Originally published at: The time Julia Child lamented changes to McDonald's fries | Boing Boing
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Real French fries are made with horse tallow
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potatoes fried in duck fat. pinnacle pomme frites.
that is all.
eta: f*k McD’s, their fries and everything they stand for.
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Interesting trivia note: Canada continued to use beef tallow for some time after the US stopped. This led to more than one Canuck friend of my questioning why US McD fries were so bland when we’d travel down there.
Frying needs good lard. Just ask the British.
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They stand for FREEEEEEEEDOM!
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Fries?
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I had the great fortune of becoming friends and brief traveling companion with Colette Rossant some years ago. One day she relayed a story about a trip that Paul Bocuse took to the US in which she acted as his liaison (and minder, it seems). Apparently, the first thing he wanted to eat was McDonald’s french fries.
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If you’re gonna fry, then beef tallow is the only way to go. All those saturated fatty acids are super stable in hot conditions. In the name of all that’s good and holy, don’t fry things using unsaturated fats. Under heat, they’re more likely to break down into who knows what.
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Maybe if McD’s started serving wine with their fries she would have continued to go.
I do like her initial comment about “if you own a franchise you only get so much say”-- if one McD’s started offering unique sandwiches or combination meals it could increase their business.
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sorry, Julia. beef tallow is disgusting, and their fries are better without it.
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If you really want to get fancy, I’ve heard beef kidney suet is the top end beef tallow to use. Haven’t ever used it myself, though.
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Good news, everyone! Now we can do a side-by-side taste test and settle this once and for all.
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I did a study abroad in the UK in 1996. By then, the US had long phased out tallow for fries. But not in Scotland. I remember clearly getting my first batch and being almost sick.
Then by the time I went BACK it was “what sort of pale imitation shadow fries are these?!?”
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Thanks Julia! You know who else loves beef tallow?
BILLY THE BEEF TALLOW BOY!
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Julia was a treasure, but she was very much on the wrong side of history about nutrition and health. She had many a rant about how butter and fat and meat and such weren’t really bad for you and the “nutritionists” (you can hear the bile in how she says that word) were all full of nonsense. It’s a shame she never, for example, discovered the joy of modern vegan cooking which is outstanding in a different way that is no less worthy.
Still, good food in moderation is a joyous thing.
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