Fry me to the moon

March 7, 2008 12:23 PM

What should I fry? Give me your favorite fried food ideas.

I'm throwing a "fry party" at my house this weekend, and am looking for ideas of what to fry. We're using small household deep fryers, so no turkeys or sides of beef. We're making the obvious items: cheese curds, mushrooms. onion rings, coconut shrimp. I'm looking for your ideas and favorite fried food items and recipies. We're going to try funnel cakes and snickers bars, but I'm anxious to hear some other ideas as well.

posted by cosmicbandito to food & drink (52 comments total)

Tofu!
1" cubes of firm tofu, fried until golden brown.
posted by spasm at 12:27 PM on March 7, 2008

Fried ice cream.

It takes some prep work, but you can do it ahead of time so that when the party's on and the frydaddy's ready, all you need to do is flash-fry them. They are very worth it.
posted by DrGirlfriend at 12:29 PM on March 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

Beignets
posted by pineapple at 12:29 PM on March 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

my old roomate (crazy as she was - but that's another story) once made the greatest fried dessert ever. oreo cookies dipped in yellow cake batter (i bet duncan hines or something like this) then fried. the inside winds up melting a bit -- soooo good!

also - there's a fried burrito but that would probably be too complicated for home? i've never tried it, but...
1) wrap a hard block of icecream & top with a brownie inside of a tortilla
2) deep fry for 2-3 minutes (the icecream should be as hard as possible so that the frying doesnt cause it to melt into liquid - rather more like a hard soft serve once the frying is done)
3) remove from fryer and top with whipped cream and chocolate syrup
posted by jazzybelle at 12:31 PM on March 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

Catfish nuggets. Farm raised fresh of course.
posted by curlyelk at 12:32 PM on March 7, 2008

I suggested Coke in this similar thread.
posted by nitsuj at 12:32 PM on March 7, 2008

Ripened plantains: Peel plantain, slice diagonally into about 6 pieces, sprinkle a little salt, and deep fry till golden brown.

Sweet potatoes: Peel. Cut into medium sized wedges. Sprinkle some salt, deep fry tll golden brown.

Chicken drummettes: Season to taste (i use a blend of ginger, cayenne, garlic and worcestershire sauce). Deep fry till done.

Fish: Red snapper or tilapia (not filets, but whole/descaled/gutted). Dispose of head if you're squeamish. Cut fish into 4 pieces. Wash thoroughly. Squeeze the juice of a lemon on fish. Sprinkle salt. Deep fry till outside is a nice golden brown and inside is firm yet flaky.

Chicken gizzards: (the spicier the better). Sprinkle as much cayenne as you can tolerate. Add a dash of salt. Deep fry till golden brown.

Eggs: Hardboil some eggs. peel eggs. Baste eggs with a mixture of breadcrumbs and milk. Deep fry for about 3 minutes till a nice light golden brown. (Goes really well with pesto!)

clearly i eat WAAAY too much fried food!
posted by ramix at 12:33 PM on March 7, 2008

I had deep fried bacon once. It wasn’t breaded or anything, just thick slabs of bacon (real stuff from a butcher who cut it from a pig himself) tossed in a giant cast iron pan filled with oil. Part of it was atmosphere, it was in on a lake in Quebec during a traditional “shore lunch” of fresh caught bass. So I can’t say for certain deep frying it really added to the bacony taste, but dude… deep fried bacon!
posted by bondcliff at 12:34 PM on March 7, 2008

Snickers
posted by mpls2 at 12:34 PM on March 7, 2008

Oh, and at a friend's fry party, we got creative and wrapped some bits of mozzarella in bacon. Wowie. Maybe we were drunk and high on grease, but those were good.
posted by DrGirlfriend at 12:36 PM on March 7, 2008

The Scots invented the deep-fried mars Bar (which is close to the NA Snickers you'll be using), so this review of the classic technique may help you out.

So why not go whole hog with the Scottish deep-frying theme? Try a nice little piece of pizza, or go beyond the valley of the haggis with a stick-to-your-ribs cheeseburger.

(There will be alcohol at this party, right?)
posted by maudlin at 12:36 PM on March 7, 2008

Fried foods of the world, an incomplete listing:

A Guide to Ethnic Fried Doughs Around the World.
Smažený sýr.
List of Doughnut Varieties. (See also.)
bacon-wrapped, cheese-filled, battered and fried hot dogs.
Scotch Egg.
Korean fried chicken.
Pizza fritta.
Ningyo-yaki.
French Fry-Encrusted Corndogs.
Beer Battered Deep Fried Bacon Double Quarter Pounder.
posted by zamboni at 12:37 PM on March 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

Dough. Buy pizza dough rolled up in a can and cut it up. After it's done put powdered sugar and/or cinnamon on it. Yummm.
posted by disaster77 at 12:38 PM on March 7, 2008

Fried squash.
posted by frobozz at 12:40 PM on March 7, 2008

We've deep fried little meatloaf chunks with cheese. incredible.
posted by troika at 12:43 PM on March 7, 2008

okra
posted by wsg at 12:44 PM on March 7, 2008

Clams!
posted by maloon at 12:47 PM on March 7, 2008

Pickles. Dill spears, bread and butter chips, sweet gherkins. Just a little light batter and you're in heaven.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:54 PM on March 7, 2008 [2 favorites]

Fry Bread
posted by unixrat at 12:56 PM on March 7, 2008

wonton wrappers filled with a little peanut butter, a slice of banana, and some chocolate?
ravioli?
posted by heeeraldo at 12:58 PM on March 7, 2008

You wouldn't know it to look at the beautiful skin of every single person from India I've ever met, but the culture is simply rife with fried food. Hie thee to the nearest Indian grocery; here are two recommendations: (both of which I *have* seen in non-Indian grocery stores):

Puppodums (can be spelled lots of ways). You buy this little package about the size of a small packet of cold cuts; they're made of I-don't-know-what (I think lentil flour is involved), each is a flat brittle disk maybe 4-5 inches in diameter. Don't buy the pre-fried ones, if those are on the shelf. Drop in hot oil, probably one at a time, and they get curly and fluffy and way bigger than you expect almost instantly. Put them on paper towels carefully so that the oil drains out of the probable bowl shape. Serve with chutney (or maybe French dressing or shrimp cocktail sauce) for dipping.

I had a roommate introduce me to an Indian food called (I think) "far far" -- not sure if it's a brand name or what. It's basically little squares about the size of a postage stamp that look like plastic and are different pastel colors. They're probably made of rice. Anyway, you drop a few at a time into hot oil, and SSSSSSHHHHHIIIIIIIIIPPPP! They expand impressively. Have some chutney or other sauce at hand (which you will for the pupodums or however you want to spell it); delicious and hot. A bunch of these in a bowl is very festive and much more original than chips.

A note about chutney: I recommend the classic mango variety.
posted by amtho at 1:00 PM on March 7, 2008

And yes, I realize that referring to "the culture" glosses over universes of difference among various ethnic groups in India. An error on my part.

The "far far" roommate was Bengali, if that helps clarify the reference.
posted by amtho at 1:03 PM on March 7, 2008

amtho: “It's basically little squares about the size of a postage stamp that look like plastic and are different pastel colors.”

Krupuk, aka prawn crackers.
posted by zamboni at 1:03 PM on March 7, 2008

There's a place nearby that serves up deep fried twinkies, and they are de-licios!
posted by waxboy at 1:04 PM on March 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

We made these cauliflower fritters (bigne salate) last week, and they were absolutely amazing.
posted by General Malaise at 1:08 PM on March 7, 2008

(and regular vegetable oil or peanut oil works just as well if you don't want to spend out for olive oil).
posted by General Malaise at 1:09 PM on March 7, 2008

A dish that I've had at a tapas bar that is particularly delightful:

fried goat cheese (make balls about an inch in diameter) drizzled with honey and finely sliced caramelized onions

YUM! I could eat a whole plate of those.
posted by odi.et.amo at 1:12 PM on March 7, 2008

Another dish from same tapas bar:

fried grean beans sprinkled with sea salt. The batter seemed to be tempura style. The sweetness of the beans contrasted with the salt was quite tasty.
posted by odi.et.amo at 1:13 PM on March 7, 2008

Break cauliflower into small chunks, then read and deep fry. Put out a little dish of melted butter and dip them before popping them in your mouth.
posted by chrisamiller at 1:14 PM on March 7, 2008

In answer to a previous ask.me question of mine, someone suggested making deep-fried balls of mac & cheese. I did, and they were astoundingly good -- so delicious that they were subsequently requested by a friend for her birthday party.

Basically, take a golf-ball-sized clump of mac & cheese that's already been cooked. Roll it in flour, dip it in egg or cream, then roll that in bread crumbs. Fry until brown, and sprinkle some salt on top.

You may notice that the ball doesn't cohere that well when you're putting it together. If that happens, you can always add a bit of flour-mixed-with-cream to the mac & cheese mixture; that "edible paste" will act as a nice binding medium.
posted by Greg Nog at 1:15 PM on March 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

When I had a fry party, with potatoes and bananas and candy bars and onion rings and everything else we could think of to fry, the single best thing we did was a variation on the fried candy bar theme: bite-sized candy bars wrapped in a little ball of bread dough (pizza dough would work, too). Melted chocolate goo inside, fried dough outside. Mmmmmmm.
posted by doift at 1:16 PM on March 7, 2008

Seconding fish, particularly tilapia (a great all purpose fishy) only use filets and make fish tacos! Batter is basically just flour, salt, an egg if you want (or just the whites for cohesion), and some good dark beer like Negra Modelo. Here's a recipe from Epicurious that uses cod, but I think tilapia works better.
posted by elendil71 at 1:22 PM on March 7, 2008

Similar to Greg Nog's Mac and cheese suggestion (which is delicious) are fried risotto balls or cakes. For balls: make risotto (any kind you like), allow to cool to room temp, form into little golfball/racquetball sized balls, then chill on a sheetpan or similar until firm.
For cakes: make risotto, chill fully in a cake pan or other vessel so that risotto is ~1" thick, cut circles or squares out of firm chilled risotto.

For either: flour, egg, bread, fry, delicious.
posted by hihowareyou at 1:28 PM on March 7, 2008

Twinkies.
Mars bars.

But really, freshmade little donuts are the best thing in the world ever.
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:32 PM on March 7, 2008

Oysters! Shuck, bread, season, fry; cram 'em into a baguette with some mayo and shredded lettuce for the best po' boy ever. mmmmmmm.

You'll want to do these last because the oysters will impart oyster-y flavoring on just about everything else subsequently fried in the same oil.
posted by jamaro at 1:39 PM on March 7, 2008

Ripened plantains: Peel plantain, slice diagonally into about 6 pieces, sprinkle a little salt, and deep fry till golden brown

also, green plantains. The ripe ones are sweeter, the green ones more starchy. They're called tostones if they're green, and maduros if they're yellow.

You can cut the green variety into thick slices, fry them, smush them slightly, dip them in salted garlic water, and fry them once more. really good.
posted by dubold at 1:42 PM on March 7, 2008

Camping donuts. Well that's what we called them. Take a can of Pop N Fresh sweet rolls and poke a hole in the center. Pop in the fryer and turn once, serve when GB&D.
posted by Gungho at 1:47 PM on March 7, 2008

Battered and fried oreos.
posted by arianell at 2:12 PM on March 7, 2008

Nthing plaintains!
posted by bettafish at 2:18 PM on March 7, 2008

Also, your subject line cracks me up.
posted by bettafish at 2:18 PM on March 7, 2008

Carduni Fritti
Food Network, but still accurate.
Tastes like a little chunk of fried artichoke.
Mmmmmmmm.
posted by Seamus at 2:20 PM on March 7, 2008

Get some chickpea flour and make pakoras. Cauliflower is my favorite, followed by onion. I'm sure any number of veggies would be good.
posted by O9scar at 2:37 PM on March 7, 2008

in addition to what everyone else has mentioned (included fried battered oreos, which are great) - i love me some deep fried broccoli. also, fried basil leaves are scrumptious.
posted by gnutron at 2:47 PM on March 7, 2008

Green beans and polenta cubes. (Mmm, fried polenta cubes. I had them in Italy and I thought they were cheese cubes at first and I was deliciously surprised.)
posted by sperose at 2:48 PM on March 7, 2008

i love fried eggplant, cut into strips and battered with panko

fried tofu, in 1-inch cubes and marinated in soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, with garlic or taco seasonings, then either a) dusted in flour/taco seasoning combo, or b) egg washed then panko battered. sooo delicious!

also, fried garlic mashed potato balls, rolled in bread crumbs! yum!

cheeses are always good fried, especially goat cheese mixed with shiitake mushrooms or something else delicious (green onions, herbs, corn, etc.)

and of course, it's fun to fry up all sorts of different vegetables with "batters of the world": bread crumbs, panko, tempura, lentil flour & garam masala (for pakoras, onion bhaji, etc.), beer batter. this is why i don't have a fryer.
posted by booknerd at 2:59 PM on March 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

shrimp chips.

They start as theses little hard bits and get a big a light and crunchy when they fry up.
posted by jefftang at 3:50 PM on March 7, 2008

Pickles!!
posted by redtriskelion at 4:35 PM on March 7, 2008

My health (and taste) forgive me, but I love store-bought frozen cheddar jalapeno poppers fried in a home fryer. If you're really into prepping the stuff from scratch, I'm sure there's a recipe online somewhere. But those are just my favorite. I wonder how many I could eat...way more than I should, for sure. With creamy dressing of some sort, like ranch.
posted by lampoil at 5:57 PM on March 7, 2008

chicken wings
home made taro chips
or potato chips
posted by rux at 8:42 PM on March 7, 2008

Plantains, as others have mentioned, and avocado also works - lightly bread it (beer batter works, but I should think that panko would as well). So bad but so good...
posted by queseyo at 10:56 PM on March 7, 2008

Olive Ascolane - fried green olives stuffed with meat
Baccalà - fried salt cod
Fiori di zucca* - Fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with mozzarella & anchovies
Crocchette di patate* - fried mashed potatoes, optionally stuffed with mozzarella
Arancini & Suppli - Fried balls of rice, mixed with various ingredients. I usually use leftover risotto to make these. Arancini are about the size of a baseball and can be 'white' or 'red' depending on the risotto/sauce used; suppli are about the size of a Silly Putty egg and are 'red', usually with a piece of mozzarella in the center.
Carciofi Fritti - Fried artichokes

Bignè di San Giuseppe - Fried doughnut balls, usually stuffed with a variety of creams (chocolate, pistachio, plain, etc.) eaten on St. Joesph's day (March 19)
Frappe - fried strips of dough sprinkled with powdered sugar

*scroll down the linked page for recipe
posted by romakimmy at 7:21 AM on March 8, 2008 [2 favorites]

Form tofu. Cube it, boil it for 7 minutes, drain. Dredge in cornstarch and fry in hot oil till brown and cirpsy on all sides. Serve with soy sauce or something fancier. Super yummy!
posted by Penelope at 8:02 PM on March 28, 2008