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Something like 4/5 of frozen fries brands in the store essentially smell like synthetic piss to me when you start cooking them and it doesn't go away. They taste fine but the smell is just vile. This isn't just one or two bad experiences I've had but its been a trend as long as I can remember.

The other 1/5 brands don't smell bad, yet have the exact same ingredients - potato and some mixture of plant based oils, usually palm and/or rape seed. The price range seems to make no difference, I've found examples of either smelling or not smelling in both cheap and expensive brands. Uncooked frozen fries never smell bad, even if they have oil already included, this makes me think its something to do with the cooking process.

Does anyone have an idea as to why this is? And if there's anything I can do about it?

user81993
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    synthetic piss? ...can't say I'm familiar with that aroma. – moscafj Oct 22 '19 at 21:38
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    Do other people have the same reaction to the same fries? The human sense of smell is very complex, with a "one receptor per molecule" working principle, and maybe you have a receptor for something that 99.99% of people can't smell. – rumtscho Oct 23 '19 at 06:49
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    Have you tried buying fries from a different store? Or to check what type of potatoes are in the ones you like? I think I know what you're talking in the context of the aroma but I would rather called it yeasty/cheesy. For other people to help them "visualise" a smell of foot yeast infection that is masked with gas station toilet chemicals. – SZCZERZO KŁY Oct 23 '19 at 09:39
  • Could the baking paper be responsible? I had a cheap brand once which started to smell. Almost all brands become smelly when you reuse them. – Philipp Oct 23 '19 at 12:51
  • I think I know what you're talking about. I would define that as a cheesy smell, I think that's either the smell of the fats/oils used in the pre-frying or residue of vinegar or some other products used while preparing the fries. – zetaprime Oct 23 '19 at 15:55
  • Difficult to answer. Are they smelly as you get them from the shop or do you store them at home for some time before cooking? How do you store it before cooking? Do they thaw before you can get home with them? Could the problem be your freezer? Do other foods smell bad? – Luciano Oct 24 '19 at 08:59
  • This has been my experience exclusively with frozen fries bought from any random store, either used right away or refrigerated, with various types of baking parchment and sometimes without over the past 10+ years. I always spread them evenly and throw them in the oven while they are still frozen, ~40 minutes at 230C from cold start usually achieves just the right crisp in my current oven. Just now though I did try thawing them before cooking and had them sit on the counter for around 2 hours, the result is a lot better, they smell more neutral but still not quite what I'd want to eat. – user81993 Oct 24 '19 at 13:36
  • As for the smell, I see how it could be described as cheesy but to me it seems more like almost ammonia but not quite, it sure is a unique gross smell. I can't really detect what type of potato is used as I don't think I've ever seen it mentioned in the ingredients, its always just "potato". – user81993 Oct 24 '19 at 13:40
  • You're not alone. I also think most frozen fries smell like pee. In fact I arrived here from a google search to see if I could find out more about it. – wakjah Nov 16 '21 at 00:52
  • After all this time, I think I finally figured it out, it's the sunflower oil. Unfortunately it seems to be extremely common and present in 90% of the fries they sell here but I'm delighted that the few brands that use either palm or grapeseed oil don't have this effect on me. I've also shared this with some friends and it does seem that almost everyone else does not share my sensibility in this regard... but anyways, glad I figured it out. – user81993 Nov 18 '21 at 03:52

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