Freezer Aisle Can Offer Great Fries

Did you know that one of the most iconic French dishes has French fries at its base?

At Les Halles, the French restaurant in New York that until recently had Tony Bourdain as executive chef, the dish is so popular that the restaurant has one cook whose sole job is to make fries, from cutting the potatoes to double-cooking them to perfection.

The dish is steak frites, essentially a porterhouse, ribeye or other high-end cut of meat cooked not beyond medium-rare and served atop freshly-made fries, then drizzled with pan juices.

Of course, steak frites isn't a dish most of us make at home. When we eat fries, they're generally consumed with burgers or some other iconic American cookout food. During football season, we might even get adventurous and make chili-cheese fries or some other gourmet concoction.

While fresh fries, properly cooked, are a treat like few others, their creation is somewhat time-consuming, not to mention messy. On a weeknight, few of us have time to cut the potatoes, soak them in water, then double-fry them for the perfectly tender center and crispy outside.

Thus, we turn to the freezer.

Potatoes are perhaps the perfect vegetable for freezing. They have a relatively low moisture content and firm flesh that freezes well. However, just like with any frozen product, different companies have different levels of success when it comes to the finished product.

In this test, we'll compare four national-brand frozen fries, each cooked according to package directions. We've also included one store-brand option, since those are almost always cheaper and frequently approach or surpass the national brands in quality. While the grocery store used in this test may not be found in your hometown, you'll surely be able to find a comparable quality.

You'll also find one oddball entry, but more on that later.

Each entry was evaluated on taste and texture, specifically the balance between a crispy exterior and tender-but-not-mushy middle. Nutritional information is also given for each entry. Other than sodium content, there's not much difference among them.

And now, let's get frying!

Nathan's Famous Crinkle Cut French Fries: 110 calories, 2.5 grams fat, no cholesterol, 15 mg sodium, 19 grams carbs.

Nathan's, for those of you who haven't lived on the East Coast or seen the hot dogs in your grocer's meat case, is one of the more famous hot dog chains in the world. Nathan's on Coney Island is the site of each year's July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest. The dogs are good, and these fries live up to the Nathan's reputation. The crinkles are deep and cook up crispy, and the interior is perfectly tender. These may be a bit hard to find, but they're worth it. Final grade: A

Alexia Yukon Gold Julienne With Sea Salt: 130 calories, 3.5 grams fat, no cholesterol, 180 mg sodium, 22 grams carbs.

For the relatively high sodium count, these were remarkably flavorless. Cooked per package directions, the fries come out lightly crisp, but the interior was soggy and unremarkable. These were some of the more expensive fries in the test, and didn't live up to the cost. Final grade: D.

Cascadian Farm Crinkle Cut Fries: 110 calories, 4 grams fat, no cholesterol, 10 mg sodium, 17 grams carbs.

These were the other higher-priced fries in the test, but they gave a good return for the investment. They came out just a touch past perfectly crispy, with a tender middle that still retained good texture. The only problem was a profusion of small fries that burned fairly badly by the time the larger fries were done. Final grade: B.

Lowe's Foods Crinkle Cut French Fries: 120 calories, 2.5 grams fat, no cholesterol, 320 mg sodium, 21 grams carbs.

Unlike the Alexia fries, where the sodium content didn't show up in the final taste, these came from the oven pre-salted very nicely. However, cooked by package directions they came out undercooked and somewhat limp, although the smaller bits were perfectly browned. Extra cooking made them excellent, but the rules of the test are that the package directions are the final determiner. Final grade: B-

Ore-Ida Golden Crinkles Extra Crispy: 170 calories, 7 grams fat, no cholesterol, 410 mg sodium, 24 grams carbs.

It became apparent from the first taste that what makes these fries "extra crispy" is some sort of coating. They were indeed crispy, but the centers were mushy and the coating left an unpleasant taste in the mouth after just a few fries, and the feeling that the tongue and cheeks were coated with grease. Final grade: D-.

Just for fun, we included one "non-standard" fry in the test, something you might consider for a night when you'd like something beyond ordinary fries.

Inland Valley Sweet Potato Fries: 180 calories, 8 grams fat, no cholesterol, 200 mg sodium, 25 grams carbs.

If you have kids, get your serving before they do. If you let them go first, you may not get any. These have a light sweetness that makes ketchup completely unnecessary and cook up almost as crisp/tender as the best regular potato fries. Their flavor wouldn't go well with the "usual" french fry companions such as burgers and hot dogs, but they'd be a great go-with for a spicy dish or grilled meat or fish. Final grade: A-.

The Nathan's fries were the clear winners among the regular potato fries, although the Inland Valley offering gave them a run. Surprisingly, the Nathan's fries also win for the best buy in the test, coming in at just a few cents per ounce more than the house brand fries and just slighly more than the Ore-Ida entry.