A sunny Sunday afternoon was the right time to have my first hot dog of the season at Parky’s on Harlem.
Setting up at a picnic table, I was eating for a few minutes before I realized I hadn’t touched the hot dog. I like Parky’s hot dogs, but their fries are so stratospherically fantastic that for the first few minutes of lunch, I had eyes only for those glistening straight-cut potatoes.
There are several reasons that account for the excellence of Parky’s fries. As at other classic places like Gene & Jude’s on River Road, Parky’s cuts their fries by hand, and they leave on the skins, which add texture and flavor. Their potatoes are not delivered frozen, as they are at many quick-service restaurants, and so Parky’s has a fresher tasting fry.
But the main reason Parky’s fries are so good is that they’re fried in beef fat, which yields a crisper fry and deeper flavor.
McDonald’s used to cook their “world famous” fries in a mixture of vegetable oil and beef fat (also called tallow or suet). In the mid-’80s, McDonald’s was facing heat for serving unhealthy food, and the beef fat in the fries was just one of the targets for organizations like the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a watchdog group that pressured McDonald’s to serve healthier food.
McDonald’s hired me to respond to such threats with an ingredients booklet that would detail every ingredient in every McDonald’s product. In writing this first McDonald’s ingredient listing, I discovered that they were putting beef fat in their cookies as well, which I agree sounds kind of gross, but the best pies contain pork fat (leaf lard in the crust), so really what’s the big deal? And beef fat adds flavor.
Ironically, when McDonald’s bowed to pressure and stopped using beef fat, they started using trans-fats, which were found to be perhaps even more injurious to one’s health than beef fat. And the fries, though still a big seller, didn’t seem to taste as good.
I spoke to guys at Carnivore (because who knows beef better?) and was told that they used to fry potatoes in beef fat, but they got pushback from customers who, for dietary and religious reasons, don’t consume beef. In addition, apparently beef fat frying solution needs to be changed out twice as frequently as vegetable oil, which is an extra expense and a task that sounds very messy and unpleasant. Still, if you like to fry in beef fat, Carnivore keeps some tubs of the stuff on hand just for you.
Of course, I’m a fan of Parky’s hot dogs as well, even though they lack the traditional poppy seed bun and two of the Magnificent Seven condiments of the classic Chicago dog: they have the mustard, blue-green relish, sport peppers, chopped onions and tomatoes, though they lack a pickle spear and celery salt.
Still, it’s a good hot dog … though I must give highest praise to Parky’s marvelous fries.
David Hammond writes regularly for Oak Park Eats at oakpark.com.
