French fries (North American English & British English), chips (British and other regional versions), finger chips (Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or just fries, are deep-fried potatoes cut in batonnet or julienne style with uncertain origins from Belgium or France.

 They are made by slicing potatoes into uniform strips, drying them, and frying them, typically in a deep fryer. Frozen, blanched, and pre-cut russet potatoes are commonly utilized and can occasionally be baked in a conventional or convection oven; air fryers serve as compact convection ovens designed for frying potatoes.

French fries are presented hot, either tender or crunchy, and are typically consumed during lunch or dinner or alone as a snack, often found on the menus of diners, fast food places, pubs, and bars. They are frequently salted and can be accompanied by ketchup, vinegar, mayonnaise, tomato sauce, or various other sauces. 

Fries can have more toppings added, like in poutine, loaded fries, or chili cheese fries. Sweet potatoes can be used to make fries in place of regular potatoes. A baked version, oven fries, utilizes little or no oil.

The conventional technique for preparing french fries is deep frying, where they are immersed in hot fat, now predominantly oil. Vacuum fryers create potato chips that have reduced oil content, while preserving their color and texture.

The potatoes are initially sliced (with or without skin) into uniform strips, which are then either wiped clean or soaked in cold water to eliminate the surface starch, followed by thorough drying. They can be fried in either one or two stages. Cooks commonly concur that the two-bath method yields superior outcomes. Potatoes freshly harvested may possess excessive moisture, leading to limp fries, hence the preference is for those that have been kept for some time.

In the two-stage or two-bath technique, the initial bath, often referred to as blanching, involves hot fat (approximately 160 °C/320 °F) to fully cook the fries. This stage can be prepared ahead of time. Then they are briefly fried in extremely hot fat (190 °C/375 °F) to achieve a crispy exterior.

 They are subsequently positioned in a colander or on a cloth to drain, and then presented. The specific durations of the two baths rely on the size of the fries. For instance, for 2–3 mm strips, the initial bath lasts approximately 3 minutes, while the subsequent bath requires just seconds.

In the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, and New Zealand, the term chips is commonly used; however, thinly sliced fried potatoes may occasionally be referred to as french fries or skinny fries to differentiate them from chips, which are cut more thickly. In the US or Canada, these thicker-cut chips may be referred to as steak fries, based on their shape. In North America, the term chips is more frequently used to describe potato chips, which are typically called crisps in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Thanks For Reading…Do Follow, Like & Share