I expected an more educated/accurate view of “pomme frites”. I would have expected that American G.I.'s were introduced to them in France during the First World War. The French don’t eat them with mayonaise, they eat them with aioli. By the way, the Belgiums invented “pomme frites”, not the French. check you rfacts.
If you know the answer, why do you ask?
Aioli isn’t particularly common in general, except in some part of the country. Let alone for fries. Actually, I’m yet to see anybody eating fries with aioli.
And in fact, most of the time, people eat them without any sauce. And if they do, IME, they’re indeed more likely to use mayonnaise than anything else.
Column in question: What’s the origin of French fries? - The Straight Dope
Except the column says that they were already in America in 1852.
1852 predates WWI by a few years.
What is aioli?
Also, a previous thread on this topic:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=133520&highlight=french+fries+origin
There are others (you can search if you like).
Summary: there is no conclusive evidence where pomme frites originated.
It’s similar to mayonnaise, except that it’s made with olive oil and with a large quantity of crushed garlic added. Vinegar/lemon juice might not be used, contrarily to mayonnaise. While searching for a recipe, I read that originally, it didn’t included any egg yolk, hence was essentially an emulsion of olive oil and garlic juice.
It’s traditional in Provence and accompany many dishes.Aioli recipe
I thought the first french fries were made in grease.
:smack: some puns don’t work as well when written.
While I have posted in past years to challenges to Dex’s column, I didn’t have the digital tools which are available today.
As to your assertion that American G.I.'s were introduced to them in France in WWI for the first time----------nope.
Use Google Book Search to find Hood's Practical Cook's Book: For the Average Household ... - Hood, C.I., & Co - Google Books
A cookbook from 1898. Published in Lowell, Mass.
They actually go back farther, but this was easy to find.
As to whether the Belgians “invented” the delicacy we enjoy today–all anyone has to do is provide a verifiable cite. But, so far, we haven’t found one.
Mmmmm! Fries fried in animal fat! Okay, the lard ones were undoubtedly better, but I miss McDonalds frying them in tallow.
Peanut oil and olive oil have their points.
Jebus, no wonder I’m so fat.
Being a good Idaho boy (just don’t ask about Larry Craig) I know the TRUTH. The origin of French fries is Potatoes.
About the only thing going for the WWI idea is not that they brought French Fries back to America, but that they popularized French Fries into the ubiquitous item they are today. But I would think that drive ins probably played a greater role. Perhaps, though, there was some synergy there?
But yeah, French Fries were known in America and called that well before WWI.
I’ve always seen mayo (containing Dijon mustard) served with fries in France. Belgium offers more choices of condiment including my fave, “pickles” -pronounced pick-ellez", piccalilli for the Brits, I think.
It’s hard to agree upon the origin of what we know as French fries, though I’m convinced that the fact that the French laugh at Belgians for their ubiquitous frites gives credence to the the theory that they are a Belgian creation. Well, it’s not scientific proof, just my take.
Looking at it closely, it doesn’t say this at all. It says that potato *chips *were introduced in 1852, but that’s a different food.
In fact, Dex fudges the issue almost entirely.
They spread to America. Gee, thanks. That could be at any time before the 1930s from what is written.
The Online Etymology Dictionary has this:
This raises the possibility that they were not well known throughout American culture until WWI, but that single line is too flimsy to build much of a case on.
It doesn’t give an origin of “to french” so has there been any new discoveries along that end?
From the article:
So yes, the article does state that French fried potatoes were in the U.S. by 1852.