Deep-fried delights

Hold on, don’t chuck out your chip pan just yet. Every so often, it’s the only thing that will hit the spot Fried food has had a bad rap. To hear some, you’d think the frying pan was the source of all earthly evils – or at least dietary problems. And if you can get past that, there are those who fear they can’t rustle up a plate of chips without setting fire to the house. Today, I’m flying in the face of fears and fashion – and giving you my favourite deep-fried treats. I don’t advocate you eat them every day, but once in a while the lure of a crisp, golden coating is too strong to resist. You don’t need a deep-fat fryer, just a large, deep saucepan and a frying basket or a “spider” spatula (the type that has a wide, flattish basket at the end). A cooking thermometer would be handy, too, but if you don’t have one, there’s a simple temperature test – a cube of white bread browns in 60 seconds at 160C, 40 seconds at 180C and 20 seconds at 190C. And just in case, check the batteries in your smoke detector. When it comes to selecting oils, a high smoke point is what you want. No extra-virgin – it’s too delicate, and burns. Most of the time I use sunflower or groundnut, though rapeseed works well for croquetas. Before starting, make sure the oil doesn’t come more than a third of the way up the sides of the pan – adding moist food to hot oil makes it bubble fiercely, so give it room. And fry in small batches – throwing in too much at once makes the temperature drop dramatically so the food absorbs too much oil and becomes soggy. And we’re not interested in soggy. Crisp is what we’re after. Here, have a chip… Churros Dusting the churros with a little cinnamon as well as sugar isn’t strictly traditional, but it does taste good. Serve your churros with cups of hot chocolate thickened with a little cornflour. Serves four. 120g butter A pinch of salt 130g plain flour, sifted ½ tsp baking powder 3 eggs, lightly beaten Vegetable oil, for frying 4 tbsp caster sugar ¼ tsp ground cinnamon (optional) To make the dough, put 250ml water, the butter and salt into a

Posted by on March 11, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.