Okay…so you’re on the go. You’re rushing out of your place and you’re late for something. Not too much time to eat, but you still want to eat well, so you grab something on the go. Fast food breakfast is an option in this case, but it’s also quite sought after for many foodies out there as a treat. Either way, today we’re looking at just who does it better. Does what better, you ask? Well…today is all about the breakfast potatoes my friend, and who does it better.
You can’t skimp on sides. Every great eater and chef knows that and knows it quite well. The sides can in turn make or break a great dish or meal—send it to unimaginable heights of fame and adoration, or even send it crashing to the floor in much the same way airline food went crashing down to the floor somewhere in the sixties or seventies. Once a dish establishes for itself a reputation, and a bad one at that, that’s all she wrote, folks!
But a great side dish…ah, now that’s the stuff of legend, Guilty Eaters.
Perfect examples of this are the linguine in tomato sauce you get next to your osso buco (veal shank); the rice you get with your General Tao; the chips you get next to your fish; the hot fudge you get with your ice cream (okay not a side but the pairing is indeed legendary)…and heck, even the soup that goes right there next to your grilled cheese sandwich (hopefully with a little wee bit o’ bacon thrown in for good measure).
Sides are a powerful component to any meal, as we’ve just gone through, and the breakfast sides at fast food chains are just that…important and a pivotal part of your dining experience, even if you’re rushing out the door.
So without further ado…just which fast food chain makes the greater breakfast potatoes?
Well…believe it or not, dear readers, it’s a tie, and not for a lack of making a decision on my part, because if forced, I could I guess. It’s just that I really believe these two deserve the top honors…
Tim Horton’s
If you take the above scenario, the one with that individual running out the door in a rush of epic proportions, the next item is perfect for an individual in such a predicament.
The Tim Horton’s breakfast potato makes the list here not because of its worth on its own sadly, but because it has quite a bit of help from its friends, to quote The Beatles…
"“Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends…Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends…”With a Little Help from My Friends – The Beatles /written by John Lennon / Paul McCartney"
It is in the Farmer’s Wrap offered at Tim’s that this potato actually becomes the star of the wrap.
Without it, the breakfast sandwich at Tim’s is just a wrap filled with a fried egg, sausage or bacon, cheese and some delicious sauce. It’s the crispiness of the potato in the Farmer’s Wrap that takes it over the edge, so to speak. It’s a fried hash brown potato…seemingly run of the mill, but oh-so-important.
If done right and crisped up to perfection, that Farmer’s Wrap with that potato inside, is a magical morsel of food, and one that nabs a top spot for Timmy’s potatoes—the breakfast ones at least.
Now, if the cook working the shift at your local Tim’s doesn’t crisp up that potato just right, then you’ll have some complaining to do, trust me. Just don’t be too hard on the guy; maybe he’ll give you an extra one for your troubles.
McDonald’s
This was the easy option and really, if it wasn’t for the aforementioned wrap, the McDonald’s hash brown potato would be the sole occupant of this number one spot.
According to babbletop.com, McDonald’s first introduced the hash brown now adored by millions, if not more, back in 1977. Ever since, many have been loving to add more of them to the size of their meal. Essentially they’re like Lay’s potato chips…. “Bet you can’t eat just one,” is the old slogan.
Well, these are that delicious, and like the Tim’s potatoes, these ones here are delicious when they’re extra crispy, but at the end of the day, they’re great on their own, and if you feel like getting creative, you can always slap them into your fried egg McMuffin, but this is why both of these potatoes belong at the top of the list, and that’s because in a sandwich, the Tim’s potato is better, whereas the McDonald’s counterpart is better on its own. A conundrum all its own I guess…
Which breakfast potatoes do you love, dear readers? Let us know.