Listen, I’m not new at food. I’m familiar with the trend towards deep-frying that which cannot, or ought not, be deep-fried. Ice cream, cheesecake, twinkies, candy bars – I’ve seen it all. And not to be an elitist, but frankly, I want something new – a topic that was alluded to in the comments of a story a few days ago. So when I ventured over to a Taste of Edmonton on my lunch break, I was hoping to find that someone had dared to deep-fry that one random unspeakable thing that would really astound me. Yes, I understand that shock and awe isn’t in the mandate for A Taste of Edmonton. But I thought Edmonton’s premier food festival might be at the cutting edge of deep-fried food technology.
So anyway, I went over to Churchill Square and I bought my tickets.
Then I wandered around.
Deep-fried, but not weird.
Neither deep-fried, nor weird.
Neither deep-fried, nor weird. Just obscenely overpriced. $2.50?!
Anyway, I finally found the much lamented fried mars bars.
They tasted fatty, and melty, and frankly, bittersweet – not because the crew from The Hat didn’t knock this one out of the park – but because it just wasn’t what I had hoped for.
So I left a Taste of Edmonton reflecting on the fact that if I wanted to see the deep-frying envelope pushed, I was going to have to do it myself.
Now this is where you guys come in. I have seven Taste of Edmonton tickets left and they can be yours if you give me your best suggestion for “thing we should deep fry that has not yet been deep fried”. Jeff and I will make it up in our test kitchen (read: our kitchen) and post the results here – and then maybe next year we can have our own booth at the festival. If we pick your idea (in a completely arbitrary and unfair fashion), we’ll give you the leftover tickets and first crack at sampling our new creation.
Mmmmm. Tastes like groundbreaking.
By the way, if you haven’t yet visited A Taste of Edmonton, here’s what’s on the menu.
Not really a recommendation, but I’ve seen these in Texas: deep fried dill pickles.
I admit I wasn’t up for trying it. Happy frying folks!
I know this is old news, but I’ve heard that deep fried turkey is phenomenal. like, the entire turkey. dipped in boiling oil.
i’ve also heard really good things about deep fried grapes.
here’s a new one for you guys to test out:
McDonald’s Cheeseburgers. take a stock cheeseburger, add extra cheese, dip in batter and (re)fry.
A whole turkey, i wonder how long that would take…
And, incidentally, both pickles and burgers sound amazingly gross. I can’t wait to start deep-frying stuff.
Deep fry a cheeseburger? I’m in.
I also want to figure out a way to deep fry cotton candy. There HAS to be a way.
Deep fried pickles are great. I turned my nose up the first time they were offered but I relented and sampled the taste sensation. The combination of a hot deep fried batter and a cool, crisp dill pickle BLEW MY MIND and I’ve never been the same since.
Now I’m going to go flush the toilet.
what doesn’t taste better with batter?
my newest obsession is olives…some great varieties at sobeys fresh and always lots at italian market…so how about it?????
deep fried olives????????
yum yum
Deep fried turkey doesn’t take very long (3 min. per pund). And boy is it juicy and tasty.
http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=8051
“Pound” that is. I am not sure what unit of measurement “pund” is. Sounds heavy.
wow, dunford – i never pictured you as someone who would know that kind of very specific info about deep frying a turkey. you’ve got a lot of levels, sir.
btw, “pund” is a dutch unit of measurement. it equal 24 oz.