Happy National French Fries Day!

by Alexa Weibel, Posted Jul 13th 2010 @ 1:15PM

Duck fat French fries. Photo: He Cooks She Cooks, Flickr

Happy National French Fries Day!

Amazing that four such cheap, simple ingredients -- potatoes, oil, salt and pepper -- can work together so brilliantly to form such salty slivers of deliciousness, isn't it? But it seems the entire country is sold on them. In fact, the average American eats about 29 pounds of French fries per year -- purportedly four servings of French fries a week.

There are even entire restaurants devoted to the snack, like New York eatery Pommes Frites, which serves strictly Belgian fries, enlivened by dozens of accompanying sauces, from standards mustard and barbecue sauce to exotic concoctions like pomegranate teriyaki mayo.

Although we won't judge you for hopping over to McDonald's on your lunch break for some of these salty sticks -- au contraire, we'll be doing the same thing ourselves! -- we'd also like to suggest some inspiring varieties of homecooked fries to satiate the more adventurous tater cravings...