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Fried Calamari in a Thai Restaurant


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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?

I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

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

Edited by inventolux (log)

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  • 8 years later...

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 by Paul Bacino (log)

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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)

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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.

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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?

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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.

Nick Reynolds, aka "nickrey"

"The Internet is full of false information." Plato
My eG Foodblog

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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.

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