Technology & MSG

Mega Fries HOWTO

Apr 16th, 2006 by Alex

Do you like french fries topped with cheese and bacon? After much research and testing, here is the result of our best efforts to duplicate Pat’s Mega Fries at home.

Wildly popular at University of Delaware — especially at 99 New London Road — Pat’s Mega Fries (AKA Pat’s Megafries) is a culinary creation involving french fries, melted cheese and bacon. Served hot in a pie tin and optionally topped with Ken’s Ranch Dressing, Pat’s Mega Fries are still the best despite many other restaurants serving their own version.

Though the Pat’s Pizzeria in Newark will always hold a special place in our hearts, few of us are still in the area to show our support. Rather than drive almost an hour to the nearest Pat’s every time we got the craving, a group of us decided to attempt to re-create the Pat’s experience in our own kitchen. We started with the menu from Pat’s, which at one point included a brief description of the ingredients. We then pooled our collective knowledge of Mega Fries to determine the best way to prepare them. We succeeded in making a delicious two-layer tray of Mega Fries, which we believe holds its own. After nearly four months of delay, the recipe is now yours to try.

You will need:

a large disposable lasagna tray
3 pounds frozen french fries, prepared
2 jars of Kraft Cheez Whiz (Original), warmed
- OR 2 12oz Kraft Cheez Whiz Squeeze bottles
6-8 cups shredded cheese (3-4 8oz bags), mixed
1 Ziploc bag
1-2 pounds pre-cooked bacon, diced

You will notice that our recipe makes a lasagna tray full of Mega Fries. Though Pat’s Mega Fries come in a pie tin, our method allows us to feed a lot of people without preparing individual portions.

Pre-Preparation

Prepare the frozen french fries according to the instructions. If your oven can’t fit three pounds of fries at one time, don’t panic. It is okay — possibly preferred — to prepare two batches of french fries. Much of the prep work can be completed while the second batch is cooking.

Preparation

Oven - Pre-heat your oven to 425°F.

French Fries - Spread half of the cooked french fries along the bottom of the lasagna tray.

Cheez Whiz - Warm up the Cheez Whiz in the microwave, so that it will be easier to handle. Fill a Ziploc bag with half of the Cheez Whiz, seal the bag, and cut a 3/4-inch corner off of the bottom side of the bag. This will allow you to squeeze the cheese onto the tray in the same way a baker would apply decorative icing to a cake. Use the bag to

Apply Cheez Whiz on top of the french fries. This isn’t an exact science, but we like to create a grid so that it will melt all around the fries.

Shredded Cheese - If you’re using different types of cheese, toss them together. Spread half of the shredded cheese all over the top of the tray.

Bacon - Dice the bacon. Spread half of it atop the tray.

There isn’t much to it, really. Normally the fine folks at Pat’s would place their pie tin in the pizza oven for 10-15 minutes to let everything melt. We press on in our quest for excellent munchies…

Repeat the process to create the second layer, as shown below. The finished two-layer wonder will look something like the last photo.

Cook It, Already!

Place the tray on a cookie sheet for support, and put in the oven for 20 minutes (or until the cheese is melted). Assuming you used pre-cooked bacon, everything is already cooked so there’s no worry about undercooking.

When the tray comes out, it’ll be extremely hot. We haven’t dared to eat straight from the tray (like we would with a pie tin); we opt to serve it up like a lasagna, that way everyone can eat it the way they like to. If you can fend everyone off for a few minutes, it will be easier to cut once it has cooled a bit.

This recipe serves twelve people without problem.

Additional Notes

Any brand of french fries will do, but avoid crinkle cut or beer battered fries. We buy ours at Costo, Sam’s Club, or BJ’s Warehouse.
We bake our fries. It isn’t that we’re health conscious — we ARE making bacon cheese fries here — but we didn’t have access to a fryer. The result is a little less greasy than the original. It is a good change.
The original recipe calls for mozzarella and cheddar, but we like a good mix of shredded cheeses. We’ve had luck with cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan, and even some Mexican blends for a bit more zing. Whichever cheeses you choose, remember that the finer the cheese is shredded, the better it will melt around the fries.
Instead of Cheez Whiz, we’ve used queso cheese once. It was excellent.
We use pre-cooked bacon because it is convenient, but also for safety. Drunken people have a tendency to undercook things, grab hot items off the skillet and out of the microwave, and do other idiotic things. To be on the safe side, pre-cooked bacon just has to be cut up and heated. Of course, you may want to employ a sober individual to do the cutting… or pre-cut the bacon in advance.
If you get the Cheez Whiz Squeeze, you don’t need to heat it or create the Ziploc “icing bag,” just squeeze away.

Enjoy! We’d love to hear from other enthusiasts of Mega Fries, to learn what you’ve done differently.