Deep-fried Nirvana

[Carlovski]

at a creole place once, I had the most incredible and bizarre dish.

An avocado split in two, the seed removed, the cavity scooped out a little, and the pulp mixed with big shrimp and bound with a little mayo, then put back into the cavity, the avocado sealed shut, egged, breaded, and the whole thing deep fried.

Served I think with a remoulade - it was insanely good.

That sounds absolutely vile!

Maybe because I have a thing about both hot avocado, and hot mayo.

Perhaps it's one of those things that shouldn't work, but just does.

[MobyP]

Everything about it sounds awful, I agree. But by god it worked.

[fifi]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned zucchini/squash blossoms! Dip in a batter made of seltzer water and flour, deep fry and salt liberally. Crispy and delicate with an amazing zucchini flavor. I planted zucchini seeds this year just to get my hands on the blossoms!

During the Tempura Party era, we would fry daylilies if they were in bloom. We had used the buds in various dishes before so we knew they would be good. We had a variety growing that had small blossoms with substantial petals. We figured out how to batter them and put them in the oil so they retained their flower shape. They were absolutely gorgeous. Someone would always notice that they had a slight shrimp taste.

[Roejimmy]

A few years ago we started deep frying for thanksgiving, and some of the best stuff we have experimented with has been:

a deep fried bone-in pork roast, this was out of this world!

Duck, marinated 1-2 days in soy and orange juice

tempura battered chunks of brie

another vote for shrimp toast (Elephant Walk Cookbook has a great recipe)

Turkey (Of course)

[Jason Perlow]

Wow, what a cool ad on top.

[katzenjammy]

Wow, what a cool ad on top.

Indeed. When you follow that link, the relevant featured product is an Anvil brand fryer, which the same brand we bought (mail order) some years ago when we decided to make the fry party an annual event.

When the fryer arrived, it had been poorly packed for shipping and had acquired a trapezoidal shape. We applied a little judicious pressure and returned it to square (or at least rectangle), then took it for a test run (so to speak). First we found that the thing kept shutting itself off, making it impossible to hold the grease at frying temperature. Seems there was an excessively aggressive thermal overload switch; we disabled it. Then we stuck in a deep-fry thermometer and discovered that the built-in thermometer was grossly inaccurate. Recalibrated it....and finally we were ready to party.

The fryer has worked fine ever since. But what a pain in the ass!

____________

Party day is this Saturday, and we've settled on a menu:

Meats

Alton Brown corn dogs

Squid

Fried catfish on a stick

Coconut shrimp

Coxinha (Brazilian chicken-filled fried dumplings)

Breads & Starches

Hush puppies

Saffron risotto balls stuffed w/gorgonzola

Polenta "fries"

Beignets

Fruits & Veggies

Veggie tempura

Dill pickles (and other pickles…artichoke, carrots, okra)

Jalapeno slices

Ethnic

Spinach pakoras

Chinese dumplings

Sweets

Mini candy bars

Stuffed sweet potato balls in sesame crust

Fried custard

If there's any interest, I'll post pix of the various items are they're prepped over the next few days.

[edited to add menu]

Edited June 29, 2004 by katzenjammy (log)

[afoodnut]

If there's any interest, I'll post pix of the various items are they're prepped over the next few days.

Please do.

Perhaps fried pepto-bismol ice cream, sprinkled with crushed fried tums for the final fillip?

[Oreganought]

THAI STICKS

basically a forcemeat of ground pork and chicken with minced garlic,

softened vermicelli noodles cut to 2" lengths,fish sauce,nam pla,spring

onion.Par cook shrimp and skewer lenghtwise take the forcemeat

and wrap around the shrimp,caot in a batter of coconut milk and

cornstarch....deepfry. I serve with a chilli dipping sauce,everyone

devours these.

[Mooshmouse]

Perhaps fried pepto-bismol ice cream, sprinkled with crushed fried tums for the final fillip?

You know, that's not far off the mark. One of my favourite things ever is still served at a popular Mexican restaurant here in town: deep-fried ice cream. I believe they pre-form the ice cream balls, roll them in some unbelievable coating that seemed to include, of all things, something like corn flakes, refreeze them until they're extra hard, and then quickly pop them in the deep fryer until they're just crispy without over-melting the interior. It's not runny when you cut into it, only a little bit on the soft side.

Just think. How much better could it get? Ice cream deep-fried goodness. Oh great. Now I've gotta go out and get me some.

[irodguy]

Tempura batter (very chilled) and "stuff" scallops, onions etc.

And I second the pickles very interesting with a beer batter. ;) obviously you have plenty of beer around anyhow..

[rlm]

So Katzenjammy, how did the Deep Fry Fest go? What were the most popular items? What worked and what didn't?

[katzenjammy]

The Fryfest was a great success, at least to judge from the monumental hangover exhibited by the guest of honor/birthday boy the following day. He blames his sad state on the stealthy but dangerous properties of the liqueur-enhanced sno-cones, a last-minute addition to the menu. I blame it on the two kegs of beer and the fact that we gave blood the previous day, thus reducing our party-hardiness.

Given the magnitude of the party and the chaos level, I pretty quickly lost track of what was being cooked and consumed. Lots of folks brought fryables. And after the first three hours, appetites diminished rapidly and it became harder to recruit fry-cooks (thanks, afoodnut!). Thus certain much-anticipated items (fried pickles and squid come to mind) sadly never made it into the fryer.

Of the items that I personally cooked and/or consumed, the gorgonzola-stuffed saffron risotto balls were yummiest. About 2 million fried potstickers (is that an oxymoron?) were fried and happily gobbled up. Chicken tidbits and catfish chunks rolled in hot buffalo sauce were well-received, as were a great many beignets. Marshmallow fritters were surprisingly good (and I hate marshmallows). At dusk, a small mob of blotto Scots and their accomplices commandeered the fryer and cranked out fried candy bars, which they pronounced wonderful (though I couldn't bring myself to eat another bite at that point, and even my 12-year-old wouldn't touch one).

It was a fine time. And I'm glad we only do it once a year.

Edited July 12, 2004 by katzenjammy (log)

[afoodnut]

The sno-cones... I kept crunching on a combination of kahlua and bailey's irish creme; enough to keep me happy at those fryers, a blast (furnace?) from the past because of the company of re-found old friends, as well as new.

My favorite was the shrimp rolled in coconut.

Great party, katzenjammy.

[dougery]

Wontons definitely

Chinese doughnuts

Corndogs (home made of course!)

[naguere]

In a far flung place in the British Empire I ate a superb battered item. To the waiter:

''Is this a local fish John?'

'No Sahib, sheep's brains'

Edited July 13, 2004 by naguere (log)

[CheGuevara]

What a brilliant idea!

Deep Fried Calzone sounds like a good idea to me.

In NJ we used to call these things Panzarottis or Nicarottis...

They were small, hand-held personal Calzone like dealios...

It MIGHT have been a very local thing, I dunno...

They were the best!

THE BEST!

Lil' Banya ref...

Coming way late to this thread...

Panzarottis are a specifically NJ thing, as far as I know. Or at least calling them that. I saw the local news here in Philadelphia do a special report on them once--I guess it was a slow news day.

In scenic lower Bucks County, PA (specifically Levittown and Fairless Hills) we used to call these Ginocottis, because there was a place over by Pennsbury High School called Gino's that made them. But these weren't little handheld things. They were the size of one of those burger-and-fry baskets--which is what they came in. A big ol' puffed fried thing the size of a small football, with a puddle of searing melted cheese and sauce and whatnot inside. You'd break off pieces of the dough and use them to scoop the filling out. Damn they were good.

this might need to be removed from this thread, although i will add a deep-fried item to compensate

"panzerotti" are definitely not a new jersey thing. they come straight from italy - from the north, and yes they resemble a calzone. yeasty dough is used, which puffs up when fried, very similar to a doughnut but denser. the traditional filling is tomato sauce and cheese. when good they are out of this world.

in argentina we eat these quite often as appetizers:

2 eggs should be sufficient

get some chard - cook - pat/squeeze dry and mince - not too thin

make dough with flour, water or milk, grated cheese, salt and pepper, egg yolks

mix in beaten egg whites (until it begins to hold)

fold minced chard

using spoon, fry portions in hot oil

-che

[Varmint]

must . . . . still . . . . do . . . . fried . . . . whole . . . . live . . . . lobster . . . .