A Brief History Of Freedom Fries For Proles
french fry
see DEEP-FRY
deep-fry
To cook food in hot fat deep enough to completely cover the item being fried. The oil or fat used for deep-frying should have a high SMOKE POINT (the point to which it can be heated without smoking). For that reason, butter and margarine are not good candidates for frying; shortening, lard and most oils are. The temperature of the fat is all-important and can mean the difference between success and disaster. Fat at the right temperature will produce a crisp exterior and succulent interior. If it's not hot enough, food will absorb fat and be greasy; too hot, and it will burn. An average fat temperature for deep-frying is 375°F, but recipes differ according to the characteristics of each food. To avoid ruined food, a special deep-fat thermometer should be used.
June 8, 2001 -- Want to reduce your risk of diabetes? A new study suggests it is possible if you throw out the stick of margarine and processed baked goods. And forget about fried fast foods.
Fats known as trans fatty acids, commonly seen in these foods, already have been linked to heart disease and high cholesterol. Now a study from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that limiting their consumption also can greatly lower diabetes risk. The research is reported in the June issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
But not all fats are created equal, and the Harvard researchers found that consumption of polyunsaturated fat, found in many liquid vegetable oils, actually appeared to be protective against diabetes. The researchers suggest that replacing trans fats in the diet with polyunsaturated fats can reduce the risk of diabetes by as much as 40%.
"This is the first study to show a link between trans fatty acid consumption and type 2 diabetes," study author Frank Hu, MD, PhD, tells WebMD. "We think this is a very important finding because the incidence of diabetes is increasing dramatically in the United States and worldwide."
Dec. 4, 2002 -- Popular brands of potato chips and french fries contain highly variable levels of a possible cancer-causing substance, says a new FDA report.
FDA researchers tested numerous brands of commercially available packaged and fast foods for the presence of acrylamide, a chemical known to cause cancer in animals at high doses, according to the FDA. However, it's not known whether acrylamide causes cancer in humans or animals at the very low levels in foods.
Acrylamide may be formed when foods high in carbohydrates -- sugars and starches -- are fried or baked. Earlier this year, Swedish scientists reported that acrylamide forms when a naturally occurring amino acid in foods is heated with certain sugars such as glucose.
By 200 BC, potatoes had been farmed in Peru for at least 2,000 years. But the starchy tuber (a member of the Solanum family, which includes tomatoes and deadly nightshade) didn't come to the attention of the West for another 1,700 years. In 1524, Spanish invaders landed in South America and found all kinds of new things to eat, including tomatoes, peanuts, cacao beans, hot peppers, and more.
A journal entry by an anonymous member of a Spanish expedition in 1536 described potatoes being grown in the Andean village of Sorocota. You might not recognize those "original" potatoes today. They were dark and small - almost as small as unshelled peanuts. They looked like dried mushrooms. Still, they were abundant and nutritious. The Spanish were impressed. Potatoes were perfect for feeding the slaves in their silver mines. They were good for ships' crews, too. And so the potato sailed to Europe.
'Do you want Belgian fries with that?" That's what you might be hearing at fast-food restaurants today if it hadn't been for World War I. The Belgians claim to have invented "French" fries, though no one knows for sure. The dish was first prepared as early as the 1700s and was simply called fried potatoes. Thomas Jefferson sampled them in Paris and brought the recipe home. At a White House dinner in 1802, the menu included "potatoes served in the French manner." But that's not how they got their name.
Their commercial success began in 1864, when Joseph Malines of London put "fish and chips" (French fries) on the menu. His success inspired others across Europe. But they weren't French fries until 1918 or so. American soldiers stationed in France gobbled up fried potatoes. They dubbed them "French fries" and liked them so much they wanted to have them at home, too. Americans still love French fries. Last year alone, more than 4.5 billion pounds of them were sold in the United States.
One hundred fifty years ago in the late summer of 1845 one of the greatest human ecological disasters in the history of the world began in Ireland. A fungus from North America established itself in Ireland and commenced to destroy the potato crop. When the fungus had run its course at least 1 1/1 million, possibly as many as 2 million, Irish had died and another 1 1/2 million had emigrated. No one can fully capture in words the magnitude or the intensity of the suffering and hardship endured by the Irish people from 1845-1850.
The potato failure of the mid to late 1840's has been variably referred to as "The Great Hunger","The Great Famine" and "The Great Starvation." One's choice of words to describe this colossal human tragedy is often determined by political ideology or personal agenda. Irish landowners referred to the time period as that of "The Great Hunger." Most of these landowners were absentee and did not experience first hand the ravages of the potato blight. They, unlike their tenants, were not dependent on the potato for their survival. While potatoes rotted in the fields, landowners continued to eat a varied diet.
The British call it "The Great Famine." The scarcity of food was blamed on the weather, the potato fungus and, perhaps, most of all on the Malthusian notion of overpopulation. The Irish had overbred and there wasn't enough food to feed them all given the crop failure. However, as Frank O'Connor once observed, "Famine is a useful word when you do not wish to use words like 'genocide' and 'extermination.'"
Gatrix 3.5.2001, SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Ein Anwalt in Seattle (US-Staat Washington) hat die Schnellrestaurant-Kette McDonald's wegen der angeblichen Benutzung von Tierfett bei der Zubereitung von Pommes Frites verklagt. Wie die "Seattle Times" am Mittwoch (Ortszeit) berichtet, wirft er dem Konzern vor, seit 1990 seine Kunden mit dem Versprechen, die Pommes Frites seien "vegetarierfreundlich", getäuscht zu haben. Der Anwalt Harish Bharti, ein vegetarisch lebender Hindu, forderte vegetarische McDonald s-Kunden in den USA dazu auf, sich an der Sammelklage gegen den Konzern zu beteiligen. Bis jetzt haben sich drei Kläger gefunden. Er will Beweise in der Hand haben, wonach der Fastfood-Gigant seinem Frittieröl tierischen Talg zur Geschmacksverbesserung zusetzt
The United States' displeasure with France over Iraq has been extended to the House of Representatives cafeterias.
Members of US President George W Bush's Republican Party have had the term "French fries" taken off the menus, replacing it with "freedom fries".
Similarly, "French toast" will now be called "freedom toast".
The chairman of the committee on House Administration, Bob Ney, said the changes are a small, but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many people on Capitol Hill over the actions of what he called "our so-called ally, France".
The French Government is leading the campaign to stop the US getting United Nations approval for war against Iraq.
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