deep-fried feast - onion rings, corn dogs, deep fried chocolate bars and banana fritters

Our dinner last night was exclusively battered and deep fried! What started as wanting to make the Onion Ring recipe from Everyday Food made us decide to pull out all the stops and have corn dogs too. I grabbed my parents deep fryer as well as ours so we could have two fryers on the go (anyone who's deep fried before knows that it's all done in batches, so the more fryers the faster it will all come together). But the onion ring recipe recommended keeping the rings in the oven at 250 while you worked the batches so this worked out great as well because they stayed as warm as if they just came out of a fryer.

It's been exactly a year since we obsessed over corn dogs at the Erie County Fair. Now with Owen with us, it's not so easy to get over to the U.S. on these hot and humid August days to spend the day at a fair. So I found a Corn Dog recipe in the July issue of Martha Stewart Living and thought that might work just as well. I used corn meal purchased at Wegman's, Quaker brand Yellow Corn Meal. I'm sure you can use any corn meal, but I like the idea of this being as American as I can make it. I actually bought some Ballpark Franks in the U.S., but decided to go with fresh dogs purchased from Country Corner Market (located on Quaker Road, right at the edge of Welland and Fonthill). They have several different types of hot dogs at their counter and the guy who waited on me recommended a certain type for corn dogs.

Nuno even purchased wooden dowels, trimmed and sanded them just for this meal! We ended up halfing the entire corn batter recipe as well as the hot dogs, which was a very wise decision because they fit perfectly into the deep fryer.

So the fryers were on and hot, why not make dessert deep fried as well? Nigella made the deep fried Bounty famous, but I checked all my cupboards and stashes for a deep fried candy bar trial of my own.

Here's what was fried: Kit Kat Chunky hunks, Heath Bar, Milk Duds & Terry's Dark Chocolate Orange. I first dredged the bars in powdered sugar and then battered.

Worked like a charm. The Milk Dud was a dud as the caramel seemed to harden. But the other three were wicked!

Inspired by El Gastronomo Vagabundo and their banana fritters, we decided to use the extra batter from the onion rings, add a little cinnamon and deep fry bananas. These worked out so great because the banana was warm and rich inside and the coating was, of course, perfect!

Everything about this meal was perfect and I wouldn't change a thing (except no Milk Duds in the future). We both agreed that this will be a yearly tradition! I love the idea of making this especially for Owen and his friends. I know I would have flipped out as a kid if I'd had this experience. Maybe we can make a little deep fried macaroni and cheese to round out a kid's party version.