THE OFFP Reviews:
Belgian Fries, New York City
Secrets Revealed!
Our interview also probed the technical side of Suzanne's business. We wanted the skinny on these thick, delicious French... sorry, Belgian Fries, and we wouldn't leave until we got what we came for.
"You want me to give away all my secrets?" asked an almost stunned proprietress when we started asking about potato variety, oil temperature, and other inside questions. Our answer: "Well, err.. that is, umm... it's our err.. well, yes, actually. Please." Obviously, our charming ways and stunning oratorial skills won her over and she started spilling the beans... or spuds as the case may be.
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The Fries start their life as Yukon Gold potatoes. Why Yukon Gold? "Well," said Suzanne, "they're the potato most similar to the Bintje that I could find." We can accept that.
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With the amount of potato she uses in a day (about 450lb. or about 200kg each day), Suzanne wisely invested in an automatic peeler (right), saving time, costs (since human peeling usually wastes more potato), injuries and liability suits. Her lawyer was unavailable for comment, but he probably would've congratulated her for such foresight.
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| After the peeling, which takes about 90 seconds for a whole lot of potatoes (around 25lb./11kg), the spuds are sliced to about 1/4 - 3/8" thick (6.3-9.5mm). Now they're ready to be fried for about 6 minutes at around 300°F/150°C. |
This initial cooking, called a "par-fry" in the industry (short for "partial-fry"), is done at a lower heat to cook the inside of the potato and partially seal it. The par-fried potatoes are drained, placed on pans and left to rest. They're generally refrigerated during this rest for three hours and remain good for at least a full day. Of course, they don't get a chance to sit that long in Suzanne's shop. "Sometimes we close earlier because we've simply run out," said she.
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When needed, a pan of par-fried, fully rested potatoes is brought out to the front fryers to be cooked for customers. This final frying, called the "shock-fry" is done for abuot 30 seconds at around 365°F/185°C. This final frying makes the outside crispy and re-heats the inside of what has now become a French... err.. Belgian Fry.
The squarish scoops are used to place the par-fried potatoes in the vat and the round ones are used to collect the cooked Fries. They're imported. |
| The shocked Fries are placed in these round steel scoops and tossed up and down to drain the Fries. Before the shaking is finished they're salted, after which they are served in a paper cone. A cone is made-to-order here, and the minute you have to wait makes all the difference in the world. |  |
20 liters of Fritessaus goodness! Imported, of course. |
It wouldn't be a proper page if we didn't put these fries through the Select Ware Laboratories' rigorous testing procedures. Nevertheless we skimped a little. We were hungry. We brought in a ringer, though -- a Belgian to boot!
We tested 2 large orders of Belgian Fries with the Fritessaus, the Mucky-Duck mustard sauce, and the parmesan-peppercorn sauce. As the last photo shows, there was little left -- a successful experiment, indeed. The photos below show an actual Belgian who we were able to entice into our laboratories to participate in this experiment. He does not work for select ware, inc. |
Our ringer tests the Fries and... |
Yes! They've been made properly! |
After 20 minutes of testing our 3 pounds of Fries the results are fairly conclusive (and the stomachs quite full) |
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The Official French Fries Pages hereby gives two thumbs up to Belgian Fries 123 2nd Ave. (between 7 & 8 Sts.) New York City, NY 10003 212-674-1234 |
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