The Top 10 Best & Worst Deep Fried Foods in the World

Photo by koadmunkee "Mask optional!"

Arteries being what they are today ~ hardening at an alarming rate, I’m certainly not here to endorse the deep frying of all things edible. It’s more  an observation really, as we are lovers and loathers of the infamous deep fat fryer.

All over the world, fryers, pressure cookers, pots, woks and cauldrons are cranking up the heat and getting our oil to an acceptable frying temperature of 175-190 C or 345-375F . Acceptable because when the oil is at said temperature the moisture in the food repels the oil and steams the food from the inside out while the outside becomes crispy.

Sounds delicious I know, but dependent on what is on offer under the crispy batter, you may be inclined to change  your mind.

I, for one, find it hard to resist  a crunchy hot potato chip tempting me from its newspaper confines that are so reminiscent of a child hood spent waiting in line at the local fish and chip shop.

We all have our food demons, taunting and seductive, crunchy and moist. But it’s what we do with our good oil that sorts the hu-mans from the deep fried guinea pigs.

The Potato Tornado

The creative juices behind the wonderful blog Creative Juice found this popular street vendor food in  South Korea.

Take one large potato, wash, spiral cut with a super duper spiral vegetable slicing machine (these are so much fun to have in your kitchen! ), insert on to a large bamboo stick,  DEEP FRY and dust with tangy cheesy powder ( origins of tangy cheesy powder unknown)

Thank Goodness For My Deep Fried Turkey

Where did this phenomenon start? Deep frying the thanksgiving turkey is having folks all over the United States reaching for there frying kettle rather than their roasting pan. Is it the succulent meat and crispy exterior? or could it be the quick cooking time of 40 minutes for a 13-14 pound/ 6-7kg  bird?

Katie from Chaos in the Kitchen tends to agree with all of the above  and has put together a fantastic recipe that she has adapted from the master of  Good eats ~  Mr. Alton Brown.

Deep Fried Batter ~ Oh,  I meant Deep Fried Butter

These little balls of cholesterol were proudly invented for the State Fair of Texas, where they won Best food of show 2009.

How do they do it? Or should the question be Why do they do it?

Inventor extraordinaire Abel Gonzales Jnr, whom by the way proudly gave us the Deep fried peanut butter and Jelly sandwich and Deep fried Coca -Cola uses the method of freezing little balls of butter, battering and deep frying.

Apparently they taste pretty good ~ check out this video of a little boy dancing his socks off after trying the snack , and Mr. Gonzales has 4 tempting butter ball flavors to having you slipping back for more.

The complete meal ? French Fry coated Hot Dog

If the Americans can be thanked for giving us the famous hotdog of a  sausage in a soft bun than we have the Koreans to thank for taking that sausage,  battering it in french fries, securing it with a stick and dropping it in to the deep fryer.

This great photo was taken by the hungry folk at The last Appetite where their exploits with artisan hot dog vendors  take in the highlights of  South Korea.

You Asked for it ~ The Deep Fried Cheeseburger

I’ve seen a couple of versions of this ~ with this particular culinary delight   being minus the bread  buns but with the addition of ewwww greasy!

Before I new how cellulite, spare tyres and heart attacks were caused, I may have indulged  in one of these from time to time.  But now being somewhat wiser and my palate being slightly more educated, I would rather eat whats on offer below this paragraph than separate my head from my stomach in choosing to chow down on one of these.

Still curious?  FXcuisine.com shows us hows it’s done with this step by step account that is entertaining none the less.

Deep Fried Earthworms

If you hadn’t read the heading for this photo, you could be mistaken for thinking Mmmmmmm delicious!

A Croatian restaurant in Zadar has taken the humble earthworm and featured it center stage in its menu offerings. Farmed completely on site, the restaurant owners claim they are extremely nutritious,  low in fat and high in protein.

The BBC has visited and tasted whats on offer at the Eco- restaurant which includes such earthly delights as worm soup and earthworm cheesecake.

Little Miss Muffets Nightmare

I apologise in advance to everyone who went EWWWWWW!! Thank you to A Welsh View for such a splendid photograph.

Lurking under that crispy coating, lies the deep fried remains of a  Tarantula spider . These little guys are popular street food in a town called Skuon, Cambodia who are famous for their edible spiders. One spider will set you back about US $0.08 cents, so great for the budget conscious traveler.

Deep fried in large woks of scalding hot oil, you can chose to eat them whole, or pull off the legs and eat them one by one before crunching down on the body.

I might pass, all the same.

Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheddar Cheeseburger

Look out teeth, look out tongue, look out arteries ~ here I come!

We have the photographic genius of  ‘ccaviness’ to thank for this splendid shot of what could only be described as a heart attack on  a plate. Take one fat laden deep fried donut, and add meat  pattie, bacon and melted cheese.

This particular food experiment was part of a luncheon given at Google NYC’s cafeteria to celebrate the birthday of the head of cafe staff. I’m guessing they weren’t intending on that person having many more birthdays after devouring a few of these snacks.

Deep Fried Pork Intestines

In keeping with the deep fried theme, I thought it would be a great time to introduce you to a common street hawker food from China ~ Zha Fei Chang or Deep Fried Pork intestines.

The thought of supping on these don’t disturb me as much as the look of the oil they are being deep fried in. I would hazard a guess that the oil hasn’t be changed or filtered for some time and such depreciation would cause the oil to taint the flavor of great offal.

Deep Fried Coca-Cola

No self respecting Deep Fry post would be complete with out the inclusion of the the now world famous Deep Fried Coca-cola.

From the man who brought us Deep Fried butter ~Abel Gonzales Jnr rocked the 2006 Texas State fair with this ingenious creation.

In a nut shell ~ or in a takeaway cup as it so happens, frozen Coca-cola flavoured batter is deep fried and then topped with cola syrup, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and finished off with a cherry on the top.

But, is it the “real thing” you may ask? You’ll have to go to Texas to try it for yourself.

Now what deep fried delights would you add to this list?