Potatoes are a regular at almost every restaurant in the world at this point, and one of their most common forms is as a french fry, also known as fries in North America, or chips in the UK and other Commonwealth countries.
The typical French fry is prepared by peeling a potato and cutting it into thin strips before it is washed to remove starch, and dried before being cooked. Most chefs agree that the two-bath technique is the best way to cook French fries, although most fast food restaurants only cook the fries once. In
the two-bath method, the fries are typically cooked in a deep fat fryer set to approximately 160 degrees Celsius, before being cooled and cooked again at a much higher heat, around 190 degrees Celsius. At particularly high-end restaurants the fries may be cooked three times, although this is not commonplace due to the additional time that is added to the cooking time.
The origin of the French fry is hotly contested, but the most likely source is France, although Belgium makes a convincing claim too. The first recorded usage of the term French fry dates to approximately 1856.