Fried Twinkies

[VivreManger]

For more than a month I had been hearing a rumor that someone in town was frying twinkies. Ever eager to reach a new frontier of culinary experimentation, patiently I sought out the source. Finally I chanced upon it today at the Taste of Northampton, an annual 35 restaurant grazing gathering filled with fried everything, lots of sushi, and various oddities.

Now offering fried twinkies in Northampton does take some gall. This burg in addition to rolling more sushi than any place east of Japantown is the capital of Tofu Valley, the home of more vegan/vegie restaurants per capita than other town in New England, I dare say. The lone BBQ place was tarred and feathered many years ago. Carnivores are an endangered species. The fast-food franchises are confined to the strip mall that runs between two exits along the interstate.

Moreover twinkies represent a lamentable icon in the culture wars. After all it was the twinkie defense that allowed Councilman Dan White to escape serious punishment for his homophobic massacre of Harvey Milk and allies in San Francisco. Northampton is lesbian SF East.

Thus with a good deal of fear I siddled up to Nini's La Pazzaria and asked for one fried twinkie in a brown paper bag. They warned me that it was still very hot. So I let it cool a bit before taking my first bite. What a disappointment. The dough had flanged a bit off to the side so the twinkie had lost its core integrity. The sugary doughy cake had lost the soft character that makes a twinkie such an indulgent pillow-like pleasure. The sugary creamy center I had hoped would be oozing with sweetness had lost its gooey core and was reduced to an oily glob.

Oh well!

Next stop. Fried Snickers.

[docsconz]

I think it should be deconstructed with all of its constituent parts individually fried and tasted in anatomic order (of the twinkie i.e. outside in). The problem would be figuring out what order to serve the constituent chemicals in

[Claire]

*sensing a dark force at work*

Hmmm, I sense a Twinkie conspiracy. Maybe the restuarant PURPOSELY took one of the most popular snack foods ever and used it as bait to lure foodies such as yourself with the promise of deep fried etheral heaven. Then they pull the old switcheroo and make it taste disgusting enough for you in a moment of conspiracy designed weakness to abstain from normal food and convert to the cult of vegans. The fact this occured in Northampton arrouses suspicion in itself.

Mabye you should try it again in a more deep fried friendly enviroment like Scotland or a County Fair.

[Mark Sommelier]

No, no , no! The frying crazy foods fad has been a big thing in London for a few years. There's a place in Manhattan that fries Twinkies® now. I'd rather a Mars than a Snickers.

[elyse]

But Mars is different here than in the UK. Or is it Milky Way? Is a Snickers the same?

[VivreManger]

After posting this earlier, I just noticed another discussion for fried twinkies -- here's the link

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...T&f=13&t=25470&

The recipe there was different -- no batter here.

The conclusion was the same -- not worth getting excited about it.

By the way snickers gets a treatment at the link as well.

Mars Bars in the UK is similar, as I recall to 3 Musketeers in the US. We don't have a Mars Bar as such here. In the UK there is no Milky Way (????). I don't remember Snickers in the UK, but my memory on that score is hazy.

Cadbury has pretty much cornered the UK Candy market -- I still have fond memories of the Cadbury Fruit Tray.

[vengroff]

Here is a another discussion, with some pics.

[VivreManger]

Vengroff, thanks for the link. Given the topic -- Fried Cheese Cake -- and the forum -- Media -- I don't feel too bad that I missed it.

Glad to see that from your report as well an anti-fried-twinkie consensus has emerged on this board. Both of us agreed that frying ruined the sponge-cake of the twinkie. I think that my friers tried to address the problem by underfrying, but they did not under it enough.

Mine had chocolate syrup instead of powdered sugar. The chocolate -- albeit too little of it -- was the only thing worth eating.

Edited August 11, 2003 by VivreManger (log)

[elyse]

I had a Milky Way in the UK.

[essvee]

Hey Vivre, have you been to Circa? An old pal o mine from SF is the chef/owner. I was back home in the Happy Valley for a brief moment in time in mid-June (when it went from 65 degrees to 100 degrees), and we had a very, very nice meal there. Dane made the finest duck confit I've ever tasted, and served it with creme fraiche risotto (a revelation) and a perfect rhubarb sauce. A very fine dish.

[VivreManger]

Circa in Northampton is on my to-do list. Bushy has been once. Other friends have told me they enjoy it regularly.

Given the heat, serious eating is not easy these days.

[alacarte]

make them yourself...

[lamb]

My daughter and her girlfriend tried the Fried Oreos on the Boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ, this weekend. They pronounced them "yuck" and then went back for a cotton candy.

Some things just shouldn't be fooled with.

[KNorthrup]

See I loved the Oreos. They were all fudgy and gooey and came with cold milk. But I can't stand cotton candy so maybe it's an either/or. The DF Twinkie was disappointing.

[dscott]

I concur that your first mistake, as you noted VM, was trying this concoction in Northampton. I would stick to Scotland and the states between NC and AL for such deep-fried delicacies (though I have not tried the Twinkie variety myself). I know that A Salt and Battery in NYC serves Deep Fried Mars (UK)Bars. That's not too far a trip from Northhampton (4 hrs?) and has the benefit of other culinary masterpieces (Chish and Fips, Chip Butty, Mushy Peas, etc.).

They do have Snickers in the UK now. I believe that they used to be called Marathon way back when but then they decided to homogenize labeling in the EU. Hence, Marathon became Snickers as in the rest of Europe. (Or at least I _think_ that's how the story goes).

Hmmm, English chocolate. I'm currently hording Flakes, Jaffa Cakes, Maltesers, and Hob Nobs at home. A deep-fried Jaffa Cake? That might be quite tasty. Too bad that I won't deep fry at home (can't stand the stench).

[KNorthrup]

Smashing orangey bits!

Don't do it to a Hob Nob. They're perfect already.

[VivreManger]

A Canadian candy bar I adore -- might it also be British ?? -- is made by Cadbury. It is called either Crunch or Crackle -- hardened honeycombed treacle (a la Lyle's) covered in chocolate.

I don't thin it would deep-fry well. The whole thing would quickly revert to Lyle's golden syrup.

[dscott]

Mmmmm, Lyle's Golden Syrup.

[alacarte]

I caught the tail end of a Travel Channel special last night, in which they showed a Chicago restaurant's offering of Twinkie Tiramisu. It looked delicious. Unfortunately, I missed the name of the restaurant, sorry.

[aliwaks]

We had a fried twinkie on our menu for awhile..we beer battered it deep fried it and served it w. raspberry puree & dark chocolate drizzle customers loved it for the most part ('cept for one who was palled by the price $5 come on now..i think that was quite reasonable) but twinkies are hard to find in Philadelphia so we changed our fried dessert to a Banana's Foster spring roll w. chocolate dipping sauce & a maple/caramel drizzle they are amazing

[alacarte]

The Wall Street Journal has a front-page story on this "phenomenon": Off the Candy Shelf and Into the Fryer.

As usual, you read it here first.

[mrs-j]

Thank you so much for sharing your fried Twinkie experience! I am so sick of people dissing (for lack of a more proper term) silly fried foods untested. At work, if you bring up a fried Snicker's, fried Oreo, fried Twinkie, or any other fried sweet concoction someone, undoubtedly trying to be PC, sneers and said, "Ugh! Blech! Why would I want to FRY anything and eat it?"

Crazy person. One fries because the technology is there and many foods that taste delicious standalone taste even better fried!

Thanks for an honest dissertation on the frying of Twinkies. Finally! An answer from someone who knows! :)

[newsbabe]

i had a fried pickle at the iowa state fair once, and you know what? it was delicious! not a fried candy, i know, but what a weird and yummy thing to fry.

[Toliver]

i had a fried pickle at the iowa state fair once, and you know what? it was delicious! not a fried candy, i know, but what a weird and yummy thing to fry.

I saw Emeril deep fry some pickle slices on his show. This was new to me.

So what did it taste like? Was the dough savory? Was the pickle crisp?

I gotta get out more!

[Varmint]

We had intended to deep fry a battered Moon Pie at the pig pickin', but we got too drunk and too full to worry about that.