Four words that are rarely spoken today — old-fashioned fry-up — conjure up memories of our youth. They have become about as politically incorrect as most childhood stories. But as with most things that are said to be bad for us, there is a degree of misconception.
Dagwood Dogs
Known by many names, Dagwood dogs were a childhood favourite of mine; globally they are known as corndogs, pluto pups and pogos among others.
– 180g polenta
– 260g plain (all-purpose) flour
– 2 tspns baking powder
– 2 tspns salt
– 1 egg
– 50g sugar
– 250 mls milk
– 24 tinned hotdogs
– 24 thick wooden skewers
– oil for frying
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan or deep fryer to 180 degrees Celsius
- In a large bowl mix together the polenta and sifted flour, baking powder and salt
- Add the egg and sugar and slowly stir in the milk a little at a time until a thick pancake consistency has been achieved. You may need more or less milk depending on your polenta and flour used
- Dry the hot dogs on paper kitchen towel and skewer them through the centre
- Holding the hotdog by the skewer dip it into the batter to coat it evenly, thickly and completely
- Carefully insert the battered hotdog into the hot oil, holding the end of the stick. Fry for about two minutes. Time will depend on the thickness of your achieved batter.
- Fry one piece and then cool and break open to check it has cooked evenly and completely before cooking the remainder of the hotdogs in the same manner.
- Cool slightly before serving.
Golden Apple Fritters
– 3 Golden delicious apples, peeled, cored and sliced thickly into rings
– 85g plain (all-purpose) flour
– 1/4 tspn baking soda
– 1/8 tspn cinnamon
– 1 tspn sugar
– 125mls sparkling soda water
– oil for frying
- Apple slices should be approximately two cm in thickness
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar and soda water. The mix should be a little thinner than a pancake batter
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan or deep fryer to 180 degrees Celsius
- Dry the apple slices between paper kitchen towel and then dip quickly into the batter, achieving a complete even coating
- Carefully dip the battered apple slices into the hot oil one at a time
- Do not over fill the fryer. Cook one or two at a time and allow them to cook to a golden brown before removing apple fritters onto paper kitchen towel to drain and cool
- When cooled, dust with icing sugar or a mix of cinnamon and caster sugar and serve immediately with ice cream
Fried Battered Fish
120g cup plain (all-purpose) flour, chilled
2 tbspns cornflour
1/4 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn salt
180mls cold water
4-5 fillets quality fish such as tilapia,whiting or cod
salt and black pepper
oil for frying
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan oo deep fryer to 180 degrees Celsius
- Into a large bowl sift together the flour, cornflour, baking soda, baking powder and salt
- Add the water and whisk together to a thick batter, free of any lumps of flour
- Take the fish fillets and sprinkle both sides of the fillet with salt and pepper to season it
- Test the heat of the oil to see if it is ready by dropping a small amount of the batter by itself into the oil. If it fries nicely then dip the fish and start
- With the batter close to the fryer, dip the fillets one at a time into the batter, coat both sides evenly and then slide the battered fish gently and slowly into the heated oil
- Do not overcrowd the frying oil, and it is best to fry just one or two pieces at a time
- Allow five to six minutes for frying the fish, depending on the thickness of the fish fillets. It’s best to try one piece first and test that it is fully cooked before frying all the fillets
- When cooked, remove to paper kitchen towel to drain before serving while still hot with sauce of your choice and ample French fries
Deep Fried Ice Cream
– 8 firm rounded scoops of vanilla ice cream
-300g plain digestive biscuits, finely crushed
– 2 eggs
– 1 tbspn milk
– oil for frying
– icing sugar for serving
- Ensure that the day before deep frying your ice cream that the scoops are made and frozen so that they are firm when needed
- Crush the digestive biscuits in a blender until finely ground
- Remove the ice cream balls from the freezer and roll each one in the crushed biscuit powder and then return quickly to the freezer once they are all coated.
- Refreeze for at least one hour
- In a mixing bowl whisk the eggs with milk
- Remove the ice cream balls again
coat each ball first in the egg mixture, shaking off excess liquid then roll in a second coating of the digestive biscuit crumbs - Refreeze again for one hour Heat the oil in a large saucepan or deep fryer to 180 degrees Celsius
- Using a large slotted spoon take each ball of ice cream and lower it into the hot oil and deep fry quickly for 20-25 seconds. Do not let the ice cream ball slide off the spoon at any stage
- Remove quickly and set onto paper towel quickly, before placing onto a serving dish. Dust with icing sugar and serve
immediately - Repeat with remaining balls of ice cream one at a time
