Battered dishes are not only popular nuggets: in many restaurants, the menu includes meat, fish, or vegetables cooked according to this French technology. We talk about the varieties of batter and share tips and popular recipes.
What is a batter
Claire is French for "liquid." This is a batter in which the main ingredients are dipped before frying - this way. It is possible to preserve their juiciness while they are covered with a golden, crispy crust. This cooking method applies to both poultry, meat, and fish, as well as vegetables.
Here are three main types of dough for batter:
- on the water - for fish, poultry, and vegetables;
- on milk - suitable for frying cheese, chicken wings, fillets, and nuggets;
- on beer - ideal for seafood.
How to cook
For a classic batter, we take four eggs, 125 g of flour, a teaspoon of vegetable oil, half a glass of water, and a little salt. Proteins are separated from the yolks and sent to the refrigerator. Mix the yolks, butter, salt, and boiled warm water in a separate bowl. It is better to beat these ingredients with a whisk, gradually adding flour. To the resulting homogeneous mass, in portions, add the proteins previously whipped with a mixer. The finished dough must be kept in a cold place. Depending on what product you want to roast, you can use spiced beer, milk, or mineral water instead of water. You can also experiment with flour instead of wheat, for example, corn or rice.
What to Consider
Pay attention to the viscosity of the dough. Thicker is suitable for juicy products, and liquid is used with dryish pieces.
Frying occurs in a deep-fryer or a pan with a thick bottom and high walls.
The oil must be preheated well. Check readiness by dropping a small amount of batter. If it "snorted," you can proceed.
Put the deep-fried product on a paper towel. It will absorb excess fat.
Add chopped onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, herbs, and spices to the batter to make the dish fragrant.
1. Tempura shrimp rolls
In Japanese cuisine, the method of frying in the batter is very popular, but it is called differently: tempura. But the word was borrowed from Portuguese merchants, whose boat was accidentally brought to the shores of Japan in 1543. They taught the locals how to fry food in the batter. The Japanese liked the food according to the new culinary technology so much that it soon settled into the national cuisine. Hence the traditional Japanese rolls or vegetables in tempura. They can be prepared at home if you buy a special mixture for tempura based on rice, wheat flour, and starch.
2. Fish in mayonnaise batter
The fish fried in mayonnaise batter will turn out to be especially tender. The fillet will not dry out and will retain its structure. If you watch calories, you can add quite a bit of mayonnaise. This dish goes well with tartar sauce.
3. Potatoes with sour cream sauce
Potato slices fried in liquid breading and even with sour cream sauce - a full-fledged dish, not a side dish, and an easier-to-cook alternative to potato pancakes. Potatoes are pre-boiled until half cooked, so frying takes little time.
4. Cauliflower in cheese batter
A healthy vegetable snack is prepared quickly and easily. You can take frozen cauliflower, rinse it thoroughly and boil it in salted water for about 5-10 minutes. It is important not to cook it: throw it in a colander and let the excess liquid drain. The batter for this recipe is made with grated hard cheese, eggs, and flour.
5. Escalope in a pan
Initially, the escalope - a slightly beaten, even piece of meat tenderloin - was not subjected to any additional culinary processing: it was fried on both sides until the meat looked like a nut (escalope is translated from French as "nutshell"). Cooking escalope in the batter is a successful culinary experiment: cooking will take no more than an hour, and the juicy filling with a golden crust will not leave anyone indifferent.
To understand if you can eat such food, we recommend reading the article Are Hash Browns Healthy or Bad For You? Here https://amarketinsider.com/.
