are gross. Oil and salt bombs. Crinkly or curly or waffle fries mostly the same.
Onion rings are acceptable to me. Especially thick ones that provide as much vegetable as crunch. Though I don’t see them very often to order them, so they wind up being a rarity.
I luv onion rings… but I can’t recall a single FF place that did them worth a damn. They’re frozen, battered in god only knows what that is mostly breadcrumbs (or worse), and have the consistency of freeze-dried onions.
French fries are just filler - I don’t eat them. I also detest tots. I’m always happy if I can sub coleslaw, a green salad or potato salad for fries. We have places that serve fresh, hand battered onion rings. I can eat a few. I like the thick cut ones, like you describe. The onions are sweet and have their natural vegetable character and the batter is fresh - so very different from the ubiquitous frozen deep fried version that shred the roof of your mouth.
