Greetings Gastronauts! This is Keef Cooks, I'm Keef and today I'm going to show you something
that used to be really common in post-war Britain, but is possibly less so now, or possibly
a bit of a secret that we don't really talk about - Spam fritters
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And this is another one for Dan Bob, who requested it, and I'm glad he did because I've not had
a Spam fritter, probably, for over 30 years. And I'm really looking forward to it and it's
dead easy to make, so let's do it!
Ingredients for the Spam fritters, I've got a can of your actual Spam, 100 grams of self-raising
flour, some beer, an egg and maybe half a teaspoon of salt. The beer can be any old
stuff, it's just to give it a little bit of flavour and a bit of fizz.
The Spam, I think, y'know, this is cheap enough, don't get anything cheaper than that just
to save a few pennies, 'cos you really don't know what's gone into it. Anyway, first thing
to do, make up the batter.
So we'll just add the salt to the flour, give that a quick whizz, throw the egg in, stir
that in a bit, and then add just enough beer to make a smooth paste. It shouldn't be runny,
it should be quite thick. Not quite that thick! And then stick that in the fridge to rest
for about half an hour.
So, Spam was invented round about the time of the Second World War, as a cheap and convenient
way of feeding the troops and preserving the meat. You would think in the intervening years
since then, they'd have come up with a way of packaging it so you can actually get it
out of the tin without destroying the product. But they haven't.
Oh, there we go. Mini Spam fritter. Honestly. What were they thinking?
Oh, by the way, little known factoid, SPAM stands for Slightly Pink And Meaty. Didn't know that, did you?
Ah, ridiculous. Oooerrrgh.
OK, and, just cut it into slices, about a centimetre, half an inch. Now I'm just going
to coat them in flour. Gaaagh! And I just do this 'cos it helps the batter to stick.
And then coat them in batter, and I've got a pan of hot oil over there, and I'll just,
gently, put them in.
You could also shallow-fry them in a frying pan. And we just let those bubble away for
a few minutes until they turn golden and crispy. So there we go. Lovely golden Spam fritters.
Poor man's fish and chips. Except I'm not having it with chips. And we just take those
out and drain them on some kitchen paper.
So look at that. Really simple, easy, cheap, tasty Spam fritters. And the question is,
red or brown sauce? Ah, I don't know, possibly both, maybe I'll test it and tell you.
Oh, yeah, oh that's great!
And, a bonus recipe while I've got some batter made up and the fryer is hot: Deep-Fried Mars Bar!
So anybody who has the remotest bit of concern for their health will run a mile at this,
but it's something you've got to try, once in a lifetime. Apparently deep-fried Mars
bars were invented in Scotland and have been brought up as evidence of the unhealthy Scottish
diet. Well, yeah, maybe. Anyway, I've only had one deep-fried Mars bar in my life, and
that was from a chippy in Dubai. How's that?
And I've never made one, so it might melt and ruin the fat. It might be lovely. Anyway,
I'll show you how to do it and then we'll decide.
Ingredients for the deep-fried Mars bar - 1 Mars bar, and some batter, the same batter
that I used for the Spam fritters. So, I went to the supermarket looking for 1 Mars bar,
had to come back with 4, they only sell a 4-pack, and apparently, I don't know what
this is all about. It's like, are they changing the name to Hashtag Believe? Are they kidding?
I still haven't got over Marathon becoming Snickers. Anyway, this shouldn't be too difficult.
By the way, that Mars bar's been in the fridge for quite a while - it's pretty cold, but
not freezing. So, get your oil as hot as you can, dip your Mars bar in the batter, or your
Hashtag Believe. Really. I don't believe it. And then fingers crossed, pop it in, and hope
that the batter turns nice and golden and crispy before the chocolate bar melts.
OK, we could have a result here. Yay! I think that'll do. Drain that off, 'cos we are health-conscious.
And we can eat it, wooh! Well, that's not the prettiest thing in the world. I think
it needs prettying up a little bit, so we'll put an ironic nasturtium on it - that would
win Masterchef, no problem.
Well, the batter's not crispy, the chocolate is definitely on the melty-melty side. But
anyway, there you go - Deep-Fried Mars Bar!
And that's that, I hope you enjoyed it. Now please share it with all your friends on social
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