The Dangers of Deep Frying
Today's guest blog is brought to you by previous guest author and still longtime friend, Matt Hasselbacher, aka Matt in the Hat, aka Matt, Destroyer of Worlds! The dangers he writes of here refer less to the hazard of a grease fire and more to the dangers of being able to fry up something whenever you want a crunchy, salty treat!! In his words, "There are some things you can't un-learn."
Deep frying is easy. Too easy. I wish I could forget this little fact.
A few weeks ago Heather decided to make her own potato chips. There were some technical difficulties. The chips were cut too thin and the oil was too hot. They did not turn out well, but we ended up with some oil in a jar in the fridge for frying.
It comes back to me watching to much food TV. They plot against me, all of them. They plan their shows to lure me in. From two separate shows I learn that you can pick up won ton wrappers at your favorite local supermarket. Mine has them in the fresh food section (next to the tofu) rather then frozen like the TV said.
Deep fry + won ton wrappers; you can see where this is going...
Did I mention that I (for reasons that escape me) have like two and a half things of cream cheese in my fridge?
I pick up some ground pork and water chestnuts at the store along with the wrappers. We have chives in the garden, so I pass on getting scallions.
We use a thermometer this time. Keep the oil at 350. First course is just some diced water chestnuts and chives mixed with the cream cheese. Little deep-fried triangles of joy.
We were planning on pot stickers with the pork mix, steaming or pan frying them. Oil is still at temp, I say screw it and start dropping them down. Mmmmmmm.
We have some lo mein and veggies to round out the meal, but the allure of deep frying has a hold of me now. How can anything so good be so bad? It's fast and makes everything taste better.
Special bonus food tips:
When making Phily cheese steak sandwiches at home, don't just cook the onions, peppers and meat together. I tried doing the veggies then adding the meat. It did not get the nice sear it needed, just steamed with all the juices. I fixed this the next day with leftovers for lunch by heating up the mix in a hot pan. Got the nice brown crust on the shaved steak I needed. In the future I'll cook everything separate and just mix in the roll.
- Matt
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