Best healthy fries with beef tallow and lard recipe

I miss the days when restaurants, even fast-food places, used natural fats to cook their fries.

Many people my age remember the days when McDonald's fries were fried in beef tallow.

A few decades ago, Americans started blaming natural fats as the cause of rising heart disease and the trend went toward industrial oil like seed oils as a healthy choice.

Processed foods, sugars, and oils have replaced some of the best food we have available.

Stepping out of the science for a moment. Just look around. 4 out of 10 American adults are obese and 1 in 5 kids.

Before the mad rush to "heart-healthy" industrial oils in the late 1980s and 1990s, obesity rates were closer to 1 in 10. For kids during that same time, it was closer to 1 in 20.

Cleary with heart disease still a leading cause of death in the US, the move to processed foods away from natural foods hasn't done what was expected or promised.

We know that cholesterol, blamed for health issues and often attributed to natural foods, is produced by your liver and is critical to your health. Your liver is at an increase for problems with the consumption of processed foods.

For our family, we eat natural foods. No seed oils and we cook with tallow and lard. That brings me to the french fries.

Fried potatoes are delicious. And if you make them with only natural ingredients, they can be good for you.

Here's how I made mine:

• Two large Russett potatoes cut into thin fries about 3 inches long.
• Heat tallow (we added natural lard because I didn't have enough tallow to cover) in a medium stainless saucepan to 325 degrees.

• Soak the potato sticks in water for about 20-30 minutes and then dry thoroughly.
• Into the hot fat they go! Cook for about 7 minutes.

• Remove the fries and drain on a metal rack.

• Turn up the heat of the oil to 350 degrees.
• Back into the hot oil. Cook until they turn a golden brown, about 5 minutes.
• Put them into a metal bowl with paper towels to absorb the excess fat.

• Remove the paper towels and add a generous amount of salt and eat.

For more of my recipes, keep reading.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.

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