Your Questions About Frys

Nagesh answers:

FRIED RICE HISTORY

There are dozens of varieties of fried rice, each with their own specific list of ingredients. In Asia, the more famous varieties include Yangzhou and Fujian fried rice. In the West, Chinese restaurants catering to non-Chinese clientele have invented their own varieties of fried rice including egg fried rice, Singaporean (spicy) fried rice and the ubiquitous ‘special fried rice’.

Fried rice is a common staple in American Chinese cuisine, especially in the westernized form sold at fast-food stands. The most common form is a basic fried rice, often with some mixture of eggs, scallions, and vegetables, with chopped meat (usually pork or chicken, sometimes beef or shrimp) added at the customer’s discretion. Fried rice is also seen in other Asian American restaurants, even in cuisines where there is no native tradition of the dish such as the Caribbean. The dish is also a staple of Chinese restaurants in the United Kingdom (both “sit-in” and “takeaway”), and fried rice is very popular in the West African nations of Ghana and Togo, both as a restaurant food and as street food.

STIR-FRIED PORK HISTORY

One of the most popular dishes at roadside food vendors is stir-fried minced pork with chilies and holy basi. In Thai this is called “grapao moo sap”. There are three versions: minced pork, chicken or beef. It is served on plain rice and often topped with a fried egg. Though usually you have to ask for this (say “kai dao”) and you will have to pay 5 baht extra. Without the fried egg, you might still be able to find this dish for 25 baht. As you can see in the picture below, the main ingredients are holy basil, chopped garlic, bird eye chili (prik kee noo) and minced pork in the center. What is not pictured are the longer red spur chili (prik chee faa daeng). These are not so hot and are added towards the end mainly as decoration.

Nagesh answers:

Fried food is high in calories – humans, as animals, are attracted to any high-fat food on a biological level because are bodies are trying to keep us from starving.

For some people, it’s a huge comfort thing. French fries or fried chicken are foods you eat as a child or around family and the memories brought on by eating those foods as an adult make you feel good, safe, and comfortable.

Nagesh answers:

Fried green tomatoes, fried squash, fried onion rings, fried pickles, fried chicken, fried potato’s. OMG, I’m just like Elvis! You fry it, I’ll eat it!

Nagesh answers:

Southern Fried Chicken
From Diana Rattray,
Your Guide to Southern U.S. Cuisine.
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This fried chicken recipe makes enough for about 8 people. Scroll down to see more fried chicken recipes, including oven fried chicken recipes.
INGREDIENTS:
2 frying chickens, about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds each, cut into serving pieces
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup milk
vegetable shortening for frying
1 tablespoon bacon drippings
PREPARATION:
Wash chicken and pat dry.
In a heavy brown paper bag or large food storage bag, combine the flour and salt and pepper; shake to blend well. Pour the milk into a wide shallow bowl.

Heat 2 to 3 inches of shortening in a deep heavy skillet over medium heat, or electric fry pan set at 375° F.

Add the bacon grease. When a drop of water spatters when it hits the hot oil, dip some of the chicken pieces into the milk then place in the bag and shake to coat evenly. Arrange the chicken pieces in the fat, making sure not to overcrowd. Fry the chicken until outside is golden brown and crisp, about 15 to 20 minutes, turning once to brown both sides. Reduce heat to 350° F and fry until cooked through golden brown, about 15 minutes longer. Turn once. Drain chicken on brown paper or paper towels, adding a little more shortening and bacon grease if necessary, setting or regulating the temperature as for the first batch.
Transfer the chicken to a large platter for serving.
Serves 8.

Nagesh answers:

“French fries have numerous variants, from ‘thick-cut’ to ‘shoestring’, ‘joe joes’, ‘crinkle’, ‘curly’, and ‘waffle-cut’ and many other names. They can also be coated with breading and spices which include garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, paprika and salt to create ‘seasoned fries’, or cut thickly with the skin left on to create potato wedges or without the skin to create ‘steak fries’, essentially the American equivalent of the British ‘chip’. Sometimes French fries are cooked in the oven as a final step in the preparation (having been coated with oil during preparation at the factory): these are often sold frozen, and are called ‘oven fries’ or ‘oven chips’.

In France, the thick-cut fries are called ‘pommes Pont-Neuf’ or simply ‘pommes frites’, about 10 mm; thinner variants are ‘pommes allumettes’ (matchstick potatoes), ±7 mm, and ‘pommes pailles’ (potato straws), 3-4 mm (roughly 3/8, 1/4 and 1/8 inch respectively). The two-bath technique is standard (Bocuse). ‘Pommes gaufrettes’ (waffle potatoes) are not typical French fried potatoes but actually crisps obtained by quarter turning the potatoe before each next slide over a grater and deep-frying just once.

A Belgian chef patented “steppegras” (‘prairie grass’), his variety of extremely thin-cut French fried potatoes developed in 1968 while working in Germany. The name refers to a dish including its particular sauce, and to his restaurant.

In the British Isles, Australia, and elsewhere, the term ‘French fries’ is only used by fast-food restaurants serving narrow-cut (shoestring) fries. Traditional ‘chips’ in the United Kingdom are usually cut much thicker, typically between 3/8 and 1/2 inches (9.5-13 mm) square in cross section and cooked twice, making them less crunchy on the outside and fluffier on the inside. Since the surface-to-volume ratio is lower, they have a lower fat content. Chips are part of the popular British takeaway dish fish and chips. In Australia, the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand, few towns are without a chip shop (colloquially, a chippie).

Belgian fries are about 10-13 mm thick and must be fried twice. Usually in horse fat, according to American culinary celebrity Alton Brown. This was used shortly after World War II but also quickly abandoned in favor of the traditional ox or beef fat. For economical reasons vegetable oil became common and is now usually preferred for a relative cholesterol benefit.”