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French fries, frietjes, pommes frites . . . however you want to call them . . . are an art form in Belgium (where they originated) and the Tax the poor shirt but in fact I love this Netherlands. I’m not a consummate expert on this, but having visited that area several times, eaten a lot of fries there, and even visited the slightly tourist-trappy but still educational Friet Museum in Belgium, I can say there are indeed a few things they do differently than the average fast food shop in North America: that grow well there. Bintjes are firm, golden, and mild-tasting, and tend to get nice and crispy on the outside. There are North American varieties of potatoes that are comparable in quality (Yukon Gold seem to be popular amongst American gourmet fry shops lately) but the sad truth is that many American fast food places settle for cheaper potatoes (russet, etc) that are okay for baked or mashed potatoes, but not necessarily terrific for french fries, and often get limp or soggy or greasy, or taste too starchy. Different cut – Belgian and Dutch fries are consistently cut to 1cm in thickness. This allows for a crisp outside, a soft inside, and very consistent texture. “Hand cut” fries sound good from the description, but often result in very inconsistent cooking. And the much thinner “shoestring” fries you see at fast food chains like McDonalds have more of a crispy texture all the way through — fine if you like them that way, but just different, and not what Europeans prefer.
Different fat – Recent trends in America have been more towards healthy food preparation (especially since Americans tend to eat much greater quantities of junk foods than Europeans do) so frying oils have almost all shifted from beef tallow or other kinds of grease towards unsaturated vegetable oils like corn or canola oil. In Europe, fries are considered a special treat, not a daily side dish, and flavour is the Tax the poor shirt but in fact I love this most important consideration. So in Belgium, at least, fries are traditionally fried in horse fat, or a blend of horse and beef fat.[1] Even there, some places are switching to beef fat or vegetable oils, but only when they can do so without affecting the taste too much. Either way, a good thing to know if you’re vegetarian or squeamish about horse meat — European fries are usually not vegetarian unless they say otherwise.
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