The alluring deep frying of food

In Hanoi, at one of my favourite soup slurping stations, one of the teenage helpers was on wonton duty. A blackened wok on a high gas flame was set up on the footpath and extra long cooking chopsticks were keeping the hot oil safely at bay. Trays of limp uncooked wontons lay nearby awaiting crispification.

The alluring deep frying of food.

In Australia on Friday nights, I'd volunteer to go with Mum to the fish and chip shop to witness the same kind of action. The Greek proprietors would turn white fish and potatoes into magic golden brown via a finely tuned system where raw product entered the first bubbling oil vat at left, gradually moving right before being lifted, drained, salted and wrapped. "Can't you drive any faster?" I'd say to Mum on the way home. I would be salivating like a rabid dog.

A recent TV program on Discovery T&L showcased America's love affair with grease. They take the technique to a whole new level with anything from bacon to mars bars to a Texan creation known as a chicken fried steak getting slathered in batter and immersed in oil. I did watch in horror at some points but more at the eaters than the food.

I could see myself in them.

I do love a good fry-up. The heat, the bubbles, the crispy crunchy outcome, the possibility of third degree burns, the oil stains on the groin of my tousers, ill-fitting trousers struggling to house my expanding arse... the onset of obesity. It all adds up to excitement, adventure, risk, living dangerously. Some people jump out of planes. My personal favourite extreme sport is eating deep fried food. 

And these cracking giant wontons (banh hoanh thanh), filled with minced up pork and liver, are a fine exponent of this cuisine.

Comments

[Annerly Cooper]

I love that word "crispification"! So appropriate. Sounds really yummy and I'm sure with half the calories of KFC too!

[meemalee]

I ordered some of these wontonny beauties once at a restaurant here in the UK and they had nothing in them.

Nothing. I was so sad.

[Sticky]

"Crispification" is stickyspeak but I'll allow you to quote me with appropriate acknowledgement, Annerly ;)

Ripped off, meemalee!