In 1984, President Ronald Reagan declared July National Ice Cream Month. Well, today is the last day of July, so just as Reagan recommended in his presidential proclamation, we believe you should celebrate with “appropriate ceremonies and activities.” For this month’s how-to video, we asked head chef Fernando Perez of Uptown Sushi to take us into his kitchen and show us how to fry the frozen treat.
YOU WILL NEED:
Tempura batter
Ice cream
Pound cake
Oil for frying
For the batter
3 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup canola oil
5 to 6 cups water
4 lbs. flour (approximately 7 1/2 cups)
Note: This makes a lot of batter (as needed in a restaurant kitchen). Divide ingredients by three for a smaller batch.
METHOD Whisk eggs, milk and oil together in a mixing bowl. Then add flour and water to the mixture and whisk to combine. Perez likes his batter thick and slightly runny. He notes it is easier to fry the ice cream with a thicker batter. Refrigerate the batter.
Next thinly slice chilled pound cake. You will need approximately six slices for each fried ball of ice cream. Lay plastic wrap down on a hard surface and place six slices of cake on top of the plastic wrap, slightly overlapping the slices with one another. Scoop ice cream and place in the center of the slices of cake. Use the plastic wrap to form the cake and ice cream into a ball. Be sure the cake completely covers the ice cream. Freeze the ice cream ball for at least two hours.
Remove the ice cream ball from the freezer and dunk into the chilled batter. Carefully place into 375-400 degree oil for roughly five seconds. Then transfer to 325 degree oil and fry for 45 seconds to one minute. Remove from the fryer, cut in half and drizzle with chocolate sauce.