I have the very same problem when I use a Loose/wet batter on whatever food I'm frying. I have tried lowering the food one by one very slowly into the oil, hoping that it would firm up bit. But the batter always seems to drip a little and wrap around the basket grates and makes it impossoble to remove the food without tearing it apart and making a mess. It's so bad, I've taken to using a plain old pot when deep frying foods with a batter coating. Tim

I LOVE LOVE LOVE fried pickles and I don't eat fried foods!!! (well....I guess I do, don't I?) A place here serves them with a horseradish sauce that is to die for as it compliments the flavor of the pickle. I googled them a while back and had a recipe that called for dill, bread crumbs and I can't remember what else at the moment; but I did try them and I do remember that the breading stuck until dropped in the fryer...the batter didn't stick very well. We also have a place nearby that sells food to resturants and they do have them by the boxful frozen and I did call about them a while back and they were around $36.00 per box if I do recall right; but I didn't buy as I would have ended up eating the whole box by myself!!! I would love to find a recipe for them also just to make small batches when I get a craving for them. I LOVE PICKLES!

My husband has a bug in his ear to try a deep-fried Oreo. He figures he probably wouldn't ever eat a second, but wants to be able to say he tried it. I tell him to go right ahead. Bleah! :P I wonder how it got to be such a thing, at fairs, to see what crazy deep-fried item they can offer? Asparagus, now...I'm a fan of the thin asparagus for the most part. I like the fact that the whole stem can be cooked nicely without the "leaf end" getting smushy. I like my asparagus to be cooked past the crunchy stage, but not to the olive green, soft stage. The exception is home grown, freshly harvested asparagus. That can be thick. It cooks more evenly, and more quickly than store bought, and becomes tender without cooking it to death. My Dad used to grow the most wonderful asparagus. We'd go out in the early a.m., cut and cook within a few minutes...on toast with pan gravy or if I was feeling racy, Hollandaise. Mmmm.

Marilyn, I have eaten "calf fries", kind of like eating rubber bands, but with less flavor, LOL. My girls and The Princess like their fries dunked into Frosties or shakes, or whatever ice cream concoction they are eating. Um....no. Just no. My oldest daughter used to dunk her fries in mustard and her son dunks them in honey mustard dressing. Like Jack, I want my fries homemade, I fry them twice so they are nice and crispy, and I use my own homemade Chipotle Catsup to dunk them, if I use anything. I did try malt vinegar on fries once, at a Arthur Treacher's (do they even exist any more?). I didn't care for it at all, but I don't really like vinegar, not even the balsamic stuff, which someone once convinced me to put on a strawberry. And that's a whole different thread... Annie