I was organizing my thoughts for a semi-deep post about my upcoming “big” birthday when I noticed that today is National French Fry Day! Never one to let a good (and ridiculous) celebration go to waste, it felt like a more useful post on a hot July Friday. If you’re wondering about National French Fry Day, dipping sauces, or alternatives to traditional white potato fries you can find more information here.
I don’t want to challenge the weather goddesses by calling these temperatures peak, but here in the northern hemisphere it has been hot hot hot. Cooking feels completely unmanageable by dinner time most days. I have deep sympathy for anyone working in a commercial kitchen standing over a hot fry-o-lator in service to french fry celebrations.
It feels a little cliché, or maybe I’ve seen too much about “girl dinner” lately, but one of my favorite summer dinners is a salad with a side of tator tots. Not quite a french fry, but serving the same purpose for me. I think the frozen bag of tots is superior to frozen fries when you don’t have a deep fryer, and they cook up quickly in the toaster oven or air fryer, which avoids having to heat up the whole kitchen with the big oven.
My favorite salad changes by the day, but I think you can’t go wrong with a Caesar salad and tots/fries, especially if you need to replenish some of that salt you sweated out during the day.
What’s your favorite way to celebrate the french fry?
Yes to tater tots! As a side for salad, what a great idea!