Although I am a Chablis-drinking, brie-eating, east coast elitist -- according to some people's definition -- I must confess that the humble donut is near the very top of my list of favorite foods. What's not to love about fried dough? Having said that, I do not consider Dunkin' Donuts much to shake a stick at.
While Durham lacks in serious donut-making, I was thoroughly delighed to see Amy Tornquist from Watt's Grocery mentioned in a NYT article on doughnuts. Her churros, fried dough coated in cinnamon sugar with a chocolate dipping sauce, get a special mention. An adaptation of her recipe accompanies the article.
In addition to Amy's recipe for churros, there are two other recipes. I am gearing up to give one of the recipes a try this weekend. I've never made doughnuts or beignets or anything of this sort.
I am wondering if I can use a deep, iron wok for frying. This is one of the rare occasions when a deep fat fryer might actually be useful. Hot oil terrifies me. Once I caught a roll of paper towels on fire when deep frying.
Will the effort and calories be worth the at-home effort or is it better to get a fried dough fix at Watt's Grocery or Rue Cler? I guess I'll find out. If anyone has any suggestions or tip on making doughnuts at home, let me know before I burn my house down this weekend.
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6 comments:
I've made donuts at home a bunch of times, and I fry them in a deep cast iron skillet or cast iron dutch oven. And I've never burned myself! I have, however, set off the smoke detectors.
-Vanessa (the girl from Saba)
What kind did you make?
I am so with you about Dunkin' Donuts. I'm glad other they make other people happy, but the other people sure ain't me.
I suspect the wok would work just fine, and perhaps even more efficiently than a deep fat fryer. My intuition says that the surface area to volume ratio of a wok would be better than a deep fat fryer (too much volume for how much surface you need) or a big wide skillet (not enough volume for how much surface you need).
Speaking of woks and frying -- I remember a scene from maybe it was Iron Monkey in which a guy is making something like potato chips by cutting slices of some kind of tuber and flicking them with his knife into a wok. What's cool is that he's holding the vegetable in his left hand and cutting/flicking with his right, while standing five or ten feet away from the wok. All while chatting with some dude that might be his mortal enemy, or something like that.
I made a donut recipe from "The Great Book of Couscous", oddly enough. They are called sufganiyot, I think?
I second Vanessa's suggestion of a cast iron skillet. The weight prevents it from tipping and the oil temperature stays consistent throughout the fry. I have made beignets many times and am looking forward to giving the churros a try.
Sufganiyot are a donut like creation popular in Jewish culture usually filled with jelly and served around Hanukkah. I hope you liked them. I've had them in the past and thought that they weren't bad.
There is actually a Beignet class in Raleigh and what use to be a beignet breakfast every Saturday. I don't know anyone thats mentioned it but look up.. Chef Rameaux (I believe it is)
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