Perfect fry batter: the rules for a light and crispy frying

Do you know how to make the perfect fry batter? The recipe is actually quick and easy, although there are several ways to prepare it. The simplest one involves the use of cold sparkling water, flour, pepper and a pinch of baking soda: a batter for crispy and swollen fried food, without the use of eggs, for frying vegetables, fish or chicken. You can then flavor it with aromatic herbs and spices, according to your preferences, so as to make it more fragrant. Therefore, to make a perfect batter, you don't need chef skills, but just a good dose of precision and some suggestions. Here's how to make it, for a golden and fragrant frying.

The rules for perfect fry batter

After telling you the rules to make a perfect frying, if you plan to make a dish in batter, you have to consider in this case too few but fundamental rules. Here are what they are:

Flour

The flour must always be intact, well preserved in a cool and dry place. Before using it, if possible, sift it. You can try mixing other types of flour with 00 flour, but without exaggerating: a right dose of gluten guarantees an elastic batter. On the contrary, if the gluten is too tenacious, it could absorb excessive oil in cooking.

Oil

The oil must be clean and at the right temperature. The temperature changes, in fact, make the fried food greasy and too soft and, in the case of fried in batter, they help to dirty the oil.

Salt

Never add salt to the batter. Again, the action of salt could make your batter too heavy and greasy. Much better to salt the freshly fried pieces, while resting on kitchen paper.

Timing

Bring it to the table immediately. Fried food in batter must be done almost in real time: the closer you get to eating it, the better. This is because the cover given by the batter and the humidity of the food quickly remove the crunchiness. In short, it is never good to preserve the delicacies fried in batter: better to make a sacrifice and eat them immediately!

Variants of the classic batter

Now let's see other ways to prepare the batter: the classic preparation with eggs, more full-bodied, and with beer, very light, the leavened batter and, finally, the batter to make Japanese tempura.

1. Batter with eggs

To make the batter with the eggs, put in a bowl 200 ml of water, 2 eggs and 180 grams of flour. Mix all the ingredients well until a smooth and dense mixture is obtained. It is a thicker batter, ideal for meat and chicken. Beat the egg whites separately and add them at the end, for a better result.

2. Batter with beer or wine

The batter with beer is very similar to that with water. In this case, however, the beer will make it more aromatic. You can choose light beer, more delicate, or dark beer, for a more intense flavor. This batter is excellent for vegetables but also for fish and shellfish. Alternatively, the batter can also be made by adding a little white wine.

3. Batter with yeast

To prepare crispy fritters with a swollen and soft filling you can use leavened batter, which is often used to fry delicate vegetables such as zucchini or courgette flowers, in order to protect their consistency. To make it you need 250 grams of flour, 500 ml of water, 10 grams of brewer's yeast. A secret: if you can knead it with your hands, trying to incorporate as much air as possible, you will get a very soft batter.

4. Batter for Tempura

For a Japanese-style batter with which to fry vegetables and fish, just mix ice-cold sparkling water and rice flour. The original tempura recipe is very simple, but in some versions you will also find a yolk, a pinch of baking soda and/or a pinch of sugar.