Bacon-fat-fried kou rou bao, five-spice chicken skins, cajun fries, and (unfried) masala coffee granita

This Weekend's Test Subjects
(The usual pancackles were there on account of their being a safe, tasty staple.) Cajun fries leftover from dinner at Popeye's, and kou rou bao - a traditional steamed, savoury stewed pork bun. And um. Chicken skins. Yup. Chicken skins. That I stole from my cats, whom I feed raw. Rubbed up with 5 spice seasoning and left to sit in the fridge overnight.

The Results

Kou Rou Bao Fried in Bacon Fat
Oooh glorious. Super light and crispy outside, fluffy and airy inside, and right in the middle - savoury stewed pork oozing fatty goodness. OoOooO. If you've ever had pan-fried or deep-fried mantou, this is exactly what they would be like if you stuck meat in them, then fried them in bacon fat. ;)

Cajun Fries Re-fried in Bacon Fat
Hrm... Well they were nice, but I can't say they were hugely improved one way or the other. Not going to do these again.

Five-Spice Chicken Skins Fried in Bacon Fat
TBH the five-spice seasoning kinda overpowered the baconnyness of it. Nuggetboy supplies that they were very much like pork rinds, which makes sense, considering they're... welll - chicken rinds? Not bad, but horribly, horribly dangerous to cook. O.o The oil was spitting and jumping and bouncing everywhere. I think next time I'll just marinade the chicken itself in the five spices for a less dangerous and equally satisfying bit of chicken.

Masala Coffee Granita
Having seen the Error of My Fork Whacking Ways, I made up this batch by whacking it regularly as it froze, resulting in a much airier, finer texture. (Not that you can see it here. -_-) It's definitely less coarsely icy and granular than the lemon attempt, and I'm really quite pleased with it. Not to mention, a cup of coffee turns into a lot more granita than coffee! The combination of freezing and whacking seems to intensify the flavours. All in all - very pleased with this. In fact... dangerously so, because now I'm plotting a whole series of granitas! And I've gone so far as to buy more kitchen implements (eeeee!) because one of the instructions I turned up mentioned using a whisk in the initial stages for an even finer, creamier texture...

Oh well then, I guess I know why my sorbet - isn't. XD

Another option for those without an ice cream machine is to turn this sorbet into an icy granita. To make a granita, transfer the chilled mixture to a large, shallow pan and place in the freezer, rather than processing in the ice cream machine. When you see ice crystals beginning to form around the edges of the pan, stir the granita using a fork, scraping it off the bottom and sides of the pan to ensure an even consistency when freezing; continue to stir and scrape, breaking up the ice crystals, every thirty minutes until it is completely frozen, about 3 hours. Stirring is a crucial step in making granita, as the goal with granita is to create coarse granular crystals of ice to achieve the perfect grainy texture.
via gildedfork.com

Moar info here too! I think I'll change the name when I make this again. I WILL MAKE IT AGAIN DAMMIT.

That, and next time (and this time too haha!) I'll call it 'granita'...

A Soba Noodles Class in Tokyo

via fxcuisine.com

The noodles must be 1.6mm wide. 'How do you achieve such regularity?' I asked. 'Easy. Just place your knife at a 1.5° angle and it will push back the guiding board just enough so that the next noodle will be exactly 1.6mm'. Right. There is nothing to tell the chef when he reaches 1.5° so I guess the pupils must get their money's worth if they learn to do it right in 30 days!

Mini bacon explosions, bacon-fat-fried McGriddle buns, and penis spoons - oh my!

Mini Bacon Explosions
Take some small good cocktail smausages. Wrap with bacon, stick with toothpicks to hold bacon in place, panfry! Next time we will glaze them with barbecue sauce and they will be TROO MINI BAYCUN ESSPLOSHUNS! Other than the lack of barby sauce, it's very very similar.

McGriddle Buns Fried in Bacon Fat
Oh this is absolutely amazing. O.o The evil things are maple syrup (or maple syrup flavour - more likely with McDs) infused, and are absolutely GLORIOUS when fried in bacon fat. Arguably better than the jellydonuts. This Friday, I'm going to have to try to remember to soak two of our mini pancakes in maple syrup and see how they turn out.

McD's Hashbrown Fried in Sausage Juice + Bacon Fat, Then Refried in Bacon Fat
This was a bit odd, the frying didn't look like it was doing anything. >.> But sopping up a ton of grease. But when we ate it, it didn't taste greasy at all. In fact, it was really good. But seeing the amount of grease it soaked up and simply erm... vaporised (as far as eating could tell anyway), it was kinda disturbing...

Butterscotch Bread Fried in Bacon Fat
We've been doing this one for the past 2-3 weeks, it's just plain tasty. Like if you fried slightly crumbly and dry Sara Lee pound cake in bacon fat. Hm we may just have to do that...

Oh yes, and we put icecream on top of everything except the MBEs and the bacon itself. Weis Mango Sorbet with Cream for me, and Ben & Jerry's Vanilla for the nuggetboy.

~_o Kudos to nuggetboy who makes this possible! He's the one at the stove, I just come up with ideas and hide from the spitting bacon. XD

...oh yeah the spoon. The spoon is totally unrelated. The spoon was on the menu of a Japanese restaurant we went to. Came with the kid's meal. Hmmmm.