Friday, May 25, 2012

Deep Frying & the Golden Oil of the Gods


Deep Frying & the Golden Oil of the Gods

As every Bachelor knows Deep Fried foods are about as close to nirvana as one can get. First off nothing seems to seal in flavour like a quick bath in hot oil and second with the way fried foods clog your arteries they leave you that much closer to kicking the proverbial bucket, thus also bringing you much closer to nirvana. For the following we will pretend that the artery clogging properties of deep fried foods do not exist and only focus on the positive.

Some of you reading may or may not know that I live in Nova Scotia where the only thing close to as abundant as unemployed fishermen is fresh fish, albeit as the numbers of the former rise the numbers of the latter seem to decline almost like there is some kind of correlation. This said I felt being from Nova Scotia that it behoved me to talk at least somewhat about fish or at the very least food from the sea.

Seafood is something that people generally seem to love or hate for the most part with one real exception, Fish & Chips which just about everyone I've ever known seems to love or at least like a lot. Now I suspect from what I have written so far that you now expect me to go about how to make a great fish and chips but you would be wrong as it takes years to perfect how to truly make a great fish and chips and I have had neither the time or the inclination to do the learning and recipe testing required. This is probably because I've never personally been a huge fan of wither Haddock or Cod which at least here are the 2 main types of fish generally used for fish and chips. What I do love on the other hand is Clams and they can be found in huge abundance here plus they fry up divinely.

Now frying clams is quite a bit different than frying fish as you have to use a dry batter or breading due to the fact that a wet batter just wont stick to clams at all and what you end up with is bits of fried clam with nothing on them and bits of fried batter with nothing in it. That is why I chose a recipe using breading which personally I find makes better clams than any dry batter I've ever had. Also in the following recipe I use Peanut Oil which I find due to its flavour properties and ability to take a very high heat makes the best deep frying oil ,although I will admit that pure beef lard is even better but a bit beyond my price range to use as a frying medium, but if you are not wanting to use peanut oil for any reason (allergies, taste, etc...) you can always replace the peanut oil with either vegetable oil or canola oil.

I should also probably mention that unlike my recipes up to this point this recipe makes way more food than one person can or at least should eat in one sitting but what you do is with this recipe is between you and whatever god you choose.

Spicy Breaded Nova Scotia Clams

Dishes Dirtied – 1 mixing bowl, 1 small bowl, 1 deep fryer or large wok, 1 steel spatula or tongs

Ingredients
1 lb. Clean shelled clams (Make sure to wash these thoroughly before using)
1 Egg
2 Cups of fine breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp. Chili or Cajun spice mix
Salt and Pepper to taste
¾ Qt. Peanut oil if using a wok or as much as needed if using a deep frier (this will depend on what brand/model you are using)

Start by making sure your clams are really well washed to make sure you don't end up with gritty fried clams as they are kinda gross. Once this is done dry off your hands put your oil on at a medium/high (about 7 on most stoves) temperature and we are ready to begin.

Take all your dry ingredients and thoroughly mix them together in the mixing bowl making sure you have as homogenous a mixture as possible. Then in your small bowl beat your egg until it is bubbling up a little.

Dip all the clams into the egg mixture if they won't all fit then do a few at a time. Then take a clam out of the egg mix shake it off a little roll it in the breading shake it again and then put it in the oil. If the Oil is hot enough it should start instantly bubbling if it doesn’t then wait another few minutes before going to the next one. Once the oil is at the right temperature just start repeating this process but don’t try to do more than about 5 clams at a time because they cook very quick and you could burn them.

As the breading on the clams begins to turn a really deep shade of golden brown using the tongs or spatula remove them from the oil and place them on a plate for serving. Cooking about 5 at a time it should still only take you about 6-7 minutes or so to cook the whole pound of clams.

The clams are now ready to be served with your choice of sides which would usually be fries (I will discuss these in a future post) or maybe a salad or coleslaw. I personally also recommend dripping a bit of lemon juice on the clams before eating.

One final note,...make sure when buying your clams that you are getting whole clams and not 'clam strips'. Clam strips are cut from giant deep sea clams and are not nearly as tasty as whole clams, they have a much less pleasant texture as well.

Bleeding Teddy - The Bachelor Gourmet

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