I'm not an expert but, from my travels in Spain, I don't remember deep-fat frying being a signature of Spanish cuisine. I think it's more common in the UK.- and I've heard that the British were introduced to deep-fried, battered, fish by the Portuguese ... who also introduced tempura to Japan. Why they gave the daikon oroshi and ponzu to the Japanese and malt vinegar to the British is a mystery.

I’m not that kind of Spaniard.
Before the Thermomix phenomenon caught on, a deep fat fryer served a certain kind of Spaniard the same way as microwave ovens serve a certain kind of Brit (or North American). There used to be whole shops that only sold frozen food destined for the deep fat fryer. Even now, in the supermarkets you’ll see plenty of food for that category.

Saying all that, my grandmother never ever deep fat fried food, nor did her sisters and I know plenty of households who still never use one either. Not surprising that jib71 didn’t come across them much on his journeys.
When I was little the deep fat frying was for treat food, we were taken to certain shacks (1970s and early 80s) where vats of oil on big petroleum barrels produced churros in the morning or potato chips in the evening. Both were stunning.
We do plenty of shallow frying, but I’m just too fond of olive oil to want to cook in large vats of something else. Nevertheless, I did find a way to reproduce some of that taste of chips cooked in a drum from my child-hood. I have a Phillips AirFryer. Means I can brush olive oil onto potatoes and whack the heat up to 220C without completely smoking up my kitchen and slathering it in a nicotine coloured sticky film.

Apart from the churros, here is one very memorable deep fried dish that I enjoyed in Spain - Flamenquin from Cord�ba:

Vaya plato!
That’s exactly what I might order in Spain because I would never make it at home.

However, saying that, I do roll ham and other things like cheese together, then toss in batter and/or eggs and panko to make mini versions for packed lunches. But I use this wonderful gadget which I bought in Japan.


This style of micro-deep-fat frying reminds me of Lewis Carroll’s traveller’s plunge bath described in “Silvie & Bruno”:

“One great advantage of this plunge-bath,” continued the Professor, “is that it requires only half-a-gallon of water——”

“I don’t call it a plunge-bath,” His Sub-Excellency remarked, “unless your Active Tourist goes right under!”

“But he does go right under,” the old man gently replied. “The A. T. hangs up the P. B. on a nail—thus. He then empties the water-jug into it—places the empty jug below the bag—leaps into the air—descends head-first into the bag—the water rises round him to the top of the bag—and there you are!” he triumphantly concluded. “The A. T. is as much under water as if he’d gone a mile or two down into the Atlantic!”

https://classic-literature.co.uk/lew...e-and-bruno/2/

Since my identity as a Spaniard is in question, I am going to share what has become a small obsession.
Earlier this year, as MrLapLap walked around KitaKyushu and sent me the occasional photo, I looked up on tabelog an Izakaya near where he was staying.
It was run by an elderly couple and had a speciality that I had never seen before. I gave my husband a mission. Took him a couple of attempts as the opening hours were erratic, but he made it there and had this - behold!



The food of paradise; battered aubergine (eggplant/nasu) sandwiching a gyoza core.

😍😍😍

It pushes every single culinary button for me.

https://tabelog.com/fukuoka/A4004/A400403/40014275/

Plunge sauna for eggs. Don't heat a milliliter more than you need :

I’m laughing but I was seriously thinking about the feasibility of a travelling sauna bag to use on a plane - lets you shroud yourself in a hot moist virus-unfriendly microclimate AND gives off bonus “I’m a freak, stay away from me” energy, which is also highly effective.

Must have read “Silvie and Bruno” at a peculiarly impressionable age because that plunge bath idea is never too far from my thoughts.

I've been using an "air fryer" aka convection oven for quite a few years. They're a reasonable substitute for a light frying but I find it to be only moderately more useful than a conventional oven. The current fad tabletop versions are too small for my tastes and marketed very deceptively.

Unfortunately, the sauna bag wraps everything except your head. Back to the drawing board...
Has anyone tried injecting molten lava into their veins? I'm not a doctor, so what do I know, but really what do you have to lose?

You’ve nailed the “I’m a freak, stay away from me” energy radiation. But the complete steam sauna suit is easily achieved with a small upgrade:

Our night was ragged, but it’s a beautiful morning now and I’m feeling mild excitement about reaching day three, the final stages in my premium shokupan project.
Couldn’t be arriving here at a better time! Thanks to [MENTION=605904]Gradfly[/MENTION] for the propitious reminder 👍 just what I needed to help take my mind off the unpalatable realities we’re having our noses shoved into.

My SO has given up on her sourdough dreams for now and is pivoting over to more simple breads. She's made us an amazing matcha banana bread and matcha muffins in the last two days. My waistline is going to be a major casualty of this quarantine. I've been taking 2-3 hours to prep each meal on the weekends these days just to fill the time.

Was able to make the 1-hr trek to the Japanese market place last week. Should have gone earlier for better selection but happy nonetheless with what was available.


Shokupan

Thanks [MENTION=37887]LapLap[/MENTION] for the the shokupan recipe. I incorporated the overnight ferment on this latest batch and it came out great.


Anpan

I was intending to make melon bread but realized I had a bunch of leftover anko from a past mochi project.

If your SO wants to revisit sourdough, I recommend looking at King Arthur Flour's guide. I've also heard that running the water through a piece of ginger or pineapple helps with propagating the yeast culture.

I'm with you about the waistline statement. Been baking a lot more and just spent the past day and a half making banchan.

Events took an even darker turn so that day 3 anticipation was shelved to day 4 and I managed - with somewhat trembling hands - to get my “3 day” bread completed late last night. Forgive my photography, none of this has the polish of gradfly’s skills. But the aroma, oh the aroma, was so therapeutic!

mochi mochi gossamer pane dough