If Deep Frying Is Cool, Then I’m Miles Davis

Yesterday was the Georgia Tech vs. Clemson football game, a Thursday night game, which I think is one of the best attractions in all of Atlanta. The weather was cool and wonderful, and the backdrop of the Atlanta skyline can’t be beat. In addition, Georgia Tech and Clemson have had a heated and well-matched series for the last ten year, with most games being decided by just a few points.

The actual game is great, but a well planned tailgate might be just as much fun. I got out to our spot roughly three hours before game time, where my buddy Matt had already set up his turkey fryer. No one brought a grill this time, so it was deep fry only!

Matt fried some mozzarella sticks first, then some hot wings which he then lathered up with a mixture of Texas Pete and butter. I generally use Frank’s cayenne sauce instead of Texas Pete, but they are comparable. Just be sure to use equal parts melted butter and cayenne sauce for maximum awesomeness.

For my part of the frying, I first prepared some jalapeno poppers (not pictured). I took twelve large jalapenos, cut the stem out and used a thin knife to core the seeds and ribs from the pepper. Then I cut small pieces of Monterey jack cheese and stuffed the peppers. The coating was a 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of buttermilk, and 1 tbsp of Cajun seasoning. They fried for 2-3 minutes only. They came out well, though the oil was too hot so the coating was a little darker than ideal. Also, I’d recommend letting the batter drip off on a rack prior to frying.

I was going to try frying the sausage & cheese balls that I often see as a baked tailgated snack, but in a rush I forgot the sausage at the grocery store. I ended up mixing cheddar cheese with Bisquick and Cajun seasoning and throwing the wet mixture in the hot oil. You can see these “cheese fritters” below. The oil was also too hot for these, which only needed one minute to cook. They weren’t bad, but they were a bit burnt and were definitely missing the sausage.

I realized today that I’ve been deep and pan frying quite a bit lately. Apparently I’m not the only one. A blog I like, Macheesmo, put up a post the other day surveying his recent Deep Fry Party. Check out his deep fried Oreos!

Other adventures in frying

While the deep fryer gets the glory, a good pan fry can produce lots of greasy goodness, such as the Redneck Burgers by Rowdy below. He pan fried thin burgers in bacon fat on high heat, creating a wonderful crust on the exterior of the burger. I’ve been reproducing this at home and I’ve even produced a wonderful veggie burger in this manner, though something feels wrong about cooking a veggie burger in animal fat.

The main instigator of my fry-fest has been the cast iron Dutch oven I purchased a few months ago. Below I have some duck fat melting like butter. I’ve been using peanut oil from Costco (great buy) mostly, but I like the animal fat taste provided by the duck fat.

The duck fat can be purchased at Star Provisions. I think it’s $10 for a pound.

French fries have also been a frying project lately. The best results I’ve had have been very thin fries (almost as small as McDonald’s fries), soaked in water for 24 hours, then fried once at 300 for five minutes, removed, then fried again at 400 for just a few minutes.

I tried reproducing the JCT fries once too. These have been fried twice, tossed in white truffle oil, then I used my microplane to produce the light and fluffy layer of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

My most fried item has been hot wings. I bought a huge bag of frozen wings from Costco, which may or may not have been a good idea, depending on how you look at things. I use the aforementioned cayenne/butter sauce a lot, but mostly I’ve been using variation of the spice mixture used on Rowdy’s Sichuan Fried Chicken.

The first time I made the spice mixture, it wasn’t hot enough. I had some cheap cayenne, so I purchased the cayenne below online. To say this stuff is “spicy” would be like calling Rush Limbaugh “conservative”.

I vary the mixture, but below is garlic salt, salt, coriander, paprika, cayenne, ground/toasted Sichuan peppercorn, and black and white sesame seeds.

I threw in a few dried chiles with this batch and got my brush ready for basting.

When the wings are almost ready, a ladle out a few tablespoons of the boiling hot oil and pour it on the spices and stir vigorously. The spices should become very aromatic. Then remove the hot wings and brush the spice paste on them.

I served these with a sriracha/blue cheese dipping sauce. I wasn’t a big fan of the sesame seeds so I’ve stopped using them.

I made these wings for friends again last weekend, but with a bit more salt, less garlic powder, and more cayenne. They were fantastic, but so spicy I had the hiccups for about 10 minutes. When the hiccups start, they are hot enough.

One time I had the wings I drank this Riesling which I brought back from Washington a few weeks ago. Off-dry, with a hint of effervescence when I first opened it, light minerality, with plenty of honey and some tropical fruit. I enjoyed it, I think it could compete with some German Rieslings at the < $20 price point.

Phew, anyone else need to hit the gym now?