Althouse: Fried butter!

July 21, 2011

Fried butter!

At the Wisconsin State Fair.

45 comments:

Curious George said...: Not really fried butter.; 7/21/11, 1:18 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Now I understand how those WI folks in Meadehouse photos came to be so.......substantial/euphemism.; 7/21/11, 1:18 PM
Lincolntf said...: Alright, that does it. Ever since last night I've been fighting the urge to go eat something fried and delicious, and this post pushed me over the edge. I have to pick up/drop off a friend (a lifelong local) some time this afternoon, and I'm going to have him point me in the direction of something good and greasy. Even some sort of chicken shack would do the trick.; 7/21/11, 1:19 PM
Scott M said...: "Wrap it in bacon and you've got me."

or

"You had me at 'fried.'"; 7/21/11, 1:24 PM
Titus said...: Queen; 7/21/11, 1:25 PM
Anonymous said...: I'll eat anything but this doesn't interest me at all.

Now if your talking about deep fried Oreo's or deep fried Twinkies, that's state fair cuisine at its finest...and no, I'm not forgetting about the deep fried cheese curds, they're right up there too!; 7/21/11, 1:27 PM
AllenS said...: At the Minnesota State Fair, they would put it on a stick.; 7/21/11, 1:27 PM
Triangle Man said...: At the Minnesota State Fair, they would put it on a stick.

Damn straight they would.; 7/21/11, 1:30 PM
Palladian said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/21/11, 1:31 PM
Fred4Pres said...: It looks like deep fried butter to me, albeit in a wonton envelope.

Sort of like Chicken Kiev without the chicken.; 7/21/11, 1:33 PM
rhhardin said...: Powdered aspertame would give you a diet fried butter.; 7/21/11, 1:33 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Titus did that guy trigger your gaydar detector?; 7/21/11, 1:33 PM
Titus said...: She's a big Mary.

Not as big a Marcus Bachmann but bigger than Andrew Sullivan.; 7/21/11, 1:34 PM
Palladian said...: There's a short recipe for fried butter (beurre frit) in my 1961 edition of the Larousse Gastronomique:

"Prepare 250 grams of butter as described in the recipe for Beurre à al Broche (Butter cooked on a spit). Divide this butter into portions of 50 grams each. Shape them into little balls, roll in breadcrumbs to give them three coatings and, when required, deep fry in smoking hot fat. Drain and arrange on a napkin. Butter prepared in this way is served as an accompaniment to poached fish."

The entry for Beurre à al Broche calls it "a preparation which used to be in vogue in years gone by but which is not done nowadays."

"Soften 500 grams of butter to a malleable paste, add to it some chopped chervil, tarragon and chives and some lemon juice. Season and shape into a ballotine (basically a log or big rounded lump shape). Put on a wooden spit and chill thoroughly in an ice-box. When the block of butter is quite hard, coat it with three layers of breadcrumbs in such a way as to enclose it entirely in a thick coating of breadcrumbs. Put the butter before a very lively fire. Sprinkle it with melted butter. Cook from 8 to 10 minutes until the outside crust acquires a good colour. Serve at once. Beurre à al Broche is not really a dish. It is simply an original way of serving melted butter with poached fish or a boiled vegetable."; 7/21/11, 1:34 PM
dhagood said...: needs moar bacon!; 7/21/11, 1:40 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Needs more crickets!; 7/21/11, 1:48 PM
traditionalguy said...: Butter taste great, but it definitely is not less filling.; 7/21/11, 1:54 PM
Phil 314 said...: Based on this post and this one
I believe those new jobs are in emergency medical services, cardiology and funeral services.

Wisconsin Dairy, hardening arteries since 1848; 7/21/11, 1:55 PM
ndspinelli said...: You could deep fry a Chuck Taylor Converse and it would taste pretty good.; 7/21/11, 2:04 PM
edutcher said...: I think this is the Lefties' attempt to kill off everybody now that we all know about the death panels.; 7/21/11, 2:11 PM
Anonymous said...: I generally don't go for deep-fried foods, but I recently had a great meal, with the first course being a deep-fried egg (lightly poached, then coated with batter and deep-fried, yolk still runny)wrapped in smoked salmon. Really fantastic.; 7/21/11, 2:16 PM
Lincolntf said...: Anyone know if "Church's Fried Chicken" is any good? Apparently there's one in the neighborhood I'm headed to.; 7/21/11, 2:22 PM
ndspinelli said...: Church's Fried Chicken was big when I lived in KC back in the 70's. I've not had it since then. It's better than KFC[damning w/ faint praise] but not as good as Popeyes.; 7/21/11, 2:24 PM
Chip S. said...: I prefer pan-fried butter to deep-fried.

I use a griddle and a topping of pancake batter.; 7/21/11, 2:29 PM
Lincolntf said...: Hmmm, Popeye's, eh? Just Googled them and no luck. Apparently there's one in Greensboro, but that's a hike.; 7/21/11, 2:30 PM
Anonymous said...: 1. Lee's
2. Popeye's
3. Church's
4. KFC

Unless you're talking about chicken livers, in which case KFC actually blows the rest out of the water, believe it or not.; 7/21/11, 2:44 PM
Triangle Man said...: @Lincolntf

Are you in NC? There must be a Bojangles.; 7/21/11, 2:49 PM
Lincolntf said...: Oh snap (are the kids still saying that?)! There's a Bojangles less than a mile from where I'm picking the guy up. Totally forgot about that place. I've only been a couple times, but only because it's on the opposite side of town. Definitely headed there, barring any local joints that my friend might know about.

wv: breads

WV is always watching.; 7/21/11, 2:56 PM
Chip S. said...: @Lincolntf, I think you forgot about Bojangles because the anticipation of feasting on whole fried clams is blocking your neural connections from "fried" to "chicken."; 7/21/11, 3:06 PM
Lincolntf said...: Chip S.,
That's probably it. And after thinking about all the great fresh seafood I'll soon have, the thought of even driving by the local "Long John Silver's" fills me with revulsion.; 7/21/11, 3:22 PM
Chip S. said...: I'd rather open a can of tuna than go to Long John Silver's.; 7/21/11, 3:28 PM
Lincolntf said...: I'm proud to say I've lived here for three years and never set foot in one of those places. The closest I ever come to that sort of crap is a Filet-o-Fish from Mcdonald's, but I don't really count that as fish.; 7/21/11, 3:30 PM
Temujin said...: Even by the deep fried standards here in the South...that's gross. The blood vessels in my eyeballs just clogged up watching the video.

Every state has their 'State Fair' fried food that's unique to that area. It would be interesting to see what your readers from across the country can tell us about their respective, repulsive State Fair Food.

Fried butter? bluuf.; 7/21/11, 3:47 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: The idea for Beurre à la Broche in Gastronomique that Palladian described sounds like a very good idea. That would be so cool to have a nice filet of fish without breading but with a crunchy ball on top of it so that when you broke open the ball seasoned butter oozes out all over the fish. Plus the breading is still there in compact form that you can combine bits of it on the fork with portions of buttered fish.

On the other hand, these deep-fried butter-filled wontons featured here bought five for four dollars, and presumably scarfed like bonbons, makes me projeter mes tripes.; 7/21/11, 4:14 PM
Penny said...: "...repulsive State Fair Food."

Back in the day...We didn't have fried butter balls. That's how far caterers need to go these days in order to give kids something that they don't have for dinner three or four nights a week.; 7/21/11, 4:26 PM
Penny said...: As a kid, pizza was a guilty pleasure. Followed by homemade waffles topped with ice cream, and then a snow cone for the trip home if you were lucky.; 7/21/11, 4:28 PM
Lincolntf said...: Just got back from bojangles. i've eaten about half of my meal and am saving the rest for an hour or two.

This is what I have:
"A leg and two thighs of our world-famous chicken made with a special blend of seasonings and fried to perfection along your choice of two home-style fixin’s and a made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuit."

(I chose mac and cheese and some sort of spicy baked beans as the side dishes. Also a sweet potato pie.)

Damned good so far.; 7/21/11, 5:04 PM
Deborah M. said...: Does Paula Deen know about this? I thought she had a copyright on fried butter; 7/21/11, 5:12 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Paula Deen does not fry butter, Paula Deen bathes in warm melted butter.; 7/21/11, 5:16 PM
Deborah M. said...: Fred, that's an image I could have done without. ;-); 7/21/11, 5:24 PM
Larry J said...: Deep fried butter? Paula Dean would approve.

In Alabama, "if it ain't fried, it ain't cooked!"; 7/21/11, 6:00 PM
The Dude said...: For your extra-fleshy pleasure.

Here in NC we can get fried Coca Cola (cocola in the local vernacular) at the state fair. Our fair is still many months away.

WV: betin - I'll be betin on the winner of the tractor pull.; 7/21/11, 6:56 PM
chickelit said...: I'm always impressed by the garish signage of the places that sell that kind of stuff: link; 7/21/11, 6:58 PM
caplight said...: eat what you want and die like a man.; 7/21/11, 9:19 PM
Anonymous said...: Don't let Nanny Bloomberg see this. He may go off the deep end!; 7/21/11, 10:34 PM