~ {{ The Fried Foods from Around the World thread }} ~

[citizen_erased]

*snip*

There`s korokke, a fried..potato...thing....that`s really good. It often comes with a sauce, but you can get it as it is too. They sold them at my uni in Kyoto for 36 yen each (which was, well, a couple of cents in euro), so I ate them everyday in the short break.



*snip*

Other fried foods include but are not limited to karaage (fried chicken), tonkatsu (pork), inarizushi (fried tofu poach filled with rice), and tofu.

*snip*

At a couple of cents of Euro, how can they be so cheap?  As poor as I am right now I'm sure I would also be one buying these every day  

[/quote

I have no clue! Japanese magic, I suppose. Though then again, frying some mashed potato shouldn`t be too expensive to begin with, especially if you buy in bulk.

[CapnHarlock]

A non-deep-fried aside on the *shudder* Blooming Onion - (The Australian-themed places in my area NEVER have correct oil temperature, so, around here, vaguely-onion-flavored oil-sponges)

Peel and cut a sweet onion (Vidalia, etc) in a similar manner to the "bloom",  place in 2 layers of foil, drizzle well with olive oil, and give a healthy sprinkle of "Cajun Seasoning" (some cayenne, paprika, dried thyme, onion, garlic, pepper, salt), wrap tightly, bake in a 375 degree F oven or toss on campfire coals until soft, and enjoy.

The onion itself is a great side/condiment.

The liquid at the bottom of the container is Nectar of the Gods.

[bicyclebuilder]

Is the deepfrieing pan still on? Does anyone mind if I throw in a batch of Oliebollen?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliebol

Traditionally eaten on New Years Eve and/or at the fair.

[J. Wilhelm]

Is the deepfrieing pan still on? Does anyone mind if I throw in a batch of Oliebollen?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliebol

Traditionally eaten on New Years Eve and/or at the fair.

Sounds really good.  Thanks for adding a name I was getting afraid that we had run out of ideas!


Similar concept (but more elaborate) than the beignets;

[bicyclebuilder]

Not at all, I think we've only scratched the surface.
I think every culture or country has it's own version of deep frying.
Here is a big list for inspiration:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fried_dough_foods

Does fondue count as fried food?

[J. Wilhelm]

Not at all, I think we've only scratched the surface.
I think every culture or country has it's own version of deep frying.
Here is a big list for inspiration:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fried_dough_foods

Does fondue count as fried food?

Oh....my...God.  That is a really long list.    Some one is way ahead of us and actually has enough time on their hands to compile a list of fried foods from around the world (what a bum, some people don't have to work, eh?).

Oh well.  But who else other than a Steampunk can deliver the list with such passion and such clarity of language? *reads through the wiki list*

I'm going to have to think about that (foundue counting as fried...).


EDIT:

Actually I take that back.  While interesting, I ve already spotted a few major errors in the list and several omissions just at first glance.  Where the Wiki list is most informative in is on foods from countries not covered yet, most of them in Asia.

[J. Wilhelm]

More of a novelty rather than a folkloric food, but I have a question for you:

Fried Chicken and Doughnuts.  Mismatch or Genius?  From the "Federal Chicken" establishment in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. (VIDEO)
http://screen.yahoo.com/chicken-donuts-mismatch-genius-100000793.html

[J. Wilhelm]

A good way to look into American food is to follow the immigrant's path.  People generally look at American food as hamburgers and hot dogs, not realising that fast food is just 20th. C. Atomic age food.

I found this interesting video of the Polish dumplings known as Pierogi. The dish was brought by immigrants, and in this case the video is filmed at a local fair in the town of Whiting, Indiana, in a US region with a sizeable Polish-American and East European population.

The Pierogi is basically a type of pastry folded in half and filled with either a savoury ingredient such as meat or sauerkraut or sweet like fruit, boiled alone, or boiled and then pan fried in butter, like a "pot-sticker."

Pierogi Festival in Whiting, Indiana, US  (VIDEO)
http://screen.yahoo.com/pierogi-festival-090000604.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierogi
PIEROGI

[CapnHarlock]

Pierogi are one of those signs that the Universe is a good and friendly place.    Most often (in my experience), Mashed potatoes and cheese, or sauteed pork and sauerkraut in a pasta  sheet covering.  Traditionally boiled with sour cream dressing, and often, in the States, deep-fried. All delicious. My own favorite is boiled, then pan-fried (Polish potstickers) with a spicy remoulade sauce.

[J. Wilhelm]

The Burrito and Chimichanga: Cultural Dilution and Transformation of Immigrant Food.

Well, following the subject of immigrant food, let me just state that there is a very strong difference between the food of the immigrant and the food of their native countries.

Depending on the social conditions of the immigrants, then different levels of fidelity in their cuisine will be achieved on their new host country.  Issues like availability of ingredients, how united or complete the family unit is and social influences from the host country can affect the quality of the food. In such a way, one must clarify between Italian food and Italian-American food, between Mexican Food and Mexican American food, and so on.

In the case of the United States, several cuisines like Italian and Chinese, became more commonplace at the turn of the 19th. C. and benefited from the presence of more complete family units.  If an Italian family for example migrated with the grand mother, the aunt, and the daughters, for example, it was more likely that authentic recipes and cooking techniques were followed.  If on the other hand the migrants were male seasonal labourers, like in the case of many Mexican migrants, then without a cohesive family unit, what was imported into the United States was "bachelor food" so to speak, just the most rudimentary form of the cuisine, especially given the case that in Mexican cuisine, women generally were in charge of food preparation.

Such "bachelor food" then was more vulnerable to bastardisation given the list of local ingredients and outward influences.  Mexican food did enjoy a good native background from the period when the American Southwest territories were part of Mexico, but the population density was rather low prior to 1840, and when the United States expanded westward, the native Mexican population was displaced ethnically and culturally so even the tenuous Mexican culture present was substituted by that of other migrants from the East coast or European countries, like the German and Czech immigrants in Central Texas.  This meant that in the late 19th. C. the Mexican culture weakened in the Southwestern United States, and rebounded slowly throughout the 20th. Century, helped along only by the "Atomic Age" fast food culture of the Post WWII period.  This had a great influence on the worldwide concept of Mexican food, because the United States had the money to push fast food on a global scale, and basically exported the stereotypical Mexican cuisine you are likely to find outside of Mexico today.

Often the food will be fundamentally transformed and re-invented in the host country.  Such is the case of the Burrito, and it's  Deep-Fried cousin, the Chimichanga.

The Burrito, legend has it was a larger variation on the Mexican Taco, basically a larger than normal wheat flour tortilla that was used as a "wrap" to fold in generic ingredients that were not necessarily Mexican.

The idea is attributed to a street vendor from Ciudad Juarez, who would cross the Rio Grande illegally across the border, quite literally by crossing the river,  to the city of El Paso in Texas, sometime in the mid 20th. C.  Legend has it that he was selling several generic non-Mexican foods and that he needed a practical way to bundle up individual portions, so he could carry a large tray of food on his head (this is legend folks).  The result was the oversize taco that is now known as Burrito.

As time went by, the ingredients became even more non-Mexican, including Asian foods and even chicken strips with Caesar salad toward the end of the 20th. C.  Such items are now distinguished in the US by calling them Wraps.

Now if you take a Burrito or Wrap and fold it so as to close it from all sides, and then deep fry the bundle, that is called a Chimichanga.  Strictly non-Mexican, and while it is hotly debated who invented the concept of the word, all agree that it is 100% American.  A good indicator at least that the name is not Mexican, is that it sounds way too close to a Mexican curse word, that should not uttered in polite company. The consensus is that the Chimichanga dates back to the 1950's in the State of Arizona, but others trace it to California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimichanga

A Chimichanga with rice.

[RJBowman]

The Chimichanga originated in an alternate universe version of Mexico that was more prosperous and had a more convenience-food oriented cuisine.

[RJBowman]

The Burrito and Chimichanga: Cultural Dilution and Transformation of Immigrant Food.
...In the case of the United States, several cuisines like Italian and Chinese, became more commonplace at the turn of the 19th. C. and benefited from the presence of more complete family units.  If an Italian family for example migrated with the grand mother, the aunt, and the daughters, for example, it was more likely that authentic recipes and cooking techniques were followed.  If on the other hand the migrants were male seasonal labourers, like in the case of many Mexican migrants, then without a cohesive family unit, what was imported into the United States was "bachelor food" so to speak, just the most rudimentary form of the cuisine, especially given the case that in Mexican cuisine, women generally were in charge of food preparation.

This is similar to a theory of my own on the origins of modern Japanese culture:

Japan is a psudo-western country; a lot of western ideas built on a far-east/Pacific-Island culture, but it did not become westernized to the extent that it is today until it was occupied by allied forced (i.e. Americans) after the second world war.

However, the western culture brought by the occupation forces was not fully mainstream western culture; it was the western culture of young men, in their late teens and early twenties, that made of most of the ranks of the occupying forces.

So the western culture that was adopted in Japan had a heavier than usual emphasis on movies, comic books, baseball, a love of novelty, etc; things that are now stereotypically associated with Japanese culture, but are also associated with western youth.

Which I guess is outside the scope of a discussion of fried foods.

[J. Wilhelm]

Samosa

I remember enjoying these deep-fried pastries at a local Indian Restaurant.

From Wiki:

A Samosa is a fried or baked pastry with a savory filling, such as spiced potatoes, onions, peas, lentils, ground lamb, ground beef or ground chicken. Its size and consistency may vary, but typically, it is distinctly triangular. Samosas are often accompanied by chutney. They are a popular appetizer or snack in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Southwest Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Mediterranean, the Horn of Africa, North Africa and South Africa

[J. Wilhelm]

How to make a Japanese style Egg Omelette

Ûß

[delCano]

Mr. Wilhelm has already mentioned so many of the Spanish deep-fried food I was going to mention: chopitos, rabas (called calamares in the not-north), churros, empanadillas (smaller, deep-fried version of the empanadas which are usually baked here), ... Even the escalope milanesa!

However, he forgot the croqueta: a small bechamel ball, including bits of anything you want (ham, chicken, egg, cheese, mushroom, ...), breaded and deep-fried:

And, of course, we cannot forget the quintessential spanish food, the tortilla de patatas (potato omelette, literally). The potatos are thin cutted, deep-fried till they're mushy, optionnally mixed with poached onion, then mixed with egg, and the whole thing is stir-fried on both sides. One of the only dishes you could say is generically Spanish, and not from a region (like the Valencian paella or the Andalucian gazpacho), it's actually hard to do well.
 

[J. Wilhelm]

Mr. Wilhelm has already mentioned so many of the Spanish deep-fried food I was going to mention: chopitos, rabas (called calamares in the not-north), churros, empanadillas (smaller, deep-fried version of the empanadas which are usually baked here), ... Even the escalope milanesa!

However, he forgot the croqueta: a small bechamel ball, including bits of anything you want (ham, chicken, egg, cheese, mushroom, ...), breaded and deep-fried:

And, of course, we cannot forget the quintessential spanish food, the tortilla de patatas (potato omelette, literally). The potatos are thin cutted, deep-fried till they're mushy, optionnally mixed with poached onion, then mixed with egg, and the whole thing is stir-fried on both sides. One of the only dishes you could say is generically Spanish, and not from a region (like the Valencian paella or the Andalucian gazpacho), it's actually hard to do well.
 

I fondly remember croquettes in a French restaurant in Mexico city.  Scallop Milanese?  That I have to see...

[delCano]

I fondly remember croquettes in a French restaurant in Mexico city.  Scallop Milanese?  That I have to see...

Well, that is curious, since French do not eat croquetas. Actually, in French, "croquettes" is what they call dog food... And I am sorry to disappoint, but in Spain's Spanish, escalope is a word for steak, not scallop... escalope milanesa is what you mentioned as milanesa some posts earlier .

[J. Wilhelm]

I fondly remember croquettes in a French restaurant in Mexico city.  Scallop Milanese?  That I have to see...

Well, that is curious, since French do not eat croquetas. Actually, in French, "croquettes" is what they call dog food...

I see... Maybe ate French dog food then?    It's still fancy    Perhaps the the name "croquette" came from Belgium eh? There is "Kroketten" in German-speaking countries.  Is there any actual history on the dish?  I scoured the Internet but I see not much information, other than it's consumed in many countries, and it was widely known even in English and American cookbooks in the 19th. C, and there is also mention of them in 18th. C. Colonial American books (but no one knows the actual origin before the books were written - and French food back then  did not enjoy the high regard we hold for it today...

One thing to remember:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

is that sometimes two different types of foods will be lumped together due to similarity and the nomenclature will change over hundreds of years.  Croquettes may mean "dog biscuits" today, but perhaps not in the 19th.C or 18th. C.  The same happens with the difference between "cookie" in the United States" and the "Biscuit" in the UK.  It turns out the original word, "Biskit" actually was common on both countries in the 1600's, but the biscuit as we know it today did not exist back then - instead it simply referred to hard unleavened bread - more similar to "hard tack" used for British naval rations.  Over time, the Americans used leavening on their savoury unleavened bread, leading to what we know as the (American) Biscuit -basically a breakfast food used by the pioneers, while the British took the hard tack, made it softer and smaller and sweetened it, calling it a "biscuit." To make things more confusing, the word "cookie" comes from the the Scandinavian word "Cokje" - the origin of butter shortbread cookies/biscuits.  And to make it even more confusing, in the 19th. C. the Americans adopted the British style biscuit, leading to the formation of the "National Biscuit Company" (NABISCO), which we all know.  In the 20th. C. the name "biscuit" was all but forgotten by the Americans, and in the 21st.C, even the British style of biscuit only remains alive in the form of the (American) "Oreo" cookies.  The style of American biscuits having yielded entirely to the Scandinavian "Cokje" style (large and crumbly similar to shortbread).  So it looks like the Scandinavians won the "Biscuit Wars' in the United States by the 21st. C.

1870: http://historicaltidbits.blogspot.com/2009/05/potato-croquettes.html


Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croquette

A croquette is a small breadcrumbed fried food roll containing, usually as main ingredients, mashed potatoes and/or ground meat (veal, beef, chicken, or turkey), shellfish, fish, cheese, vegetables and mixed with béchamel or brown sauce,[1] and soaked white bread, egg, onion, spices and herbs, wine, milk, beer or any of the combination thereof, sometimes with a filling, e.g. sauteed onions or mushrooms, boiled eggs (Scotch eggs).[2] The croquette is usually shaped into a cylinder, disk or oval shape and then deep-fried. The croquette (from the French croquer, "to crunch") gained worldwide popularity, both as a delicacy and as a fast food.

Belgium[edit]
Mashed potato filled 'kroketten/croquettes' are often served as a side dish in winter holiday meals, such as Christmas. In fast food cuisine, varieties exist without potatoes but with cheese, beef or goulash, often in a filling based on béchamel sauce. The Dutch version of little balls, bitterballen, is also found in snackbars. A typical Belgian variety is filled with grey shrimp - 'garnaalkroketten/croquettes aux crevettes'. They are typically garnished with a slice of lemon and some deep fried parsley.

Germany, Austria and Switzerland[edit]
Plain potato croquettes[4] are served as side dish in restaurants and are also available frozen in supermarkets. They are usually called Kroketten (singular Krokette, fem.).

Croquettes Around the world: http://www.ifood.tv/network/croquette

Popular Croquette Recipe Variations
Alu chop or "potato croquette" is a common croquette served throughout Bangladesh, mostly as an appetizer or snack. In Belgium 'kroketten' a croquette recipe variant with a filling of mashed potato are normally served as a side dish over winter holiday occasions, like Christmas. In Brazil Croquettes mostly made using beef, are available in many regions as German fare. In China Sweet croquettes made using sweet-pumpkin are commonly served during Dragon Boat Festival. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Plain potato croquettes are served as side dish in eateries and are also sold frozen in supermarkets. Cuban/Puerto Rican croquettes called as croquetas are commonly made in croquette recipe using ham, beef, chicken or fish. In Czech Republic Krokety refer to tiny balls normally made out of potatoes, eggs, butter, salt and flour deep fried in oil. In northern India a croquette with potato filling known as Aloo tikki is very popular and is classically had with a stew. In Japan a comparative of the croquette, called korokke is a popular fried food, widely sold in supermarkets and butcher shops and also at specialty korokke shops. In Mexico croquette recipe uses tuna alternately chicken and potatoes. The Filipino 'croqueta' is a derivative of the Spanish counterpart different from the bechamel-filled croquetas in Spain, Filipino croquette recipe uses mashed potatoes and chopped meat or fish, commonly leftovers.

[J. Wilhelm]

I fondly remember croquettes in a French restaurant in Mexico city.  Scallop Milanese?  That I have to see...

*snip*
And I am sorry to disappoint, but in Spain's Spanish, escalope is a word for steak, not scallop... escalope milanesa is what you mentioned as milanesa some posts earlier .

Seems something was lost in translation.  Spanish is my first language (I was raised in Mexico), and never did I hear the word "escalopes."  Difference between Iberian and New Spain Spanish (For those interested as well  "torta" and "tortilla" are 2 other words with radically different meaning between Mexico and Spain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torta ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortilla  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_omelette)

In Mexico we simply knew them as Milanesa.

Also Scallop Milanese would be extremely small    I still would love to see that, though... maybe tiny flat versions of these?    http://www.food.com/recipe/shirleys-fried-scallops-219807

[J. Wilhelm]

Fried Chicken for Christmas??     Why yes! Ask the Japanese!  In the Land of the Rising Sun, apparently it's somewhat of a tradition to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken

http://thediplomat.com/2013/12/a-kentucky-fried-christmas-in-japan/

[CapnHarlock]

"the next big thing" in American holiday celebration is, apparently, to play "A Christmas Story" at one's local best Chinese restaurant. 

Another "empty nest"  friend and I did this for the holiday. The food was wonderful, and hilarity ensued when "Deck The Halls" came on over th esound system.

Our favorite is a bit "Pan-Asian Fusion", so I hope the stunningly-good Vietnamese-style Spring Rolls count

[Prof Marvel]

has anyone mentioned
deep fried Tur-Duc-Hen ?
a Duck is stuffed with a Chicken and that mess is stuffed into a Turkey.
The whole shebang is stuffed in that 'Murican invention, the Turky frier ( a huge huge vat of corn oil heated to boiling by an LP burner the size of a small industrial heater)

If the oil boils over, one achieves a self-sustaining jet-engine type fire that melts the apparatus, sets tarmac on fire, and burns down trailer houses.

yhs
prof marvel

[J. Wilhelm]

Indeed.  I think it was Mr. Captain who commented on how safe it is to fry a turkey...

[MWBailey]

Wait a second, that's real dedication, deep frying things in a cauldron over a wood fire.

[J. Wilhelm]

Wait a second, that's real dedication, deep frying things in a cauldron over a wood fire.

For that authentic Hickory smoke flavour.