Oh, and what 'sauce' is it you refer to? How do you make tempura sauce?
Thanks,
Versy
"decay" > wrote in message
...
> FreddieN wrote:
> > "Versy Tyle" > wrote in message
> > news > >
> >>Sorry if it's a FAQ, but how do you get tempura batter to be crisp, and
> >
> > not
> >
> >>like an omlette hanging off your chunks of pork? I had believed it was,
> >>possibly, the way I stored the morcels before serving; but spacing them
> >
> > all
> >
> >>apart on a grill at moderate heat, is something that one would think
would
> >>dry them out - but still I feel it's too soggy; it seems that way the
> >
> > moment
> >
> >>I take them out of the (very hot) fat.
> >>Thanks,
> >>Versy
> >>
> >
> >
> > There is no such thing as Pork tempura in Japan.
> > There is Tonkatsu which is Pork cutlet with Panko,
> > but thats something else.
> > Consequently you're not going to get any really good info
> > from people who make "pork tempura".
> > Tempura batter is chilled usually with Ice to create the thin cripsy
batter
> > covering that tempura is famous for. After dipping into the batter make
sure
> > you don't have excess batter. A thin crust is a must for decent Tempura.
> > If you insist on using Pork make sure they are thin slices. Tempura
cooks
> > in a very short amount of time. People who know how to cook tempura
don't
> > even time it, they can tell by the change in the sound of the food
frying,
> > which occurs when the moisture content of the food being fried changes.
>
> Yeah, that's what I was thinking! Pork tempura, how odd. But, I can
> see it working if you slice it into thin julienned strips, or hammer it
> out to tenderize it first.
>
> Here's how I do tempura. Haven't done it in a couple years, so it's
rusty.
>
> First, mix a spoon of baking poweder into around a cup or two of flour.
> Also, if you have potato starch, add a few spoons. Potato starch
> seems to help with the crispness. It's not critical, though.
>
> Then, crack an egg over it, and add ice water. Stir it up a little bit,
> but leave it very lumpy. Keep adding water until it's the consistency
> of a thick soup or a moderately thin gravy. Then add a couple ice
> cubes. The lumps, baking powder, and melting ice will leave the batter
> inconsistent, and prone to "explode" in the oil, making for a crispier
> shell of batter.
>
> Also, the thinness of the batter is pretty important. You want the
> batter to form a shell, not a blob or a capsule. Keep it thin.
>
> Then, my favorite things to add to the batter are julienned carrots
> (nowadays, they use a slice, but I like the old-school julinenned),
> green beans (raw), cleaned and flattened shrimp, sliced mushroom, shiso
> leaf, gobo root julienned.
>
> I put more than one fritter's worth in there, and pull out a few with my
> fingers. Chopsticks work too, but fingers are faster, and there's a
> trick later. Anyway, I plop in three or four fritters at a time.
>
> The oil is usually clean oil, because I do this infrequently.
> Sometimes, I'll add a little old oil to get it to crisp up faster, but,
> that can sometimes backfire, and the oil will go dirty too soon.
>
> If the oil gets too dirty and "wears out," you have to pour some off and
> add clean oil. The oil matters a lot, because it is part of the flavor
> of the tempura. (Think about it.) There is a special kind of strainer
> to scoop off the bits of dough, before they carbonize and pollute the
> oil. (These bits are good on soup, or as an unhealthy snack.) A
> slotted spoon can do in a pinch, but the strainer is good to own.
>
> If you like a really elaborate fritter, with all kinds of spidery spikes
> of fried dough on it, you can achieve this with a little daring move.
> Dip your fingers in the batter, and sprinkle bits of batter onto the
> fritters as they fry. The motion I use is "flicking a snot off the tip
> of my thumb, but with more fingers."
>
> Do not put your fingers into the oil. LOL.
>
> Also, the last trick is to drain the tempura on a rack, on a warmed up
> plate. You need to let the vegetables' steam escape and not mess up the
> greasy, crispy, fried dough.
>
> The final fritter I make is the chopped onion fritter. I just add
> chopped green onions to the remaning batter, and then make onion
> fritters. These are really good, and I prefer them to some of the real
> tempura.
>
> The tempura aesthetic is different from other kinds of fried foods.
> It's about the balance of the batter, the ingredient, and the oil. It's
> almost as if the ingredient is there, mainly, to flavor the batter, and
> the batter is there to be flavored by the oil. Then, when the tempura
> is dunked into the sauce, the oil and sauce mix into something that will
> flavor the rice. Then, alla sudden, it's also about the quality of the
> rice.
>
> It's kind of like sushi. You start out thinking it's about the fish.
> Then you realize it's really about the rice too, because bad rice can
> ruin sushi. Then, you think you've got it understood, and you get
> pickier about the fish, because, well, there are so few ingredients,
> that every ingredient matters.