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[6] Sidewinders, a new shape made to generate excitement at restaurants (photo © Simplot).
[7] Tornado fries, also called spiral fries, were created following the craze for sidewinders. Here’s a recipe (photo © Grumpy Recipes).
[9] Potato spirals, made by piping a mash into spirals. Here’s the recipe (photo © Taste Made).
[10] Disco Fries, New Jersey’s homage to poutine (photos #12 and #13. Taste of Home).
[11] Patatje Oorlog Here’s the recipe (photo © Marley Spoon).
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Home Fries or Cottage Fries: A potato dish made by pan-frying sliced potatoes that have been par-cooked by boiling or other technique, then pan-fried in butter or oil—not deep fried. When diced green and red bell peppers are added, and optional chopped onions, they are called Potatoes O’Brien. The dish was created at John’s restaurant in Manhattan in the early 1900s. Here’s a recipe.
Julienne Fries: The classic: a popular width for French fried potatoes in the U.S. and elsewheeree, 1/8 inch × 1/8 inch × 2 inches.
Jojo Fries: A type of potato wedge, typically cut thick, dip in egg, and coat in a flour‑and‑spice mix (often including Lawry’s salt), and deep-fried in a pressure cooker. They are a regional specialty in the Pacific Northwest and some parts of the Midwest, sometimes referred to as “broasted potatoes” or “jojos.” Here’s a recipe.
Loaded Fries: Top the fries with melted cheese, diced onions, sliced jalapeños, bacon, and sour cream. Here’s a recipe.
Matchstick Fries: Another name for shoestring fries.
Newfie Fries: A dish originating in Newfoundland: fries, dressing (turkey stuffing made with summer savory), and gravy. One variation adds ground beef or hot dogs and cheese.
Oven Fries: Also called baked fries, these are fries that are baked in the oven instead of fried. Here’s a recipe (photo #7, immediately below).
[8] Oven fries. Here’s a recipe (photo © Taste Of Home).
Patatje Oorlog: Dutch for “war fries,” pronounced pa-TAH-che OR-lock, this popular Dutch street food consists of deep-fried fries topped with a “battlefield” mix of mayonnaise, peanut-based satay sauce, and raw diced onions. Often served in a paper cone, it sometimes featuring extras like curry ketchup with eight or more relishes and sauces, including mayonnaise and peanut sauce. Some establishments provide up to 40 different condiment variations (photo #11)
Pommes Paille: The English translation is “straw potatoes,” so-called because they are sliced as thin as straw (photo #2).
Potato Spirals: also known as spiral fries, tornado potatoes, or twist potatoes, are a fun and visually appealing snack made from a potato that has been mashed and piped into a continuous spiral shape (photo #9). They deep-fried and often seasoned with various spices.
Potato Wedges: Fries made from large, wedge-shaped chunks of potato, often unpeeled. Regional terms include jojos and tater babies. The wedges can be baked instead of fried. Popular condiments include barbecue sauce, brown sauce, gravy, ketchup, mayonnaise, ranch dressing, sour cream, and sweet chili sauce. Here’s a recipe for parmesan wedge fries.
Poutine: A Canadian dish from rural Quebec that tops French fries with fresh cheese curds (sometimes grated cheese), covered with hot gravy (photos #12 and #13). Disco fries, from New England, are a variation (photo #10). Here’s a classic poutine recipe.
Rounds: Coin-shaped chips.
Seasoned Fries: French fries coated with spices. Black pepper, garlic powder, chili flakes, onion powder, and paprika are popular, but you can make curry fries, basil-dill fries, or whatever you find appealing. Check out these recipes.
Shoestring Fries: Another term for julienne fries, the thinnest cut.
Sidewinders: A new shape developed by Simplot for restaurant service (photo #6). Created in South Korea as street food, the company describes the shape as a bent elbow.
Steak Fries: These are thicker-cut fries—baton or wider—often cooked with the skin on. They can be fried or coated with spices and baked. They are also called wedge fries. They are the least crunchy, as they have the highest interior-to-surface ratio (i.e., the most potato “filling.”)
Sweet Potato Fries: Made from sweet potatoes, typically in the julienne or shoestring cut, or in wider batons.
Texas Fries or Texas-Style Fries: Steak fries with the skin on.
Tornado Fries: A shape invented by the Tornado Fries company and copied by others (photo #7). They are made from a single potato cut with a gadget into a one-piece spiral, which is fried on 18- or 26-inch skewers. Other names include chip sticks, potato springs, potato twisters, ribbon fries, rotato, and spiral spuds.Sometimes they are wrapped around a foot-long hot dog.
Tornado Potato (Hoeryori Gamja): The original and official name for the fried potato spirals, which were invented in South Korea as a street snack. This is the most common term in international street food markets and culinary circles. Tornado Fries is the more common name used in fairgrounds and other venues in the U.S. and Canada (photo #7).
Tots or Tater Tots: Small cylinders made from deep-fried, grated potatoes. “Tater Tots” is a trademark of Ore-Ida, which invented the little potato bites in 1953. Here’s a recipe to make your own baked tots.
Waffle Fries or Waffle Cut Fries: French fries cut with a special tool into a crisscross pattern. In France they’re called pommes gaufrettes (gaufrette is the French word for waffle).
Wavy Fries: Another term for curly fries.
Wedge Fries: Another term for steak fries.
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[12] Poutine is often served in an untidy presentation like this (photo © V. W. Campin-CC-BY-NC-SA-2.0-License).
[13] In the hands of a good chef (or an artistic home cook), poutine can have this sophisticated take, with spring peas, trumpet mushrooms, and béchamel sauce instead of generic white gravy. Here’s the recipe (photo © Idaho Potato Commission).
THE HISTORY OF FRENCH FRIES/FRIED POTATOES
Potatoes originated in Peru and spread to other parts of Latin America. Fried potatoes—cooking potatoes in fat over a fire—is a practice thousands of years old.
Potatoes were “discovered” and brought back to Europe by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century—where they were used as hog feed! The French were convinced that potatoes caused leprosy, and the French Parliament banned the cultivation of potatoes in 1748.
Modern french fries date to the late-1600s. In the winter, when the rivers iced over and fishing was difficult, fried potatoes were substituted for fish at meals in some regions.
During World War I the fried potatoes were nicknamed “French fries” by the Americans because the official language of the Belgian Army was French. They carried the name back to America.
While the French had nothing to do with naming French fries (the term in French is pommes frites, fried potatoes), they did finally start eating potatoes in the 18th century.
A French army medical officer named Antoine-Augustine Parmentier was forced to eat potatoes as a P.O.W. and discovered their culinary potential. Through his efforts, in 1772, the Paris Faculty of Medicine finally proclaimed that potatoes were edible for humans—though it took a famine in 1785 for the French to start eating them in earnest.
In 1802, Thomas Jefferson’s White House chef, Honoré Julien, a Frenchman, served “potatoes served in the French manner” at a state dinner. The potatoes were “deep-fried while raw, in small cuttings.” French fries had arrived in the U.S., if not in name, then in form.
The French didn’t call them French fries, but frites, the word for fried potatoes.
So how did they get called “French” fries? One prevailing theory is that “French” came from American soldiers who arrived in Belgium during World War I. They came across frites.
Since the dominant language of southern Belgium is French, they dubbed the tasty potatoes “French” fries and brought the term (and the demand) back home.
Shortly afterward, in the early 20th century, the term “French fried,” meaning “deep-fried,” was being used for other foods as well (onion rings and zucchini sticks, anyone?)
UNESCO has declared the Belgian French Fry “a cultural treasure,” giving it Heritage Status. Belgian fries are served in a paper cone with mayonnaise and eaten with a small fork.
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