15 fry names you need to know
Who doesn’t love fries (below the rivers) or chips (above the rivers)? Fries are no longer a forbidden word in better restaurants either. But one fry is not the other. Tree-trunk thick, matchstick thin, ridged, spiral-shaped. Their shapes subtly change the way they taste. A brief overview of the deep-fried potato stick (so, no vegetable fries).
Shoestring: The thinner, the crispier. But which one is the thinnest? Shoestring fries, helmgras (at restaurant De Gouden Hoek in Amsterdam), steppegras (in Belgium, it always comes in a mountain with steak alongside it), French pommes allumettes (matches) or pommes pailles (straws)? Measuring is knowing!
Raspatat: Since 1953, made mainly in the east of the Netherlands from potato powder mixed with water, pressed into round sticks and then deep-fried. Tastes like deep-fried mashed potatoes.
Tornado/spiral/twisted potato: Made from a single potato cut with a spiral slicer and then deep-fried on a stick. Mainly eaten at fairs and festivals.
Flemish fries: According to many owners of Flemish fry shops, tree-trunk-thick fries; according to many Flemish mothers and grandmothers who fry at home, thin ones.
Luiewijvenfriet: Thick, unpeeled fries. They originated because—as the legend goes—the cook was too lazy to peel the potatoes.
Waffle fries: Looks like a deep-fried waffle. And is therefore extremely crispy.
Curly/twister fries: Deep-fried, plump potato spirals. Often served with paprika powder and sometimes chili powder sprinkled over them. Available at, among others, Georges in Amsterdam.
Pommes Pont-Neuf: According to some, exactly four times larger than regular fries, with the ideal dimensions of 5 x 2 cm. The deep-fried bars are restaurateurs’ favorites because they can be decoratively stacked on the restaurant plate.
Crinkle-cut/ridged fries: Ridged like hair that has been treated with a waffle iron. More angles mean more crust!
Steak-cut fries: Typically American: very thick fries with the rounded ends of the potato still visible.
Kapsalon: Fries with shawarma meat, lettuce, cheese and (garlic and sambal) sauces. This multicultural snack is said to have been named around 2003 after the Rotterdam hair salon owner who regularly ordered it at his neighborhood snack bar.
Mitraillette: (pronounced: mitraajet) A typically Brussels multicultural snack. Half a baguette with kebab or shawarma meat, Flemish fries, sauce, optionally melted cheese and lettuce.
Poutine: Basically Canadian fries with gravy and cheese curds. We wrote about this phenomenon before, and you can read that here.
Nacho-style fries: Fries topped with everything normally put on nachos, including melted cheese and, for example, jalapeño peppers. A festival hit.
Chipsi Mayai: Tanzanian fries-and-egg omelet.
Also read:
