Chef Brian Henry

CNE and fried scream

The Canadian National Exhibition was founded in 1879 to encourage the development of agriculture, manufacturing, industry, commerce and the arts. It has evolved into a celebration of the arts, midway attractions, shopping and food.

The food attractions have evolved into a cultural smorgasbord with foods from around the world. At the core of the CNE’s food pavilion there also seems to be a group of budding gastronomes who work feverishly to come up with the most original must have food products. This year’s menu includes Nutella sweet potato fries, Cronut Burger, Bacon And Peanut Butter Milkshakes and all manner of bacon laced indulgences. Most of the other menu headliners include anything deep-fried, including butter, chocolate bars, whole onions and pizza.

Humans have been frying foods in oil since the discovery of rotary motion as this was the only way to process nuts and grains to extract their oils which happened sometime during the first century in the Mediterranean region. By the 10^th century Arab cookbooks had detailed instructions on how to toast the grains for oil extraction as well as how to clarify, scent, color, and store the extracted oils. It was also during this period that olive oil production came into practice.

We often think of deep fried foods as unhealthy and greasy, but if executed properly fried foods should not be greasy as the moisture contained in the food to be fried will actually repel the oil as the heated oil will cause the food item to produce steam. This water vapour is expelled as steam creating bubbles which pushes the oil away from the food.  By keeping the oil temperature at a constant 350°f – 375°f and minimizing the time the food is fried for the oil will only be present in a very thin layer on the outer portion of the fried food.

If you can’t make it to this year’s CNE food pavilion but want to try some deep-fried food, try making some deep-fried ice cream at home. The following recipe uses Kawartha Dairy Company’s vanilla ice cream, but you can substitute your favourite flavour if you want to. Personally my preferred fried ice cream is Moose Track’s which isn’t bad when you consider that it’s deep-fried chocolate and peanut butter.

Deep Fried Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 liter of Kawartha Dairies vanilla ice cream

1 cup frosted cornflakes, crushed fine

1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

2 eggs

2 tbsp.  sugar

Your choice of oil, for frying

Method:

Scoop out 4 medium sized scoops (3-4 oz.) of ice cream and pack them tight like a snow ball. Place the ice cream balls onto a parchment line baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and place them in the freezer for a couple of hours to set hard.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the cornflake crumbs with the shredded coconut.

Roll the ice cream balls in the cornflake mixture and immediately return them to the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

In another medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar. Dip the crumb-coated ice cream balls into the egg wash and then roll the balls in the crumb mixture for a second time making sure that they are coated completely. Return the ice cream balls to the freezer and let them set for 1-2 hours.

Heat your counter top deep-fryer to 375°f. Deep fry the ice cream balls one at a time, using the basket to gently lower them into the oil. Fry the balls until they are golden brown which will take about a minute. Remove the cooked ice cream from the fryer basket and serve it in a bowl. Serve it immediately with some chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Yields 4 portions.

Food poisoning at Canadian events on the risehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2013/08/27/toronto-past-canadian-food-illness-investigations.html