[carlosjobim]

Paradoxically, it's the fast food staples that are most difficult to do at home – because you need a fryer. Haute cuisine is no problem making at home, because fine dining is not based on using fryers. It can't be made with restaurant speed nor quantity, but you can get the same quality at home.

[throwaway2037]

    > because you need a fryer

What? There are many, many YouTube videos explaining how to make "fast food" style french fries (double fried, and all that) at home, without a fryer.

[UIUC_06]

My air fryer makes decent fries, using only olive oil as a fat. It did take some practice to get it right.

Are they as good as deep-fat fried? No, but they're crisp on the outside and tender on the inside.

OK, you all want to hear this, you know you do:

===============

Start preheating the air fryer to 400F.

Slice the potatoes. Drop them in a bowl of water, swish them around and drain off the water, and fill the bowl again. By now, the water should be clear. If not, do it again.

Take the fries out and dry on paper towels, as dry as you can get them.

   *These steps are important; you need to wash off the surface starch, and get them dry so you're not steaming them*

Dry the bowl, and put in some olive oil, with seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic salt, etc.)

Put the fries back in the bowl and get them all oily. Put them in the fryer. The basket should be hot enough that they make a sizzling sound.

Every 5 minutes, toss the fries. You can either get compulsive and turn each one individually, or just pour them in a bowl and shake it, or shake the fryer basket (if that doesn't cause it to separate, as it does mine). Put them back in the fryer.

Check periodically that they're as brown as you want them.

==============

Good variations? I want to hear them

[rightbyte]

For how long do you need to dry them? Are we talking hours here or like 15 minutes?

[UIUC_06]

Good question. I just wipe them with paper towels and use immediately.

But longer might indeed be better. I can tell you they come out crispy and not soggy my way.

[ghaff]

And it's probably not reasonable that the average person who gets McDonalds fries (which are indeed good and better than most, if not all, of the "fast casual" joints) will do those things. Not that frozen supermarket fries in a deep fryer are an especially heavy lift and they're mostly good enough (with reasonably fresh oil) for hamburger and fries.

[Klonoar]

McDonalds fries can be somewhat achieved by adding beef flavor (authentic or vegetarian sub) to the fries. It’s like the easiest hack to better homemade fries, IMO.

[throwaway2037]

LATE EDIT: To be clear, I mean frying using oil -- not air frying.