The suppliers we work with first peel, cut and blanche the potatoes. They then dry, partially fry and quickly freeze the fries for our restaurants. Once in our kitchens, we cook them in our canola-blend oil so you can have them crispy and hot—just the way you like them.
The factory they're made in also adds chemicals to keep the potatoes a uniform light yellow color (but no, that's not behind their addictive flavor). After that, the cut potatoes are fried for less than a minute before getting frozen and sent to McDonald's locations.
As the chain expanded nationwide, in the mid-‐1960s, it sought to cut labor costs, reduce the number of suppliers, and ensure that its fries tasted the same at every restaurant. McDonald's began switching to frozen french fries in 1966 -‐-‐ and few customers noticed the difference.
In 1965, J. R. Simplot met with Ray Kroc, McDonald's founder. Kroc found it's appealing to switch to frozen french fries to ensure uniformity and cut labor costs since a three-month unavailable of Russet potato leads to the problem in consistency and quality of the fries.
As health concerns over saturated fat grew in the 1990s, McDonald's finally made the switch to vegetable oil. Unfortunately, customers noticed that the fries didn't taste how they used to. To mimic the chain's original oil blend, the oil is laced with natural flavoring to replicate that mouthwatering smell.
Fortunately, the solution is pretty simple. Just ask for fries without salt! “If you order a burger or fries always ask them without salt or the seasoning on the burger,” a former McDonald's employee wrote on Reddit. “They will have to make them fresh since they always put each on them.”
The taste will be familiar to Americans 40 and older who visited fast-food restaurants before 1990, the year McDonald's stopped using animal lard to cook its popular fries.
In 1990, the company announced that they would replace the beef tallow with 100 percent vegetable oil. After the announcement, McDonald's stock fell 8.3 percent. The new fry didn't stack up.
The company's frozen French fries work pretty well for McDonald's, too: "We work with two suppliers to make our world famous fries, McCain and Lamb Weston – partnering with them for over 30 years," a spokeswoman told Mirror Online.
We like our fries and hash browns fluffy on the inside, crunchy on the outside. That's why we use potato varieties like Russet Burbank, Innovator and Russet Ranger. Our tomatoes are picked straight from the vine. Delivered to our restaurants fresh within days of harvest, then sliced in our kitchens every day.
And for all the naysayers out there, no McDonald's fries are not chemical potato goop shaped into fries. Instead, they are made up of potatoes, vegetable oil (which contains canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, and natural beef flavor with wheat and milk derivatives), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate, and salt.
Our World Famous Fries® are made from quality potatoes, including Russet Burbank, Ranger Russet, Umatilla Russet and the Shepody. The suppliers we work with first peel, cut and blanche the potatoes. They then dry, partially fry and quickly freeze the fries for our restaurants.
After the fries are cut, they get covered in sugar so they are all the same color. Then, they're coated in sodium acid pyrophosphate to keep them from turning gray when frozen. These are the McDonald's secret menu items you never knew about.
If you want fresh fries, all you have to do is ask. You don't need to ask for them without salt (unless of course you want them that way), and there is no special trick; just ask for them to be made fresh. Fries take about three and a half minutes to cook, so if you're willing to wait that's all you need to do.
In the 1990s, as health concerns over saturated fat reached an all-time high, McDonald's faced a backlash against the use of beef tallow, and worried about losing customers, the chain switched to vegetable oil. Unfortunately, many customers said the new texture and taste weren't up to the mark.
Once at the restaurant, our fries are simply cooked in dedicated frying vats in a non-hydrogenated blend of sunflower and rapeseed oil which is 100 percent suitable for vegetarians. In fact, McDonald's French Fries are officially accredited by the Vegetarian Society.
However, if you are in the U.S., Australia, Canada or most other countries, McDonald's french fries are not vegetarian due to the beef flavor + cross contamination issues. As far as we know, there are no plans to change the ingredients to accommodate other dietary choices such as vegan or vegetarianism.
Ingredients: Potatoes, Non-Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed), Dextrose (predominantly added at beginning of the potato season). Prepared in the restaurants using a non-hydrogenated vegetable oil. Salt is added after cooking.
"It's because McDonald's cooks their fries with beef flavoring mixed within their vegetable oil," divulged the content creator.
The problem is most likely the microwave. Due to the vagaries and unevenness of most microwaves, reheating fries usually results in a soggy, limp mass and/or burnt ends. The oil ends up tasting rancid, too.
When it's dehydrated, they get grainy and soggy. The problem with reheating french fries, then, isn't about heat — it's about moisture.
How do you revive soggy McDonald's fries? First, put them in the oven on a baking sheet at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes. The second way is to put them in the microwave for 30 seconds. This will not make them as crispy as if oven-baked, but it will make them more edible.