To fry or not to fry? That is the question generations of brave cooks have faced, and answered with ingenuity. Matt Preston admits to being shy of the deep-fry, and shares the culinary creations that have changed his mind.
What is it about deep-frying that encourages such rash acts of gastronomic lunacy? It’s not like Mars Bars pop up in recipes for red-wine-braised beef, or you see a handful of Skittles listed in the ingredients for a salad. (Well, unless you’re reading an American cookbook from the 1960s, in which you’ll find they advise adding everything from mini marshmallows to cubes of jelly to your bowl of vinaigrette-dressed butter lettuce… But more on the culinary madness of the US very shortly.)
Yet when it comes to the deep-fryer, almost everything seems to be fair game – Mars Bars, ice creams on sticks, even pizza.
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The great saying that everything tastes better crumbed (from Australian comedian Dave O’Neil’s 2007 book of the same name) is, at its heart, a love song written to the deep-fryer. So much deliciousness comes out of that golden oil; our appreciation usually spiking as the clock ticks past midnight. There’s Southern or Korean fried chicken and fish ‘n’ chips, tempura prawns, salt & pepper squid and goat’s cheese-stuffed zucchini flowers drizzled with honey, plus all manner of fritters, pakoras, fritto misto and doughnuts – whether they be jam- or custard-filled, churros, beignets or loukoumades. If being deep-fried in fat can lift the simplest of foods to such great heights, imagine what it can do for something that’s already delicious?
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The why of the deep-fry
My sorry admission is that, over my eight cookbooks and more than 2,000 recipes, deep-frying seldom features. I love it, but I see deep-fried food as something that I buy when I’m out, where someone else can deal with the huge quantities of oil (and its disposal), the smells and the fierce heat required to fry.
In fact, an even more terrible admission is that the only time I write deep-fried recipes seems to be when a radio station wants to do something ‘wacky’. Then it’s away we go with Spam fritters, fried sticks of cheese or even deep-fried cubes of mac and cheese. Even the weirdest of these has been a hit. It’s as if the late-night attraction to fried stuff is almost equally matched at 6.45am during breakfast radio broadcasts.
Part of the attraction of deep-frying is that it brings out as much of the scientist in us as the showman. It took a few goes to master that fried mac and cheese. The parmesan and salt needed to be boosted to be heard above the crunchy coating, and the whole lot needed to be deep-frozen before cutting into squares to crumb and fry, otherwise they’d fall apart in the oil. I note that this is the same approach that has to be taken when deep-frying a vanilla slice… apparently.
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Deep states
Some cultures are more adventurous with the deep-fryer than others, such as China with its deep-fried scorpions and Cambodia with deep-fried tarantulas. But as you’d expect from a nation that holds the fried dimmie, the Chiko Roll, the Dagwood dog and the spring roll in the treasured legacy of our country shows and footy-field vendors, we’re no slouch in this department. We’ve deep-fried Snickers and Caramel Ego Magnums, while the deep-fried Golden Gaytime ice cream crusted in cornflakes and biscuit pieces is a menu fixture at burger chain Milky Lane.
My tiny contribution to this national oeuvre is discovering that if you batter and fry those little Caramel Buds, you end up with what taste like teeny salted caramel doughnuts. I’ve also heard talk of the transcendental joy that comes from deep-frying lamingtons. If you know of a chippy that does this, let me know.
The Scottish city of Glasgow is no slouch in this area either. The city that has claimed to have invented chicken tikka masala and the square sausage is also famous for championing the deep-fried Mars Bar (it was apparently invented in Stonehaven, near Aberdeen), battered pizza (AKA ‘pizza crunch’) and the stonner kebab (which is like a battered sav, but wrapped in kebab meat before battering and frying). Please be careful googling ‘stonner’, for while the name is a play on the words ‘sausage’ and ’doner’, it’s also similar to a Glaswegian slang word for an erection.
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The land of the fry, the home of the brave
There is, however, nowhere in the world where more weird stuff goes in the deep-fryer faster than at US state fairs. While diner favourites like battered dill pickles and cheese-stuffed jalapenos (reminiscent of the popular Rajasthani street food mirchi vada – chillies stuffed with spices and mashed potato, then dipped in a chickpea-flour batter and fried) are found at diners across the Mid-West, if you have a hankering for deep-fried bacon-wrapped Oreos, battered guacamole or crumbed cookie dough, the US version of our agricultural shows are the place to go.
The Texas State Fair is famous for deep-fried beer, where beer is cooked down to a syrup and piped into pastry before hitting hot oil. Deep-fried butter made of battered chilled whipped butter is served on sticks at the Iowa State Fair and in ball form at the Orange County Fair. This is actually claimed to be the invention of the man the Dallas Observer dubbed ’Fried Jesus’ – Abel Gonzales Jr, who served fried butter at the Texas State Fair in 2009. He’s also credited with inventing fried Coke and the deep-fried PBJ.
These all sound logical and quite delicious, but I’m still wondering what prompted US blogger Jonathan Marcus (in 2016) and science experiment website and YouTube channel The Action Lab (in 2020) to make deep-fried water. Maybe it’s the danger (hot oil and water don’t mix – in the most spectacularly dangerous and disfigurative of ways); or maybe, like climbing Everest, it’s just “because it was there”. It is, however, proof that with a little imagination and a lot of technique, you really can deep-fry anything!
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How to deep-fry like a pro
The deep-fryer is one of delicious. Food Director Lucy Nunes’ favourite appliances. Here, she shares her tips.
Is deep-frying safe?
“It’s way safer and easier to deep-fry in a deep-fryer than in a pan,” Nunes says. A deep-fryer lets you control and maintain heat, and is much safer than deep-frying in a pan over gas.
What oil should I use for deep-frying?
Nunes uses oils with a high smoke point: “Canola, vegetable or rice bran oil”.
How often should I change the oil in my deep-fryer?
It’s okay to leave oil in the deep-fryer if you’re using it every day. “Use a slotted spoon or spider to remove any food scraps, as leaving it in will make oil go rancid more quickly,” Nunes says. You can also strain oil back into a bottle for reuse. “Oil can usually be used 3-4 times when frying breaded food; 6-8 for non-breaded.” Dispose of oil if it smells rancid, looks cloudy or dark or foams when adding food.
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