We visit the locations where the fryers are hot and reveal how these dishes are totally fried to perfection.
We visit the locations where the fryers are hot and reveal how these dishes are totally fried to perfection.
Hungry for more Food Network? Go to discoveryplus.com/bestthing to start your free trial today. Terms apply.
Find episode transcript here: https://the-best-thing-i-ever-ate.simplecast.com/episodes/totally-fried
[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: People ask me all the time.
SPEAKER 2: Where do you like to eat?
SPEAKER 3: What's your favorite food?
SPEAKER 4: What's the best thing you've ever eaten?
SPEAKER 1: That's why we're here now.
SPEAKER 2: Not only to tell you what we love to eat.
SPEAKER 1: But where you can go get it.
SPEAKER 3: Wow, it's deep-fried bacon. What more do you want to know? The greatest fried thing I've ever eaten.
SPEAKER 1: I am not kidding you. I was so amazed.
SPEAKER 4: It's like this explosion of shrimp flavor.
SPEAKER 2: They're the best fried item ever.
SPEAKER 1: I think there's definitely an art to frying things. When I think about fried food, I think about fried fish, fried shrimp, fried chicken. But the thing that I think about most is French fries. To me, the French fry itself is the pure essence of perfect fried food. The best things in life when it comes to food are the simplest things. I think that everybody knows where their favorite French fry is. The best French fries hands down, Balthazar, New York City.
Lots of people try to make French fries like them, but nobody can beat them. French fries are probably one of the most addicting things you can possibly eat, if they're good. The fries at Balthazar are unbelievably perfect. The proper way to cook the perfect French fry is not an easy task. But these guys have just got it down. They take their fries seriously, which is important.
The fact that the chefs at Balthazar give the respect the French fry deserves, that's what makes them the best.
SPEAKER 5: Here we have what we call Idaho potatoes. They have a softer texture. And we just peel those.
SPEAKER 1: Then you cut it into French fry shape.
SPEAKER 5: That's been in the same cutter for 12 years now. So every single fry that anyone is eating has gone right through there, every single fry. We soak this in water overnight. And that helps get rid of some of the starch. And then they are drained and they go through the first blanch.
SPEAKER 1: You blanch them in oil so that they cook through, but they don't get brown.
SPEAKER 5: We use peanut oil. Peanut oil has actually a very nice flavor. It's expensive, but it's worth it.
SPEAKER 1: You then take them out.
SPEAKER 5: Because they're nice and tender to the touch, but no color.
SPEAKER 1: Then when you get an order for French fries a couple of hours later, you throw those blanched French fries back into the fryer, and you crisp them up. And then you take them out.
SPEAKER 5: Under this waterfall of salt so you get a nice even coating.
SPEAKER 1: There's no truffle oil in these fries. There's no garlic on these fries. It's French fries, period. When they come to the table, they're perfectly golden brown. And you serve them, and then you have an addicted French fry eater. They are the right length. They are perfectly crisp on the outside, incredibly fluffy on the inside. And they're always hot, and they're always well seasoned. I never thought I'd describe French fries in such a dramatic way. It's just a French fry, but it's not just a French fry.
SPEAKER 2: I love those fries too. I've spent many late nights at Balthazar enjoying way too many plates of those fries. But to me, if you want to have a deep-fried meal all rolled into a very unlikely package, you're going to need a deep-fried hot dog with bacon. You just are.
I'm talking about the deep-fried hot dog at Rawley's in Fairfield, Connecticut. Not anything extra special, just your perfect garden-variety hot dog transformed into something magnificent because it's fried. This hot dog, it's actually a fried dynamic duo. It's a fried hot dog with fried bacon. It's the difecta of fried food. Let me see. What are we going to have today? Even though I look at the menu, it's really just a formality. I'm going to have the works.
I know it's just a hot dog, but it isn't. This is more. This is way more. This can change your whole life, this hot dog. And then I take that first bite. I can feel it kind of break. And then catching the tang of the relish and that sort of wonderful earthy almost grassy taste of the sauerkraut, I mean, you don't realize what you do something with your head when you eat hot dog. It's like a shark attack on a feeding frenzy.
And then those little bits of bacon, they kind of mingle all around like little flavor missiles. They're just hanging out like, pow.
SPEAKER 6: We use a Hummel Bros. hot dog. It's a beef and pork mixture. And it's in a natural casing.
SPEAKER 2: They fry the Frankfurter just enough to get that wonderful crunch on the outside.
SPEAKER 6: When they're done, they start floating to the top.
SPEAKER 2: And then they pop it on the grill a little bit just to kind of finish it off.
SPEAKER 6: The grill gives it that extra snap that rolls the grease off of it.
SPEAKER 2: Gives it that sort of slightly charred respectability that a hot dog deserves. Sooner rather than later we wind up at the last bite. I mean, it's just the perfect hot dog.
SPEAKER 4: So it's sitting on this plate and it's just looking at you. It's the little black eyes that's just looking at you. It looks like that asteroid from Armageddon. Stuff just sticking out everywhere. Oh, look how crazy I am, eating a shrimp head. It's nothing like that. It's not something like showing off thing. It's straight up delicious.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
SPEAKER 4: [INAUDIBLE] Joss has the best sushi probably in the state of Maryland. Their shrimp heads are no exception, fried shrimp heads. It's not as weird as it sounds. Don't be scared. I can see you're a little scared. Don't be scared. The shrimp head's usually aren't on the menu by themselves, so when you come into any sushi bar, ask them hey, can I get some shrimp heads? Can I have a big plate of shrimp heads?
SPEAKER 7: Certainly.
SPEAKER 4: People order that, right?
SPEAKER 7: All the time. Here you go.
SPEAKER 4: Thank you. There's no hiding what you're eating. It's the shrimp head in all its tentacley glory. Pop it in your mouth. It is like-- it's like this explosion of shrimp flavor. It's like concentrated shrimpness. The way that Joss does them is the best. They take the shrimp. They fry them with just a little bit of panko on them. They heat the oil really, really hot. And it's a really simple, really fast--
A little bit of soy sauce, a little bit of wasabi, it's all you need. The heads have all the flavor. They taste so good. Just get them, and then write me an email, thank me how good they were.
SPEAKER 8: That smell of fried food just takes you over.
SPEAKER 9: It makes me think evil decadent genius.
SPEAKER 10: That is magnificent.
SPEAKER 11: What could you possibly be making that is that fantastic?
SPEAKER 4: It was awesome.
SPEAKER 12: When it comes to fried food, you got to eat it right when it's fried. You need it to still be hot right out of the deep fryer or out of the skillet because that's why it's the best. There's just times in my life where I crave something fried and nothing else is going to make do. There's these donuts in Seattle at Tom Douglas's restaurant, Lola, that are to die for. They're the best fried item I can think of, ever.
What's great about the donuts is that they're fried right as you order them so they're fresh and hot. It comes in a little paperback.
SPEAKER 13: We're going to fill a pastry bag with cinnamon and sugar.
SPEAKER 12: And you're supposed to shake them so that the oil that they were fried in will stick to the cinnamon sugar. And you can feel when it comes to the table, the paper bag's hot. So you know they've just been fried. Oh my god. Now as for the actual dough recipe, I don't know what's in there. It comes with two little dipping sauces because the donuts aren't heavenly enough on their own. One is a vanilla mascarpone cheese.
SPEAKER 13: An Italian soft cream cheese.
SPEAKER 12: And they add fresh vanilla bean into it.
SPEAKER 13: Black gold.
SPEAKER 12: The other dipping sauce is a creamy cranberry sauce. The cranberry sauce is sweet, but it's tart.
SPEAKER 13: There you go. Cranberry butter.
SPEAKER 12: I mean, it makes you smile just from looking at it. They're so light and fantastic that they just evaporate. It's creamy, sweet, and it's cinnamony, and then soft on the inside with this little fried crust on the outside. And honestly, it's like going to heaven. And yes, I can eat all of them.
SPEAKER 3: If you deep fry something, it will be delicious. You could deep fry a tennis shoe and it'd be fantastic. Everybody also knows that bacon is one of the most delicious things on the planet. So what if we figured out a way to make deep-fried bacon?
Chef Bill McDaniel at The Red Cat in New York City has figured it out. You can't really eat a lot of tempura bacon or you might just die on the spot. It's an appetizer, so it's a small portion. Ah, there it is. Thank you so much. Wow. It's magnificent. Do I have to use a fork? It's an applewood smoked bacon. Applewood smoked bacon is delicious. And then you make a very light tempura batter with soda water, flour, and egg whites.
SPEAKER 14: Carbonation is the secret. It's going to keep the batter much lighter.
SPEAKER 3: Dredge the bacon in the tempura batter, toss it in. A minute or so later, it's ready to go. It makes me think decadent genius, evil decadent genius. Fantastic. Chipotle mayonnaise has a really nice kick to it with the bacon. You get that kind of richness and the salt and the smoky flavors. Contrast that with the sweetness in the corn, it's deep fried bacon. What more do you want to know? Good job.
SPEAKER 14: Thank you. Thank you, sir.
SPEAKER 3: Thank you, Chef Bill.
SPEAKER 14: Absolutely.
SPEAKER 3: And for dessert, I think I better have the sorbet. It's filled to the top, golden brown. And the salt and the chilies, it's just an absolutely magic combination.
Look, I think there's two kinds of people. People that love fried food and people that won't admit that they love fried food. The pork rinds in [INAUDIBLE] are to me the perfect fried food because it's pork on pork. It's fat on fat. It's pork-a-palooza. It just doesn't get any better than that. I'm a porkaholic, a self-confessed porkaholic. You go to a restaurant, there's all these great pork dishes, and then you see pork skin that's actually fried. How can you pass that up? It's a no brainer.
When the pork rinds come out of the kitchen, you smell the pork wafting through the air. I may start wearing pork fat as a cologne. Just a little bit right under here, I'm good to go. They're in a big cone of paper, and they're just filled to the top, golden brown. I could see the chilies and the salt on top and the vinegar, and I can't wait to dig into them. And then you take a bite, and you could just feel the flavor of the pork in your mouth and there's all that texture there. It's just an absolutely magic combination.
It's a made-from-scratch pork rind. That's what makes it so special. It's not the flavor that you're going to get in a bag. It's the real deal.
SPEAKER 15: So we're going to cook them for about two hours until they fall apart.
SPEAKER 3: Then they dehydrate it. Then they drop them into that pork fat that's at the perfect temperature. The pork rinds puff up. They get super crispy. And they have this really intense flavor because they've been dehydrated first. They're just crunchy, fatty goodness. And they're seasoned and salted perfectly.
SPEAKER 15: We dust them with a mix. It's one part Espelette pepper and two parts malt vinegar powder to three parts cheddar cheese powder. It's our take on spicy Cheetos.
SPEAKER 3: Roast pork rinds at the table and hands go in from everywhere. Everybody digs in, busts them up. And when you look around the table, you see the happiness. The pork rinds bring happiness to the table.
SPEAKER 4: Michael Symon mentioned a great thing in Chicago. The fried pork rinds, by the way, they're called chicharrón. But I think you're being way too modest, Michael. Best fried food I've ever had are fried Brussels sprouts at his own restaurant, Lolita in Cleveland, Ohio.
SPEAKER 3: He picked me?
SPEAKER 4: Right.
SPEAKER 3: Well, you know what, Owen and I have been friends for about 15 years.
SPEAKER 4: Michael Symon is the master of fried Brussels sprouts. I'm OK with admitting that. I know what all of you guys are thinking. Brussels sprouts? How can that be exciting? I am a Brussels sprout. I'm not the sexiest vegetable out there. I'm just a little old Brussels sprout.
SPEAKER 3: To me, I love the underrated vegetables.
SPEAKER 4: It's not presented in a very fancy way. It's just a plate of fried Brussels sprouts. With a nice little salty warm vinaigrette? Oh, they're like little sponges. They take on a lot of liquid. So the fact that you would fry them, at first had me very concerned. I had never heard of such a thing. Like, I was going to fry Brussels sprouts. Did he poach him before? Or did he blanch them and then they're going to be fried and soggy? But then I thought, I was like, that's Michael Symon. This man is not going to let me down.
SPEAKER 3: I'd like to take all the credit, but I got to give a little bit to Matt.
SPEAKER 16: Brussels sprouts are raw. Let them do their thing.
SPEAKER 3: I would never fry the Brussels sprouts in anything but lard, except maybe duck fat. Don't give me this nice healthy oil and a conversation. We serve it as a starter. A lot of people get it as a side, toss it with the real acidic vinaigrette with red wine vinegar, anchovies, capers, garlic, shallot.
SPEAKER 4: Every leaf was coated with the vinaigrette. The flavor was something that I never really had tasted before. They almost dispel any myth that you've ever had about Brussels sprouts. We'll make you a believer. Trust me, we'll make you a believer.
SPEAKER 1: I know you've heard about some fantastic fried foods. But I've got one for you that you haven't probably seen. I've got one here that you probably have never even heard the name of. And it's called mofongo. It's a banana with what? Banana pigskin and garlic? Mofongo at Benny's Seafood, and it was off the book.
Some of the greatest things I've enjoyed, it'd probably come from the show. I do Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. And I was reading the show sheet, and I'm like mof-what-o? Mof-- mofongo? And I'm like, what is this mofongo? So I'm interviewing people before I ever get to try it. I'm like, you know what mofongo is? You know what mofongo is? Everybody knows what mofongo is except this guy. It's plantains.
Skins taken off it, peels taken off, then he fries it completely, then takes it and mixes it with, and here's the kicker, chicharrones, fried pork skin that he makes himself. Then this chicken stock, they're like a consommé, and a little bit of fried pork or shrimp or whatever you want. And then you dip it the consommé. You take a bite of the mofongo. That is mofongo. I mean, I started cooking when I was 10 years old. I've lived in Europe, traveled all over. I've had-- I've got my own restaurants, the whole thing. There's no way that this exists. Mofongo, and I don't know about it. It's like, go in the back and there are chefs there.
SPEAKER 17: I've never heard of mofongo.
SPEAKER 1: What does mofongo mean?
SPEAKER 17: We call it mofongo. We don't put any definition itself.
SPEAKER 1: Mofongo is mofongo.
SPEAKER 17: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: That's it?
SPEAKER 17: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: And he has this thing. It's a mortar and pestle gone wild. And he uses a baseball bat. And he hits this thing like nine maids a milkin' churning butter. What is in there? What could you possibly be making that is that fantastic? So it's fried plantains, chicharrones, garlic in the thing. And he [INAUDIBLE] and he muddles the-- and I am not kidding you. I am this, what is this mess? You know, what are you really making here? Scoops out, there's hot mashed yellow-looking thing. It doesn't look good. It's a freaky thing in the first-- I mean, it's going to be great. Trust me.
You dig it like this? You dip it in here?
SPEAKER 17: Yeah, in the [INAUDIBLE].
SPEAKER 1: It smelled like, believe it or not, just like mofongo.
SPEAKER 17: And then you eat it. And then eat it with the meat.
SPEAKER 1: And-- oh, my kidney, man. It was-- it was awesome. You know I got four or five items I need to test. And if I eat a ton of something-- anybody ever ODed eating this? I get tired. And I can't. I got two shoots I got to do in a day. So I'm eating a couple of bites. My producers know, and they take the stuff away from me because I-- so I don't keep eating it. But I'm not kidding you. I mean, I walk around, and they'd be doing something, setting up a light. I'd be getting another bite of the mofongo. It was that legit.
Benny.
SPEAKER 17: Uh-huh?
SPEAKER 1: Seriously, man. Amazing. I mean, it's that good. I longo for my mofongo.
[MUSIC PLAYING]