You've probably heard a hundred times that McDonald's French fries are just frozen convenience food. But why is it that they never turn out the same at home?
Jason Smith, who has worked for the network for 15 years, finally revealed the truth in the documentary Behind the Arches : the main secret is not the composition, but the technology that the company patented back in the 90s.
“Russet Burbank potatoes are first cut into strips, then blanched in boiling water with the addition of dextrose - this is the same glucose that is used in confectionery shops,” he explained.
The editor of Food Science Weekly investigated: it turns out that sugar water not only gives a golden color, but also creates a thin glassy crust when fried.
Chef technologist Nikolay Baskov from the Moscow restaurant "Gravitatsiya" confirmed:
"I tested the method: if you replace dextrose with regular sugar (1 tbsp. per liter of water), the effect is the same. But after blanching, the potatoes should not just be dried - they are frozen at -18°C for at least 4 hours. Ice crystallizes the starch, and when frying, the moisture comes out evenly."
Reddit user @FastFoodHacker shared a life hack:
"I bought cheap potatoes, soaked them for 30 minutes in water with sugar and salt (1:1), and froze them in a bag. Fried them in a mixture of sunflower and coconut oil - it turned out even better than in Mac!"
But chef Jamie Oliver tried to recreate the recipe without freezing on the Food Revolution show, and failed: his potatoes came out raw inside.
“Without the freezing step, the starch doesn’t have time to transform,” biochemist Anna Sokolova explained in an interview for Popular Mechanics. “That’s why home-cooked potatoes often get soggy.”
But the main surprise awaited those who risked repeating the experiment.
Blogger Elena from Novosibirsk wrote in her Telegram channel Food as a Drug: "I did everything according to the instructions, but forgot about dextrose. I added a spoonful of honey to the blanching water — and oh my God! The potatoes became even crispier. Now my husband demands to cook only this way."
And McDonald's veteran Ray Brock admitted in his memoirs Grinding It Out that initially the potatoes were fried in beef fat, but because of complaints from vegetarians they switched to vegetable oil. "But even this did not kill the taste - all thanks to double freezing," he emphasized.
Author: Sergey Tumanov