Become the Master of Your Own Fries

The fry-o-lator at your local fast-food dive is not the only place to get the deep-seated satisfaction that only a slivered and fried potato can deliver. There's no reason not to make fries and home—and we promise you, they'll rival those found in any Happy Meal or Value Menu if you take our advice and double-fry.

Double frying is not much more trouble than a single immersion in fat is, and is well worth the little bit of extra time. After all, double frying is the dirty little secret behind the truly crisp fry, the fry to remember.

Added advantage: making fries at home means never having to rip open a packet of ketchup—or balance a cupful of the red stuff as you make your way to an inevitably depressing formica booth. Now you can eat hot fries in bed, and take the whole squeeze bottle of Heinz under the covers with you. Or—even better—you can top your fries with all kinds of crazy goodness, thanks to Shake Shack's culinary director Mark Rosati, who has willingly shared his deepest french fry secrets with us.

Now that boxed mac and cheese is under scrutiny for containing decidedly unappetizing chemicals, it is the perfect time to learn how to make a gooey, melty, perfectly creamy cheese sauce. Mark Rosati's hyper-addictive Shake Shack cheese fries meet these requirements—and then some. To explain exactly what makes this sauce so good, one might point to the layering of several high-quality cheeses. Or one might want to underscore the fact that there's heavy cream in there. But all we have to say is one word: jalapeños. So thanks, Mark.

RECIPE: Loaded Cheeseburger Fries

Fries are often thought of as a mere side dish to the main event. But it doesn't have to be that way. Make your fries the entree they so obviously deserve to be? This recipe—which is basically a Big Mac in disguise—delivers an entire meal, yet is clearly well within the fry food group. And that's the best food group there is, right?