Some restaurant dishes are made to be doggy-bagged and reheated in the microwave the next day. Not French fries. The more crispy and delectable they are when they first arrive on your table, the more of a soggy disappointment they’ll be when you try to revive them at home.

I'm sure we can all recall a time when we've taken a bag of fried goodies home after school or work and opened up soggy damnation upon arrival to our destination. "But they were so crispy and golden delicious," you think to yourself - why didn't you run for that train?

Day old fries usually suffer the same fate too. Again, we can all relate to buying takeout drunk, thinking "this will be AMAZING" the next day for breakfast (3 pm brunch, really? Who are we kidding?). 3 pm comes around you heat up your goodies and while they taste good and help relinquish any remaining "hungover-ness" you still remember those crispy little morsels you sneaked before you promised yourself you would save them.

Thankfully, The Kitchn recently shared a secret to making leftover fries you’ll actually enjoy eating.

The key is to avoid the microwave altogether. Much of the appeal of fries comes from their crunchy, golden-brown exterior and their creamy potato center. This texture contrast is achieved by deep-frying, and all it takes is a few rotations around a microwave to melt it away.

As the fries heat up, they create moisture, transforming all those lovely crispy parts into a flabby mess. If you want your fries to maintain their crunch, you need to recreate the conditions they were cooked in initially. Set a large pan filled with about two tablespoons of oil for every one cup of fries you want to cook over medium-high heat.

When you see the oil start to shimmer, add the fries in a single layer. After about a minute, flip them over and allow them to cook for half a minute to a minute longer.

By heating up fries with oil in a skillet, you produce something called the Maillard Reaction: This happens when high heat transforms proteins and sugars in food, creating the browning effect that gives fried foods their sought-after colour, texture, and taste.

After your fries are nice and crisp, pull them out of the pan with tongs or a spatula, set them on a paper towel to absorb excess oil, and sprinkle them with salt. Now all you need is a perfect burger to feel like you’re eating a restaurant-quality meal at home.

On the topic of burgers and french fries, if you ever do find yourself in front of a fast food counter wanting more, you may be better off ordering one big burger, a burger and a meaty side or two burgers instead.

Your typical fast food burger has two small pieces of bread, plus a slab of the juicy stuff. Without any cheese or sauce, a burger ranges from 300-400 calories. Broken down, that's roughly 40 grams of carbs, 17 grams of protein and 10 grams of fat. Your typical order of fries is the same number of calories, but you lose the protein to just fat and carbs.

The solution? Make your meal balanced by forgoing the fries and just having the burger, or by adding another burger entirely. I'm not asking you to give them up entirely (this isn't North Korea or anything), just know you could be depriving yourself of truly great food filling up on fries. I don't want you missing out: I care for you guys.

You can never be certain with fries, why leave it to chance?

Stop your day old French fries tasting bad with this amazing hack