Acatually, I had some deep fried asparagus as an appetizer and it was very good! Light, panko crumb-like breading, maybe with egg whites, but I enjoyed it. I don't deep fry so maybe someone who does would describe it differently. The breading was a vey thin coating.

jude

Jude the deep fried asparagus sounds delicious. So many people cook asparagus (and other vegetables) for such a short period of time now that you might as well eat it raw. And asparagus is just too woody for that.

Not much deep frying here either..

Many of these can be found on NJ boardwalks...and I have had several of them.

The deep fried pizza is something I never would have thought of, however...

They have an asparagus festival in Sacramento (actually Stockton) every year. I understand that fried is one of the most preferred methods of partaking of the asparagus bounty:) Personally I'm not keen on fried foods but it does sound good.

Kate

Here is a link that might be useful: Stockton Asparagus Festival

dirtgirl, I am with you against drastically under-cooking vegetables just because it's trendy. Although some of those early-season thin spears might work for quick-cooking.

I can't see myself enjoying something deep-fried if it's already greasy-- it seems like someone's got something to prove with those foods, when there isn't really a sound food-science reason for it. I think pizza is perfect as-is.

But I have really enjoyed some unconventional deep fried foods, like pickles and broccoli.

I live next door to "the Asparagus Capitol", Oceana County, there's an Asparagus Festival every year and one of the most popular items is the deep fried asparagus. It has a light batter, much like tempura, and is crunchy and nice, not greasy at all.

Elery and I did go to Joe's Gizzard City (as seen on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives) and ate the deep fried gizzards as well as the deep fried Oreos and Nutter Butter Cookies. I drew the line at the batter dipped and deep fried fully assembled hamburger! The gizzards were good, the cookies were pretty good hot, while the filling was still melty, but got really nasty after sitting.

Heck, my ex MIL never met a vegetable that she wouldn't fry!

I don't like undercooked vegetables, they have to be cooked or raw, nothing in the middle. Yeah, I know...

Annie

Years ago, before I had to start watching what I ate, my Mom would make Japanese Tempura with all sorts of veggies. Sweet poatoes, green beans, asparagus, etc. Pretty much whatever she had on hand and shrimp or chicken tenders. It was probably my favorite thing for most of my youth.

Tempura Batter

1 egg
1 cup ice water
1 cup flour

Beat the egg in a bowl. Then add ice water. After stirring, add in flour, a little at a time, lightly mixing as you add. Dip raw veggies and meats in the batter and drop in frying oil, turning each piece until batter is crispy and light brown. Drain on a paper towel and serve with tamari sauce.

Mmmmm, just typing this makes my mouth water, but unfortunately, anything fried goes straight to my thighs, so I have it maybe once per year :)

This year deep fried butter won for Most Creative at the Texas State Fair. Yuuck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas State Fair

I don't get deep fried soda, duh? I would try a deep fried pickle and asparagus (or any other veg) in a hearbeat, sounds good to me, but the rest has no appeal to me except just for fun aspect of it at a fair or something. I would bet that the deep fried strawberry comes out tasting like a jelly donut!

One of Nova Scotia's specialties that I tried when in Halifax was deep fried pepperoni served with honey mustard sauce. Sounds odd but it was actually very good. However, not so good for the arteries!

Deep fried corn on the cobb. Extra yummy.

Goodness, they left out the grasshoppers, beetles, snakes, starfish, scorpion and tarantula.

Here is a link that might be useful: Deep fried............

Ewwww the bugs! No thanks!

Deep fried spam? Oy.

Deep fried potato pankake? Isn't that redundant? I mean, how much more oil can a potato pancake absorb?

When we moved to Texas we were surprised at the amount of fried food--chicken fried steak, fried dill pickles, fried dough, battered and fried bacon, fried this and that. We joked that if Texans could get their hands on cholesterol, they'd fry it. Well, they did it! As vwtx posted, the Texas State Fair featured--deep fried butter!
Lightly steamed asparagus fresh from the garden and cut when it's pencil slim is a palate's great pleasure. Woody asparagus is OLD asparagus! I only serve asparagus to my husband--I'm afraid if we have guests over they would request that I fry the Hollandaise!

I agree with marlingardener on the asparagus. A friend grew it and it was so good raw and fresh from his garden. Since then I buy the thin stuff. It stuns me that steak places brag about their 'extra thick' asparagus and charge $8 for just as many spears.

They also deep fry Reeses peanut butter cups on the boardwalk. Those were heavenly!

Oh I love Tempura. If not it's so high in fat and calories I would eat it all the time. I love asparagus but have never tried raw. I usually grilled or steamed, even stir fried; perfect when it still has a little crunch in it. I will say "pass" to the bugs. Will get the protein and fibers somewhere else. LOL Al

Yeah I like Gizzard City gizzards. I could do without the breading but they are perfectly acceptable as served. I'll bet some pickled gizzards would deep fry nice... now that I'm thinking that way.

I love deep fried bannanas. Been a few years but I worked at a drive-in that served them.... that place with the root beer in a frosted mug. Bet I could still whip one up.

Local grocery store almost always has deep fried mac&cheese. Makes finger food out of mac&cheese.... any two year-old can tell you mac&cheese off the fingers is the best.

: )
lyra

Extra thick asparagus is the good stuff....those little skinny stalks are from "seedlings" when asparagus grows to be a good plant the spears become fatter....and buttery inside....and not skinny little blades of grass.
As for deep fried "stuff"...the Iowa State Fair has it all!!
Twinkies, funnel cakes, 3 Musketeers bars, Ice cream, corn dogs, corn!, Oreos.....and many more things that I can remember...there is no snow on the ground at Fair times...I can't imagine it ever being warm!!!

DH and I always said if we could have figured out how to sugar-coat and deep fry a cup of coffee, we would be rich.

I guess I'm not a very good southerner. I don't much care for fried foods, and the idea of fried candy bars or *gack* butter sounds awful to me.

At the Ohio State Fair, it seems that every year they figure out more things to deep fry. Deep fried pickles and Snickers bars have been around for awhile.

This year I saw deep fried S'mores and deep fried Cap'n Crunch.

Yes, really.

Well, I don't dispute that you CAN deep fry pretty well anything, but whether you SHOULD do so is a whole 'nother issue...
I felt quite ill looking at some of the offerings on that site. Deep fried jelly beans?????

I worked at a restaurant in Grayton Beach, FL (very briefly) - their dessert 'specialty' was deep fried strawberries. YUCK!

A local steak house had fried lobster tails as a special one night. I love lobster so decided to order it, but, I had my doubts about it. Actually it was really good. It was very lightly breaded and not at all greasy.

How it's deep fried is a big variable. If the oil is hot enough, the batter seals whatever it's coating and very little oil penetrates; trying to deep fry something in oil that's insufficiently heated (or putting too much food in at once, which thereby lowers the oil temperature) is guaranteed to make something greasy.

A local restaurant makes tempura asparagus. Light, delicate, delicious.

I've had deep fried pickles--sorry, not to my taste.

What is it about state fairs that they feel they have to deep fry everything? That's funny, huh? I think they're all trying to come up with the next big thing, then they can say that they invented it.

Agree with Lindac on the asparagus spears....and I LOVE fried ice cream!

Have to jump in here....A local restaurant deep fries Twinkies & tops them with vanilla ice cream & raspberry sauce. Delish!

Deepfrying is a reliatively cheap, easy, and fast way to cook a lot of food. More important for fair and festival settings, most food they fry requires minimal handling and stays in a freezer until it hits the oil -- less chance of making someone sick. The equipment takes up very little space and is pretty adpatable -- when the fad of deep fried X is passed, you can move straight to deep-fried Y without having to buy more equipment. High profit at a busy fair, but still a nasty, smelly, hot job.

I had a relative who did the southeastern festival run. Worked for her for a week as a favor one summer and said never again! At least when I worked fry station at the restaurant, we had an exhaust hood!

Pat, deep fried strawberries? That's just...so...wrong.

That picture gallery was truly disturbing on several levels!

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.

This past summer, one of the tv stations was at a fair that had "Fried Butter"--now that's redundant.

I agree with Kframe, fried corn on the cob is wonderful.

Pass the deep fried lard... deep fried in lard of course. With the deep fried margarine available for the health-conscious people.

Just seems to be more proof that just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should.

So where does one go these days to get good deep fried trans fats?