Fried Calamari in a Thai Restaurant

[Basilgirl]

Had delicious calamari today. Looked like onion rings. Had a perfectly crispy, grease-free coating. I was wondering what the batter was. Definitely a batter, not crumbs or cornmeal. Any ideas?

[vengroff]

A Tempura batter, perhaps?

[inventolux]

Was it dipped in pureed calamari tubes that was mixed with rice flour and a touch of eggwhite?

Edited June 10, 2003 by inventolux (log)

[nervousnelli]

Rice flour.

[Basilgirl]

Thank you! Off to the Asian market I go.

[tissue]

They could use yam flour or cornstarch. It gives a thinner coating than regular flour.

[Paul Bacino]

Did Fried Calamari last night..

I soaked mine in some milk first, I found that the batch I did a day ago had a fishy taste, the milk soaking ( about an Hr ) got rid of that last night.

I then mixed 1 egg with about a large table spoon of Corn starch, S and P. Fried in canola oil ( a second fry oil from yesterdays tenderloins ) @ about 350F. It just didn't have the crispiness I'd like? I have seen mention of Potato flour used.

Any thoughts for that crispy crunch..other that listed above ideas?

Would you think a dry coating of cornstarch before the wet would help. This does puff up lightly thou.

Paul

Edited January 24, 2012 by Paul Bacino (log)

[piracer]

hold on you mixed flour into your egg mixture? I dont think that will produce any crispiness at all.

What i like to do is toss in seasoned cornflour or rice flour, then lightly beaten egg whites. I could be wrong but the oil temperature seems a little too low also (though when i fry i don't have a thermometer so i can't tell)

[ChrisZ]

Any thoughts for that crispy crunch..other that listed above ideas?

Would you think a dry coating of cornstarch before the wet would help. This does puff up lightly thou.

I coat in cornflour AFTER dipping in a standard batter of flour & water. It's messy, but crispy.

[threestars]

My mom loves cooking Fried Calamari. Yep you can use rice flour. But what we do is that we dip it first into flour, then beaten egg and finally, breadcrumbs. Then deep fry it.

[Paul Bacino]

The idea of mixing flour and egg come from an Asian cooking show, otherwise I, I'm in the 3 step idea D_W_D, usually. I'm going to revisit that way , thanks.

AS far as cooking temp, I think I better bump that to 375F . I have and IR gun and that's an easy way to get a ball park temp. I know I could do a test fry too.

Looking forward to trying again.

Btw anyone used.. just cornstarch?

[nickrey]

Try mixing your flour with an equal amount of Texturas trisol (Trisol is a soluble fibre (powder) derived from wheat starch with a neutral taste and smell and is used in the preparation of frying batters and tempura. The result is a crunchy, oil free texture - even with the most moist of products). Only problem is that it only comes in a 4kg (8.8lb) tub.

[fledflew]

I would think that egg would give the coating a heavier cake-like texture instead of the light crispy coating that you're seeking.

At the Italian restaurant that I used to work at, we would keep the prepped calamari soaking in milk until an order came through. When it was time to fry, the calamari was dumped in a pan with plenty of flour, shaken to coat everything, and then the entire contents of the pan was dumped into the fry basket. Give the basket a good shake over the trash to knock off excess flour and then it went into the fryer. The result is a pretty delicate batter like coating that I think you're looking for. The flour-egg-crumb method produces a much heavier and crunchy (as opposed to crispy) breaded coating. I've experimented with different flours/flour blends as well as baking powder for leavening and I'm fine with just regular AP flour using the technique detailed above.

[Paul Bacino]

Fledflew,

Thanks

Paul