10 Things We Learned During Frites Week

Frites Week has come and gone here at Food Republic, and we've slowly come to terms with the realization that we can no longer solely write about and snap photos of crispy, golden-brown fries. Damn, we really enjoyed that. When we weren't taking endless fry-porn shots, we actually managed to learn a thing — ten things, actually — about the culinary delicacy. Did you know that fries date back all the way to the 1500s? We do now, courtesy of our visit to the world's only french fry museum (we bet you didn't know that one of those existed, either). In part because we want to ensure that you didn't miss anything and in part because we just wanted another chance to look over these ridiculously tempting images, we rounded up ten facts we learned during our themed week. Enjoy. We certainly did.

1. Special equipment might come in handy — like an air fryer to make "healthier fries." Or a mandoline to make waffle fries.

2. Sometimes a great fry isn't a potato at all! See these chicken fries. Or these seven other non-potato alternatives.

3. Your oven is your friend! Here's how to make oven fries that don't suck.

4. Steak fries are awesome. Ehh, not really. We debated the pros and cons.

5. There is a way to make cheese fries and avoid the dreaded oily fry-cheese "brick."

6. Our takeaways from the ultimate french fry survey: Waffle fries are tops, and not many people like sweet potato fries.

7. Hand-cut fries are an obsession at burger chain Five Guys. Here's how they are made.

8. A visit to the only french fry museum, in Bruges, Belgium, shed some light on the humble origins of the culinary delicacy.

9. Poutine is way more than just Canadian "drunk food," people.

10. Sometimes, frozen tops fresh. That's the lesson of Shake Shack's crinkle-cut fries.