[danpalmer]

I think the difference here isn't fresh vs frozen, but rather unprocessed vs processed.

Heston freezes solid whole pieces of potato, In-n-Out likely uses whole pieces of potato, seasoned. McDonald's likely mashes everything up, blends it all with preservatives and flavour enhancers and forms it into fry-shaped pieces.

[froo]

McDonalds uses a potato cannon to make fries - they can mass produce them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfZLWEAiixo

They are also dipped in dextrose for colour and Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate to reduce the graying from freezing them.

https://www.cnet.com/news/former-mythbuster-goes-on-mcdonald...

[wastedhours]

Also depends on the location, over here apparently they're a lot more pure than in the US [0] to the extent that they're really not bad. They also claim they're also actually cut rather than shaped.

I think we generally get a better quality product from McD's, I did enjoy my In-n-Out experience when in Cali, but I can imagine it's a world different if the baseline fast food is poorer.

[0] http://www.cityam.com/207843/fry-hard-it-turns-out-mcdonalds...

[danpalmer]

Indeed, I am speculating about US McD's, not about UK. The quality here looks much better.

[sureaboutthis]

McD does not make their own french fries. There is a potato company, in Idaho I think, that puts it all together and freezes it for shipping.