10 replies to this topic

[_john]

I tried to carbonate some tempura batter in order to make it more crispy today. I made tempura batter as I usually would 1:2 ratio of four and cold water with an egg yolk in it. Then I put the batter in my ISI whipper and charged it with one co2 cartridge. Then I let it chill for 2 hours and tried frying some things with the batter extruded into a bowl. The results were not what I was expecting. The batter came out as a foam which I then used to fry some vegetables. When the batter was crisped up all the bubbles had become craters and absorbed oil like a sponge. I tried stiring the foam to get rid of the larger bubbles but had silimar results.

Has anyone had good results using carbonated batters? I feel like it was way too carbonated to get results similar to tempura made with commercial tempura flour that has baking soda in it.

[KennethT]

I find it works much better to use nitrous chargers rather than CO2. It can also help to add vodka to the batter tomake it extra crisp.. And rice flour.

[mm84321]

What temperature do you usually fry vegetables for tempura at?

[janeer]

I just make my batter with a beer. or you can use club soda

[Merkinz]

I use a mixture of cornflour, regular flour, baking powder and trisol for the dry ingredients and water with vodka for the wet ingredients. I run this through a syphon but using nitrous rather than CO2. syphon it into a bowl that in spall quantities to keep it fresh when dunking the vegies in. Comes out wonderfully crispy and light. I actually did this on the weekend for guests.

[_john]

Unfortunately I can't get nitrous chargers in Japan as far as I can tell. Tempura is usually fried at 180°C. Merkinz, what is the texture like? Does it have crators left by the larger bubbles or is more like a traditional tempura?

Usually when you make tempura you mix the batter before frying every time. It is quite time consuming so I would like to get similar results in less time and I thought that using a siphon might work.

[slkinsey]

You really do need to use N₂O. CO₂ will not give the results you want.

[ScottyBoy]

+1 that is your problem. Hope you can find some charger over there!

[Merkinz]

john, the texture was crisp, lacey with quite a fine matrix. Very few to no larger bubbles. I happened to take some photos during my early attempts, it'd be fair to say that my technique and results have improved quite a bit with a little practice. In the first photo you can see the batter being extruded from the siphon - notice the bubbles are very fine and it has an airy foam texture not a bubbly texture. Also note that the bigger bubbles you see there are a user error and aren't usually there. The second photo is of my early results, I hesitate in posting this photo cause my results really have improved.

How does it compare to traditional techniques and results? I'm really not qualified to answer this as although I often eat out at and love Japanese restaurants I'm a little dubious of the quality of these places we have here in New Zealand. Plan to travel to Japan next year and hope to experience the genuine article! I hope this helps.

Edited by Merkinz, 18 September 2012 - 02:14 AM.

[adey73]

Would a commercial Cream Whipper (i.e one that just pumps air mechanically) work?

[_john]

Thanks for the pictures. The texture in the pictures looks very similar to my results. I have a few smuggled nitrous chargers so I can do some more experiments.