SERVES: 3–4
- 1 egg
- 1½ tsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbs (30 ml) American pale ale
- ¾ cup (177 ml) canola oil
- ¼ tsp Tabasco
- 2 lb (907 g) frozen French fries
- 3 Tbs (45 ml) hoisin sauce
- 3 Tbs (45 ml) sriracha sauce
- 10–12 slices fresh chiles, such as Thai bird’s eye chiles
- 12 cilantro leaves
- 3 Tbs (45 ml) crushed roasted peanuts
- Salt
Break the egg and separate the yolk from the white. Reserve the egg white for another use. Place the egg yolk in a small mixing bowl with the lemon juice and pale ale. Whisk the egg-yolk mixture for one minute, until it becomes light and frothy.
In a slow, thin, steady stream, whisk the canola oil into the egg-yolk mixture until mayonnaise has formed. Add the Tabasco and a pinch of salt and mix well. Hold in the refrigerator. (If you are concerned about raw egg yolk, you can make much the same recipe by using ¾ cup/177 ml of store-bought mayonnaise and adding the beer, lemon juice, Tabasco, and salt.)
Cook your fries to the specifications listed on your package (oven, fryer, or air fryer). Once the fries are hot and crispy, remove from the heat, place in a large mixing bowl, and toss with salt to taste.
Place the fries on a platter and drizzle the hoisin sauce, sriracha, and hoppy mayonnaise over the fries. Garnish with the sliced chiles, cilantro leaves, and crushed peanuts.
Beer Tasting Notes: Here it’s time to reach for the classic—a fresh, bright, golden-amber showcase of grapefruity Cascade hops and that soft kiss of caramel malt. Besides being an easy-to-find and unpretentious drink to enjoy with your spicy loaded fries, as an ingredient here you want a bit more character—in the form of bitterness and malt—so that its flavor can stand up to your creamy, tangy mayonnaise and still have something to say.
Beer Suggestions: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Chico, California), Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale (Longmont, Colorado), Maine Beer Peeper (Freeport, Maine), or DC Brau The Public (Washington, D.C.).