Who knew that deep fried foods won’t kill us after all?
It’s all in the fat: the kind you use matters. I use tallow and love it – it doesn’t make me sick like vegetable oils do, and doesn’t leave that disgusting film in my mouth. (Where to find tallow or how to render it yourself.)- You’ll want to be careful not to go over the smoke point no matter what fat you’re using. Read about the fryer that I use, but if I had to do it over again, I’d get THIS one: a Glass-Bowl Deep Fryer to avoid the Teflon. (Pictured on the right.)
- Lastly, use the best meat or veggies you can. (If you can’t find it locally, find sources of healthy meat and tallow online and see which items are on sale.)
With these things in mind, you can go ahead and enjoy now and then!
You can use the recipe below to deep fry anything:
Chicken (make homemade “chicken nuggets” pictured at right – yum!)- Beer battered fish
- Battered Shrimp
- Pork (maybe you’re making Kitchen Kop’s Sweet & Sour Chicken or Pork Recipe! YUM…)
- Onion rings – yes, you can eat onion rings almost guilt-free.
- Mushrooms
- Cauliflower
- Pickles (sounds weird, but you should try it!)
- What did I forget?
- Also use tallow to make Fast Food French Fries! (But don’t use a breading, obviously.)
Here’s the only clincher for now: I don’t have a good batter recipe – that’s where you come in, I’d love one made with sprouted flour! (Here’s how to make sprouted flour, or you can find that on my resources page, too.)
In the meantime, I use my old “stand by”: Drakes Mix from the store. The bad news is that it has corn meal, which is probably GM. The good news is that is has a short ingredient label, has no MSG, and tastes goooooood.
UPDATE: I’ve finally figured out a great BEER BATTER RECIPE!
It’s easy:
- Heat your beef tallow to 350* (If it’s not hot enough, the food will be soggy.)
- In the meantime, make your batter. Not too thick or it will be “bready”, not too thin or it will drip off in the oil.
- Stir in your raw meat or onions or whatever you’re cooking into the batter so all pieces are covered. (You may want to do just a few at a time, or dip one at a time if they’re bigger pieces.)
- Drop into the hot tallow and cook ‘til golden brown.
- Remove and drain for a bit on paper towels.
- Move to a cookie sheet in the oven at 325*ish to keep them hot until serving.
Enjoy!
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
You’re forgetting apple fritters! Or battered zucchini sticks!
Oh yeah! I know I could make the zucchini sticks the same as in the recipe above, but how do you make apple fritters? Kent would be so happy if I made these!
Peel and core your apples with one of those core removers that looks like a cyllinder. Then slice apples into rings, dip in batter and fry. Once you take them out of the oil, you shake them around with a cinnamon and sugar mix. Maple sugar would be good!
Fried mozzarella.
Fried zucchini blossoms (stuffed with cheese).
Fried clams.
Fried oysters.
Fried calamari.
What is Drakes Mix? I never heard of it. I dip my food in a milk/egg or cream/egg mixture and then dredge in sprouted flour or sourdough breadcrumbs (or a combo of the two).
You know what’s neat? Since frying is such work, we don’t do it that often. It’s a special treat that everyone looks forward to.
One thing though — you don’t have to heat your oven up to 350 to keep fried foods warm. I set mine at the lowest setting and it stays plenty warm.
I make the standard beer batter recipe form Joy of cooking with a few changes….
I grind Brown rice for the flour, and I use only milk for the liquid, as beer has gluten in it.
I also add one extra egg as well, since rice four does not bind as well.
weird! My name seems to have gotten lost up above!
Paula
Do you just grind uncoiled brown rice in a wheat grinder? I’d love to try that. Thanks.
Ok I meant to type uncooked not uncoiled. Sorry
Ann Marie, you’ve never heard of Drakes Mix because you were never a boxes and bags kind of cook like I used to be!!!
Christine, what do you use for batter?
Thanks all!
Kelly
For the zucchini sticks have just used an egg wash then seasoned breadcrumb (sourdough or sprouted bread) mix.
I have not yet made apple fritters the NT way yet, but I would just take any batter recipe and use sprouted flour or soak it overnight in say, buttermilk. I think I remember a recipe in EFLF for eggplant fritters. I think the recipe called for half the soaked pancake recipe as the batter. I’m sure that would work too.
Lanise, Yes, I just grind the rice on fine in my family mill. That is also what I use to make waffles and pancakes. I skip all the gluten free flour extras.
Kelly –
I was too! When I was single and working a lot, I used to use boxes of pasta, jars of tomato sauce, pre-made pizza dough (from Trader Joe’s — you just roll it out and bake it), and boxes of crackers with cheese. For a while I got addicted to pop-tarts and I would almost always eat out for lunch.
Of course I had terrible dental problems — all that white flour and not a lot of good homecooked meals. I was too busy working all the time. I ended up with a root canal and a ton of cavities.
Yum! I love fried food, but don’t often cook it. I should try it, because anything I fry myself in healthy oils with healthy batter is going to be so much better than what I can buy anywhere.
You always come up with the most thought provoking posts…I am not a deep frying kind of girl. It just isn’t my thing. But I do appreciate the info you share.
I absolutely agree about the healthy vs. unhealthy fats. It’s so very true.
Hi Kelly
My batter mix is white rice flour plus an egg white and salt. It’s a very traditional Chinese batter – slightly chewy, crispy and full of flavour. I don’ t suppose there is much phytic acid left in white rice, and I don’t worry about using white rice since it is such a small amount you end up eating. Also Chinese recipes recommend letting the batter sit for a few hours which is often the case for traditional (Indian, French, English) batter recipies. The sitting time probably improves flavour and possibly increases digestibility.
Shona x
Mmm…fried Coconut Prawns come to mind…
Oooh, I wonder if you could use coconut flour for the batter? Eh? Eh?
Gina, try it and let us know!
Hi Kelly-
I’ve been looking into switching over my cooking oils and have been wondering a lot about what to use for frying. I’ve always used canola oil, believing it to be healthy but also, it’s cheap which doesn’t make me feel bad about using so much and then having to dispose of it after use.
However, I’m now realizing that canola oil is NOT healthy and have been looking into other options. I’m wondering what is your opinion on using expeller pressed coconut oil for frying versus the tallow, as it seems to be much cheaper, especially when you consider that again, you have to use a significant amount and then dispose? The beef tallow looks great but does seem to be more expensive.
I’m planning on doing some switching over to virgin coconut oil for general use, but the frying question has been bugging me (although I don’t fry stuff often, I do especially love making homemade chips and salsa!!). Thanks!
Jennifer, that’s a great question. Thankfully we can reuse 3-4 times, but still, it gets thrown out and the cost adds up.
I tend to lean toward tallow or lard for sure, though, just because it’s much less processed. I think the expeller pressed coc. oil goes through a few different stages to get that coco taste and smell out.
Kelly
Hallelujiah!! LOL…seriously great post…I for one am glad that I can still have some fried treats now and again. And now I’m craving onion rings. Go figure. Thanks so much for sharing this with the hearth ‘n soul hop this week.
Kelly, I swear, more people need to read this! If only everyone knew. So much flavor, so much fun to be had. When I learned that deep-frying in the good fats was ok, it released me. At my house, we like to do a deep-fried feast, starting with mild foods like fruit and veg and doughnuts, and working our way through every type of food imaginable, until we finish with fishy-things. Mmmm. I think it’s about time for that now! Thanks for linking this with Hearth and Soul.
I would like one of everything! I am stingy with my tallow as I only get some when I cook up beef – and my lard is precious too – but sometimes you just HAVE to fry something and it is out of this world! I am glad you linked this post to Hearth and Soul!
Fried pickles are awesome!!! Yummy
great. now all I want for supper is fried things…but I don’t have a deep fryer yet.
We had that last night
)
I made steak and kidney pie for the first time. We liked it.