From November 7 to 13, French Fries Week is celebrated. An opportunity to honor this important part of Belgian gastronomic heritage. While we naturally prefer fresh hand-cut fries cooked in beef or duck fat, a more practical and affordable option for families is to choose frozen fries to clean yourself at home. But what is the best choice to make at the supermarket?
Today’s video:
Lidl big winner
60 Million Consumers have chosen. A French magazine filtered a nine-pack of crisps. Among them, we find the McCain brand, as well as many retailers present in Belgium: Aldi, Auchan, Carrefour, Casino, E.Leclerc, Intermarché, Lidl, Picard. The magazine analyzed the ingredients of every bag of frozen treats on our shelves to find the worst and best products on the market.
Results? It is the Harvest Basket package from Lidl that has won. Why? Because it doesn’t just look like one of the cheapest freezer bags, but also because it contains at least 96% potatoes. By comparison, this is below the 90% mark for McCain fries. In the case of Lidl’s frozen fries, 60 million users summarize it as follows: “These oven dishes are supposed to be simple: they have only two ingredients (potatoes and sunflower oil), the recipe is the same as homemade”.
He was directly followed by Picard
Behind them, we find “a lot of fried food” from Picard, which contains only three ingredients, including dextrose (added sugar) unfortunately… For the rest of the research, the list of ingredients was as long as an arm’s length: dextrose, dextrin, modified starch, pea fiber… Six out of nine ingredients contain more than ten harmful ingredients.
Is it good to cook fried food?
For lovers of real fries, we have revealed in a dedicated article ten good addresses to taste delicious Belgian fries. For those who like to make them at home during family meals, here are some tips to follow to cook your frozen fries to perfection. First, you dry your fries and remove as much ice as possible before dropping them into the oil. Then, avoid filling the frying basket and prefer small portions, so that the frying oil does not cool down too quickly.
Fries are already cooked at a temperature between 140 and 160 ° C: they absorb less oil during the second cooking. In the second cooking, the fries are set at 175 ° C. Below that, the fries are greasy and tasteless. Above all, the form of acrylamide, which can cause cancer, is preferred. After cooking, place the fries on a paper towel to remove excess oil. All that’s left is to taste.
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