You didn’t know you could deep-fry this too
A group of curious foodies, a deep fryer and a well-stocked pantry—then you’re asking for it: can you really deep-fry anything? By all means, experiment, especially if you don’t mind cleaning the deep fryer when something explodes or starts leaking, and share your experiences. These are our favorites:
Pizza
If the diva of Italian cuisine does it, then it’s officially legit: deep-frying pizza. In the cookbook Koken con amore, Sophia Loren gives the recipe for fried Neapolitan pizza. She makes small, flat pizzas from homemade dough, fries them and then tops them with tomato sauce and all kinds of delicious things.
Brussels sprouts
If you count fries as potatoes, and ketchup as a sauce made from fresh tomatoes, then you can also fit deep-fried Brussels sprouts into your five-a-day. The cooked Brussels sprouts get a panko coating for extra crunch, and then bob around in the bubbling fat for a few minutes. And you can give other vegetables the same beauty treatment too (think: kale); the possibilities are endless!
Ravioli
Freeze the ravioli first, then coat them and—hey presto—into the deep fryer they go. With grated Parmesan and sage leaves, it even becomes a complete culinary masterpiece. Brilliant!
Mars
A controversial snack, because the bigwigs at Mars aren’t happy about this deep-fried treat. It doesn’t fit into “a healthy and sustainable eating pattern,” and they have a point. But a Mars bar doesn’t fit into one even when it’s not deep-fried, so what are we talking about? Thinking it through: if you can deep-fry Mars bars, why not Snickers too? Or Bounty? Or a whole bunch of Celebrations, as a kind of sweet bitterballen platter? Heat up the oil—we’re deep-frying!
Poffertjes
Deep-fried poffertjes—what little champions! In conversations with hospitality staff about the famous and infamous post-shift snack, this super snack came up often. Apparently, the deep fryer gets switched on in the kitchen as soon as the last guests are shown out, after which entire bags of microwave poffertjes slide into the hot fat.
