Journal / Kitchen Notes
Why we fry in beef fat
The fast-food industry quietly dropped tallow in 1990. We brought it back, and the fries have never been better.
Marina Vlachou, Head chef & co-founder · · 6 min read
Until 1990, most of the big fast-food chains cooked their fries in beef tallow. Then, almost overnight, they switched to vegetable oil. The fries got paler, the flavour got thinner, and a generation forgot what a fry was supposed to taste like.
When we opened our first walk-up window in Psyrri, we tested six fats side by side. Sunflower oil was clean. Duck fat was spectacular and unaffordable. Tallow won on every count that mattered: flavour, crunch and the way it holds salt.
What tallow actually does
Beef fat has a higher smoke point than butter and a more stable structure than most seed oils, so it stays clean through a long service. It also browns the outside of the potato more evenly, which gives you that glassy shell over a fluffy middle.
“A good fry should crackle when you bite it and taste faintly of the best Sunday roast you ever had.”
The two-step method
- Cut Kennebec potatoes each morning and rinse until the water runs clear.
- Blanch at 140°C until soft through, then rest on racks for at least an hour.
- Fry to order at 190°C and salt within ten seconds of leaving the oil.
It takes more space, more time and more staff than dumping frozen fries into a basket. We think you can taste every minute of it.
