National Deep-Fry a New Food Month

Frying Oils

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 11:25:00 -0500

WHAT’S the best oil for everyday frying? Some markets where I shop offer more than a dozen oils, from argan and avocado to tea seed and walnut. I’d long figured that the choice is a matter of taste and price. I usually use canola oil because it’s neutral in flavor, a good source of omega-3s and inexpensive. Like soy oil, it costs about a dime a tablespoon, whereas extra-virgin olive oils can run well over a dollar.

Partisans of the olive maintain that a high-quality extra-virgin oil brings its special flavor and health benefits to foods cooked in it. More recipes now suggest it for frying and other high-heat techniques, not just for last-minute drizzling. But does it make enough difference that it’s worth a tenfold premium in price?

I investigated the flavor question by heating 15 oils — 4 olive and 11 seed oils — with nothing else in the pan, so I could taste what heat alone does to them. And I served some of them to trained oil judges … .

Taking the plunge

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:59:01 -0500

Taking the plunge:

Ok, here goes nothing. I fried a crabmeat California roll from Whole Foods.

Looks tasty enough, right?

I figured the crunchy tempura batter would be delish. They make rolls with bits of tempura in them, I was thinking it would be just like that.

It wasn’t.

The crab was still cool but the avocado was hot. Let me just repeat that phrase for you:

THE AVOCADO WAS HOT.

Avocado is one of those things you don’t ever really want to eat hot. Trust me. Also, like the cookie, the frying seemed to suck all the flavor out of this thing. I basically choked down one bite and that was it.

Sooooo…let’s brave the next one. A Babybel cheese.

Give me strength.

Day Two: The calm before the storm

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:57:33 -0500

Day Two: The calm before the storm:

Ok, so the donut was easy enough. Pretty tasty for the most part. To prepare my poor little IBS stricken tummy for the onslaught to come, I figured why not go for another easy A.

Ladies & gents, I give you the Matt’s Chocolate Chip & Pecan cookie. I figured this would be easy. The heat would warm up the chocolate chips and it would be all melty and delicious.

Not so much.

It looked pretty enough while frying, and was a delightful browned hue.

Except something went awry. I think somewhere in the frying process all the heat sucked out all the flavor. It was like eating an unsweetened granola bar. Very mealy and not cookie like at all.

I’m starting to get a bit nervous. So far I’m not wildly in love with anything I’ve eaten.

Next post we’ll get into the savory items. No more of this dessert pussyfooting around.

NaDeNeFoMo: the failsauce edition

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:55:19 -0500

NaDeNeFoMo: the failsauce edition:

Oh lordy you guys. Friday’s deep-frying adventure was no bueno. I mean, it started out fine. There’s nothing wrong with this, right?

You’re goddamn right there’s nothing wrong with that plate of bountiful goodness. From left to right we have: Snickers, tiramisu, cupcakes, a slice of cheesecake, and oatmeal creme pies. For the record, I had a friend over to help with taste-testing, so all that junk food wasn’t for me; I did give him a slice of the tiramisu… the smaller slice.

I wish I could say that everything was deep-fried deliciousness, things worthy of the years of heart trouble I’m probably going to have, but I’m not here to lie to you, folks. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I must have done something wrong, because nearly all our fried treats were a letdown.

We started with the oatmeal creme pies. (I used a generic cinnamon batter that would compliment everything.) They fried up the easiest and cleanest, but when we bit into them, they were basically liquefied inside the batter shell. That’s not to say it tasted bad; it was actually quite yummy, but you could make a bowl of instant oatmeal, stir in a cup of sugar, and get the same result with a much smaller risk of second-degree burns.

oatmeal creme sadness goop.

Next up was the cheesecake slice. I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to fry the entire slice at once but… no. It fell apart in the batter and on its way into the fryer so we made do with deep-fried cheesecake balls, which were AWESOME. Deep-fried cheesecake balls will definitely be going on the menu of my future restaurant (if you can call a roadside BBQ shack a “restaurant”).

It was all downhill from here. I can’t even bring myself to post any more photos because everything looks the same: an indistinguishable beige blob. The Snickers was a loss– the batter didn’t bond with the candy bar in the fryer and the end result looked like a poo with dandruff. (Good imagery, no?) Of course a meltey Snickers bar never tastes bad, but the presentation killed it for me.

The cupcakes? More like failcakes. For someone with a decent intelligence level, I don’t know why I didn’t think about the reality that frosting may melt when in contact with hot oil. I’ll chalk it up to a blonde moment; I hear I’m allowed three of those per year. The tiramisu met the same fate as the cupcakes.

… Maybe I can redeem myself this weekend when I dip a fully-dressed hamburger.

NaDeNeFoMo #17

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 09:49:23 -0500

darao75:

I didn’t actually deep-fry it myself, but at the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse, I had the occasion to eat some deep fried mac & cheese bites — and they were muy delicioso. (I had mixed feelings about the movie, The Other Guys.)

I might eventually attempt to make my own fried mac & cheese. Might.

Day One: Face your fears

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 09:14:16 -0500

Ok, here goes nothing.

As I said in the previous post, I’ll be participating in NaDeNeFoMo. I decided that since I’m a lazy SOB that I’d fry up several things at once and post one per day. Because why spread it out, when I can OD on fried foods on a Saturday??

I kicked off this week by starting off easy (I’m saving the ham & cheese croissant for later). Let’s get this party started!!!

Entenmann’s chocolate frosted donuts
Matt’s Chocolate Chip & Pecan cookies
Babybel Cheese (shout out to Jen O. for that suggestion!)
California Roll
Cornichon (or gherkin for you Dirty Dancing lovahs)
Marinated artichoke heart

So, ok…I started with the chocolate donut. I gotta be honest, this was REALLY tasty. I decided I would batter everything, so the crunchy tempura was nice with the frosting that got a little melty and the cake part got warm and squishy (TWSS).

All in all, a successful first outing. It didn’t last. OOOOOF.

NaDeNeFoMo part two

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 16:21:47 -0500

NaDeNeFoMo part two:

sarcasmically:

In this episode of Brianna Commits Suicide By Oil, we examine Nutella-and-chunky-peanut-butter wantons and bacon-wrapped dill pickles.

I started with the wantons. This was my mom’s idea. In case you didn’t know, and you probably didn’t, my mom is a freaking culinary genius. I am pretty sure I’ve had boyfriends who stuck around only because of my mom’s cooking. Anyway. Keeping in mind Dara’s harrowing experience with deep-frying peanut butter, I picked up some wanton wrappers. For the record, I do feel like this was cheating a bit, but I’m over it already.

Step 1: Open Nutella. Remind Nutella that Nutella is not as good as chunky peanut butter and never will be.

Step 2: Spoon Nutella into wanton wrapper. Then spoon equal amount of chunky peanut butter into wanton wrapper.

Step 3: Wet edges of wanton wrappers and pinch closed.

*Note: Make sure you get all the extra air out of the wanton. In my first batch, I didn’t do this, and when they were frying, the air inside made them float and fry unevenly.

Steps 4, 5, 6: Fry until golden brown (two-four minutes at 325°F). Remove. Enjoy.

These were fucking awesome; little Asian Reese’s cups. A++ would do business with again.

Next up was the bacon-wrapped dill pickles. I had been rolling this idea around since before the birth of NaDeNeFoMo so I was pretty excited about it. Bacon! Pickles! Surely this marriage of two classy motherfuckers could not be anything but amazing.

I used dill gherkins. Wrap in bacon, secure bacon with toothpick. Deep-fry until bacon looks cooked. (This took about eight minutes at 325°F but that’s an approximation. I was too busy concentrating on not starting grease fires to pay attention to specifics.)

If you can get past the appearance of these, which is that of an uncircumcised, mangled, and gangrenous cock, I do highly recommend. They are everything I hoped they’d be AND MORE. I do plan on serving these at all my future white-trash get-togethers.

These weren’t really unhealthy NaDeNeFoMo projects. In a few days I’m taking on a multitude of baked goods and candies, and plan on eating nothing but salad from now until then.

O, Dara: NaDeNeFoMo #5 - #16

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 16:48:51 -0400

O, Dara: NaDeNeFoMo #5 - #16:

darao75:

I decided to fry up some snack foods while watching the Florida State - North Carolina game. This was supposed to be Florida State’s homecoming — you know, an easy-breezy game. It is not.

I feel sick. I am not sure whether it’s because of the fried foods or the game.

Anyway, my mise en place:

We have: Twinkies, Hostess Cupcakes, a plantain, a kosher dill pickle, a strawberry, a mini Twix, a fun-size Hershey Bar, a mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, a mini Snickers, a mini Milky Way, a mini Milky Way Dark, and a mini Three Musketeers. And, as one would expect, I dipped each of these in batter and fried ‘em up.

The candy, by and large, tasted good, but was too rich. The best of the batch was the Twix, and the second best was the Hershey bar. The worst was the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, which melted out of the batter.

The plantain chips were not crispy and not mushy. Nothing special. The pickle was interesting. The strawberry was a mushy gooey disgusting mess. The cupcake was too rich. But the Twinkie was delicious.

Now admittedly, I only took one bite of everything. So maybe some things get better on second bite. Still, these are my grades:

Fried Twinkies: A-

Fried Hostess Cupcakes: C

Fried Plantain: C+

Fried Pickle: B

Fried Strawberry: F

Fried Twix: A

Fried Hershey Bar: B+

Fried Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup: F

Fried Snickers: C+

Fried Milky Way: C+

Fried Milky Way Dark: C+

Fried Three Musketeers: C+

I am now halfway finished with NaDeNeFoMo, and it’s only November 6. I think I’m going to stop for a while and hope my cholesterol returns to normal.

O, Dara: NaDeNeFoMo #3 and #4

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 12:34:14 -0400

O, Dara: NaDeNeFoMo #3 and #4:

darao75:

This morning, I woke up with a craving for peanut butter. So I decided to fry up some peanut butter.

First, unlike yesterday, I made a batter.

It was very simple — flour (whole wheat, because that’s what I have), corn starch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, milk, and water.

Then I took a ball of peanut butter and coated it in the batter.

Then I fried it up. But when I went to retrieve it, I found that the deep-fried shell had leaked.

FAIL.

So then I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to fry up.

(Yes, that is Ikea lingonberry preserves. And don’t get me started on the relative merits of Jif peanut butter.)

Coated it in batter:

The result:

WIN. It was deep-fried peanut buttery deliciousness. The only downside is that I think I felt my arteries clogging as I ate it.

Grade: F (peanut butter); A- (sandwich)

O, Dara: NaDeNeFoMo #1 and #2

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 21:44:02 -0400

O, Dara: NaDeNeFoMo #1 and #2:

darao75:

For my first two attempts at deep frying, I decided to take a healthy approach. I deep fried apple slices and pineapple rings in canola oil, coated only in corn starch.

Step 1: Set up the fryer.

Step 2: Peel, core, and slice an apple.

Step 3: Coat the apple in corn starch.

Step 4: Put the apple slices in the fryer.

Step 5: While the apple is frying, coat the pineapple rings in corn starch.

Step 6: Remove apples from fryer and drain on a paper towel. In the interim, fry up pineapple.

Step 7: Take the pineapple out of the fryer and drain.

Step 8: Put on a plate and eat.

Review: Deep-fried fruit gets very mushy, but is quite delicious. These probably could have done better in a heavier batter, rather than just the corn starch — and I probably should have let them fry a bit longer than I did. Still, it was a good first effort.

Final Grade: B-.

Gestation

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:13:48 -0400

Ok, so the food baby I currently have is nothing compared to what I WILL have.

Grossest first sentence ever written right there. Here’s the deal, since I’m not a writer I don’t do the whole NaNoWriMo and thankfully the only body hair I’ll be dealing with is the stuff on my legs not on my face.

Conceived and birthed by the lovely Sarcasmically, I’ll be participating in National Deep-frying a New Food Month or as popularly hashtagged by #NaDeNeFoMo. I’d like to start with falafel, but we’re taking suggestions and putting together a comprehensive list. I’m guessing it will be posted at the Tumblr.

I AM TERRIFIED. Someone hold me. Or participate as well!!! Wheeeee!!! FATASS!!!

**rubs belly**

sarcasmically: NaDeNeFoMo, Day 1: Bananas. Verdict: 50%...

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:08:00 -0400

sarcasmically:

NaDeNeFoMo, Day 1: Bananas. Verdict: 50% success.

Read the details here.

O, Dara: NaDeNeFoMo, Day 1

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 19:58:00 -0400

O, Dara: NaDeNeFoMo, Day 1:

darao75:

Confession: I have never deep-fried anything before in my life. I am a deep-frying virgin.

This, however, is about to change, thanks to NaDeNeFoMo, a brilliant concept invented by my friend Sarcasmically.

NaDeNeFoMo stands for “National Deep-frying a New Food Month.” And, in line with that, my goal is to eat at least 30 different deep-fried foods during the month of November — one for each day, and write about my experiences. I can’t promise that I will eat one every day, or that I will cook them all myself. But I’m going to step out of my comfort zone.

To celebrate, I headed over to the grocery store and bought the strangest combination of food items ever. Pickles, Twinkies, peanut butter, and plantains, to name a few, plus a GIANT container of canola oil. The cashier looked at me like I was either crazy or pregnant, maybe both.

When I got home, after unpacking the groceries, I took my deep fryer out of the box for the very first time, stared at it for a few minutes, and then sat down to write this blog.

Baby steps.

The history of NaDeNeFoMo.

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:46:00 -0400

The history of NaDeNeFoMo.:

Sarcasmically:

Earlier today on Twitter I was contemplating what I should do with November. November is well-known for being “National Write a Novel Month” (NaNoWriMo) or “Movember” (something about facial hair) but I’m not a writer and I lack the testosterone needed to grow a mustache. Also, I just don’t think it’d be a good look for me. I put my question to the masses– What do I do with November if I’m not a writer and I’m not willing to endure hormone injections?

Eight million tweets later, National Deep-fry a New Food Month was born. This November, me and many other awesome people will be deep-frying a new food every day. Are your arteries hardcore enough for this?

The deep-frying adventures will be documented at the NaDeNeFoMo tumblr account, as well as at How To Eat, and the personal blogs/tumblr/Twitter accounts of the participants. If you lack a deep fryer but want a NaDeNeFoMo participants to deep-fry on your behalf, send an email with your idea to NaDeNeFoMo at gmail dot com.

Go! Tell everyone! This is America! We have the right, nay, THE DUTY, to deep-fry everything!

Welcome!

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:48:00 -0400

Welcome to the official Tumblr blog of National Deep-Fry a New Food Month, or NaDeNeFoMo, as we call it.

Instead of growing mustaches or writing novels, we’ll be exploring the nuances of deep frying.

If you have suggestions for things that we might want to fry up, please let us know at NaDeNeFoMo(at)gmail(dot)com.