fried sweet plantains

[nyfirepatrolchef]

ok...recently had some orgasmically good fried sweet plantains at my fave dominican greasy spoon on Mermaid Ave in Coney Island. I asked the guy ahead if time about sugar or butter...he knows why I ask cuz hes got food issues too. He said neither.

The suckers came out a lil chewy almost caramelized on the outside...just nice....and soft and sweet as sugar on the inside.

Heres what I did:

diagonal cut like they did...the things were soft to the squeezed touch...so they were ripe....got the deep fry cannola oil up to 400F...in they went...they sure as hell browned nicely...soft enough to be palatable...nice flavor...but I want the sweet softness I had THERE!!!~

Thing is also...they werent swimming in anything that resembled a sauce...

Input please!~

Edited October 22, 2003 by nyfirepatrolchef (log)

[elyse]

What exactly is your question?

I wouldn't use canola. Too fishy.

[megaira]

try a banana instead?

[Suzanne F]

Don't deep fry. Shallow fry, nice and slowly. Using canola is not a problem unless, like elyse, you can taste it; peanut is probably better then.

But deep-frying cooks the outside too fast, before the whole thing gets the benefit of the heat. Especially if they are really, really ripe (black skins). Cooking them slowly allows them to soften and caramelize gently. Then they need nada más.

Me, I prefer tostones to maduros -- better for working out frustrations: peel, slice, fry, SMASH, fry again. And those you can dip in garlic sauce and green sauce.

[nyfirepatrolchef]

Don't deep fry.  Shallow fry, nice and slowly. Using canola is not a problem unless, like elyse, you can taste it; peanut is probably better then. 

But deep-frying cooks the outside too fast, before the whole thing gets the benefit of the heat.  Especially if they are really, really ripe (black skins).  Cooking them slowly allows them to soften and caramelize gently.  Then they need nada más.

Me, I prefer tostones to maduros -- better for working out frustrations: peel, slice, fry, SMASH, fry again.  And those you can dip in garlic sauce and green sauce. 

So....if I pan fry them nice and slowly ( they DID take a while to get them out of the kitchen for us)...I should have a nice sugary experience thats chewy on the outside and gooey on the INside?

Is it a case of the darker the skin the better?

Elyse....the question was...in light of what I DID with mine....what do I have to do to get them the way I WANT them?

Edited October 23, 2003 by nyfirepatrolchef (log)

[Suzanne F]

Is it a case of the darker the skin the better?

Yes, but you have to be careful that they are not rotting. Plantains can go from green to black over time, provided they have not been refrigerated. If you want the really ripe, black ones, it's best to buy them already yellow and streaked with a little black; that way you know they can continue to ripen. (I buy them green and refrigerate them, because I prefer to use them as a starchy veg.)

Green are hard, difficult to peel but worth the effort, and taste like starchy bananas without any sweetness; they are fried to make chips and tostones, chunked up in stews,and mashed to eat on their own or to use as the basis of the dough for pasteles. Black are very soft, very ripe, very sweet; used fried for maduros (served as a side with main dishes) and fried or baked for desserts. There are gradations of color and ripeness in between, with specific uses, but I pretty much only use them these two ways.

[FoodMan]

Don't deep fry.  Shallow fry, nice and slowly. Using canola is not a problem unless, like elyse, you can taste it; peanut is probably better then. 

But deep-frying cooks the outside too fast, before the whole thing gets the benefit of the heat.  Especially if they are really, really ripe (black skins).  Cooking them slowly allows them to soften and caramelize gently.  Then they need nada más.

Me, I prefer tostones to maduros -- better for working out frustrations: peel, slice, fry, SMASH, fry again.  And those you can dip in garlic sauce and green sauce. 

This is exactly right, that is how my Colcombian-born wife does them. I can never get them as nicely browned as she does. Go slow and pan fry in oil.

Tostones are great with Ketchup , but IMHO Maduros rule.

Elie

[KatieLoeb]

My Cuban born madre used to smash the tostones AND the maduros half way through the cooking process. She'd actually keep one of the peels whole for just this purpose (having removed it carefully with a long vertical slice of the knife) and then use that to smash them.

It also helps to dip them quickly in salt water after the smashing but before the second fry, but stand back when you put the wet plantains back into the oil. This is probably one of the reasons that shallow frying works better...

[Suzanne F]

Yeah, a cookbook I worked on said to dip the tostones in chicken broth with minced garlic before the second frying, IIRC. I'm nervous to do that because I already have plenty of scars on my forearms. So I just fry them, thwack them, fry again, drain, salt, and dip in garlic sauce. Well, actually in Marie's Creamy Garlic Dressing, which is pretty good, at least for this.

[KatieLoeb]

Yeah, a cookbook I worked on said to dip the tostones in chicken broth with minced garlic before the second frying, IIRC.  I'm nervous to do that because I already have plenty of scars on my forearms.  So I just fry them,  thwack them, fry again, drain, salt, and dip in garlic sauce.  Well, actually in Marie's Creamy Garlic Dressing, which is pretty good, at least for this.

That all sounds good too! Yummmm...

There's a Colombian/Cuban restaurant here in Philadelphia called Tierra Colombiana that makes aranitas, ("little spiders") which are fritters of shredded plantains. They serve them with this absolutely etherial yet powerful garlic dipping sauce that I am dying to get their recipe for. This stuff is SOOO garlicky, but you just can't stop eating it. It's positively addictive. No lovers OR vampires will come near you for days...

[Suzanne F]

Ooooooooooh . . .