- And
done.
(hands clapping)
Eau de French Fry.
(exciting classical music)
- Hello, I'm Hannah Hart,
and welcome to season two of Edible History,
the show that explores the appetites of our ancestors.
Today, we'll be dipping in to the history of the french fry.
Ah, the humble potato.
You can mash them, you can roast them,
or you can cut them into little strips
and fry 'em up in hot oil.
So many delicious options from such a simple spud.
But have we always celebrated this tubular tuber?
To help me catch up on the history
of these golden rods of deliciousness,
I'm talking with the president of the
Culinary Historians of New York.
Our friend from season on, Cathy Kaufman!
Cathy, I'm so happy that you're back, and not only back,
but here for our premiere episode of season two!
- I'm thrilled to be back.
It's wonderful to see the work you're doing.
- Today we're gonna be talking about french fries.
How interesting could that history possibly be?
They're potato sticks.
- Part of what makes them kind of fascinating
is there was a lot of controversy
about whether potatoes were edible
when they were first introduced into Europe.
- Really?
- They were thought by some to be poisonous.
They're a member of the nightshade family,
and they were also considered
generally very, very low class.
- I can kinda understand that.
You take a potato out of the ground,
doesn't necessarily look appealing.
So in this great french fry controversy,
who makes the first claim?
I've heard that they come from Belgium.
- That is a really controversial question.
Potatoes are a new world food.
They were originally from Peru, the Incas had them.
There are recipes documented for
something that looks pretty much like a french fry
in mid 18th-century France.
There are rumors that there were fried potatoes
in Belgium and the Netherlands, and also in Spain,
but it's a question of the documentation.
- Right, right.
- Potatoes start to become popular in different areas
in Europe at different times.
The first recipe that we have is from a cookbook
from around 1755.
"Les Soupers de la Cour", which is suppers at court,
so we're talking about a fairly elite cuisine.
It is attributed to a Monsieur Menon.
He has got a recipe in there
that is for several different root vegetables.
You actually batter them.
The batter that Menon talks about has wine in it.
You deep fry them, and then you serve them
either with mustard or a spicy white sauce.
- You mentioned the recipe calls for mustard,
that's one of my favorite things.
What type of mustard would they be having at this time?
- I don't think there's any question
but that it would be Dijon.
You're a relatively short travel from Dijon to Paris.
The mustard makers have been famous in Dijon
for centuries at this time, and it's delicious.
- So what were they using to deep fry at this time?
- That depends on the day of the week.
At this point, the Catholic church
still has its fast days and its fat days.
The fat days mean you can have meat, the fast days
means you have to eliminate meat from the diet.
You've gotta keep in mind that this is a dish
that's being served for wealthy people.
So, for a fat day, you would be frying in lard.
Goose fat, duck fat, that sort of thing.
On the lean days,
it would probably have been clarified butter.
- I didn't even know you could fry in clarified butter.
So in the recipe we'll be making today,
is there a specific way to shape the fries, to cut them?
- I think they are doing that kinda classic baton shape
that we associate with french fries because at this time,
symmetry and elegance of your knife work,
and the way food was actually presented at the table,
was paramount for the well-to-do.
I think that's a legacy.
- Cathy, it is such a pleasure to have you back.
I'm just frankly really excited to eat some french fries,
so I'll see you later.
(exciting classical music)
Today's recipe comes from the year 1755,
and from the book "Les Soupers de la Cour".
Huh?
Was that it?
Am I French now?
(jolly classical music)
Our first step in making french fries
actually doesn't involve the potatoes at all.
It involves the water we're going to be boiling them in.
First, we're going to make a little bit of a paste
using butter and flour.
(speaks in foreign language)
♪ Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee ♪
And we mush it all together.
Buttery paste, this recipe is off to a good start.
Now that our butter and flour are well incorporated,
we add it to our water.
Next is the salt.
Now the recipe doesn't call for a salt at any other point,
so we're gonna add a pretty hearty helping.
Next we're gonna be adding our potatoes,
totally whole, into our delicious buttery soup.
The recipe says it takes only a quarter of an hour to cook,
aka 15 minutes.
We're gonna turn up our heat
and practice more French pronunciation.
All right, it looks like these bad boys are boiled.
We're gonna take our potatoes out
and set them aside to cool so we can peel them.
Talk about a spud muffin.
(percussion) (audience laughing)
Now, it's time to peel our potatoes.
We won't be using the standard peeling method with a peeler,
but instead, because they're so warm and steamy,
we're actually gonna just use this towel and kind of
shluff off the skin.
Oh, there it goes!
Ooh.
Does it look satisfying?
'Cause it is.
(jolly classical music)
All right, that is the last of our potatoes.
Now it's time to move onto the slice.
(dramatic classical music)
So, to slice our potatoes,
we're going to be making the following series of cuts.
Cut the first down the middle.
Then we're going to establish how thick our potatoes are
by slicing down the sides.
(plop)
Beautiful.
Now as Cathy mentioned, the cooking style at this time
was pretty obsessed with symmetry and balance,
so this is our way of making sure
that each of our potato batons
are well-shaped and beautiful.
So we got our little stack and a half.
Next.
(chopping)
And there you have it.
Our first little set of soon to be french fries.
(chewing)
Yeah, there's room for improvement.
Let's fry.
(dramatic classical music)
Today might be the best the kitchen of Edible History
has ever smelled.
This is pure, beautiful, gorgeous, golden duck fat.
I'm salivating as I'm talking about it,
it smells so good.
All right, our next step is to make our wine batter.
We're just gonna be using a little bit of wine
and a whole lot of flour.
It wouldn't be French cooking without the wine.
(cork pops)
Give a little bit, we're gonna mix it up a little,
and then add some more.
(dramatic classical music)
The next step is to batter our fries.
We're only gonna do a smaller portion at a time.
These are some fancy, fancy french fries people.
You have to make each one with intention.
Give it a little of that, give it a little of this.
(dramatic classical music)
We take our well-battered fries, give them a gentle shake,
and then very delicately place them in the oil.
(crackling) Oh god, it's there!
I feel like we're really honoring the french fry right now.
(bubbling) Ooh!
They have opinions.
Oh my god, the batter is kind of puffing.
Almost like a fish stick.
At this point,
you're looking for this beautiful golden color.
I think this color looks great so we're gonna take 'em out,
we're gonna put 'em to the side.
I'mma take another handful,
and we're gonna fry up the rest of these.
It's important to add your fries as small batches
so you don't change the temperature of your oil.
That's something I learned today,
and explains why everything I've ever deep fried
has gone terribly wrong.
This was a real spectator sport, emphasis on the 'tator.
(percussion) (audience laughing)
Okay, that's the last little bit of this.
(sighs) The smell is so good.
Can I please try them?
(dramatic classical music)
Have you ever been so excited about something for so long
that you're almost nervous for that moment to finally come?
(dramatic music)
I really feel like I'm taking a bite
of Edible History in this moment.
It is truly an honor to get to eat you.
In honor of our french fries, we have a little French wine,
and a little French Dijon mustard.
This is exceptionally delightful for me
as I am a huge mustard fan.
I'm a little partial to wine too.
Okay, french fry,
give it a try. (dramatic music)
(crunch) (sighs)
(laughing) That's so (beep) good.
Oh
my god.
(crunching) Mmm!
I'm never gonna be able to go back.
This is the way a french fry is supposed to be.
I honestly thought that the batter would detract,
but honestly (crunching), mmm!
The batter really provides a structure and a crunch,
and the french fry contained within, ooh!
Perfectly cooked.
I thought the duck fat smelled good,
that doesn't compare to how it tastes.
And with the Dijon, it's a perfect pairing.
You're perfect, I'm complimenting you.
This trumps the modern french fry entirely.
Fin.
Thank you so much for watching
this episode of Edible History.
Come back and make sure you watch the rest of the season
to see if anything stacks up
to how good this french fry was.