Aug 2010: Well if you only thought that beer always come in a bottle, you’re no longer right. It just started coming on a plate. Well that’s what is called as the ‘fried beer’. The liquor snack was invented by Mark Zable which according to the BBC was in an effort to win the fried food competition at the Texas State Fair.
The inventor described his ‘fried beer’ as being a result of three years of development of the cooking methods. Zable did not disclose if any special ingredients have been used, but expressed his aspiration to patent the dish and the recipe. The inventor had previously invented dishes like chocolate-covered strawberry waffle balls and jalapeño.
The sophistication behind frying the beer involves placing the beer within salty, pretzel like dough and getting it fried in oil at a temp of 375 degrees for about 20 seconds. The relishing strategy is reflected by the hot beer mixing with the dough when bit, with the beer seeping out. Zable describes the experience as taking a bite of hot pretzel dough, followed by a drink of beer. The cost is approximately $5 for five pieces.
“When you can drink beer, why not eat it?”, was the inspiration behind the successful invention, “It tastes just like a Margarita, though it wouldn’t produce a buzz like that”. Fried beer is based on the Margarita recipe served at his Desperados restaurants. Elaborating on his R&D work which led to his successful invention, he recalls that the beer-and-dough concoction was constantly exploding when it hit the frying pan. He kept getting burns, and had even consulted a food scientist without any luck.
Zable has been a finalist in the competition twice before, and desperately wants to win one of the trophies, which to him is “Oscar-like award”. His Deep Fried Frozen Margarita had been a finalist earlier and his Deep Fried Latte won the award in 2007. At the same time Zable is careful of his recipe from being copied. The top foods at Texas Fair are always copied. Zable however has a big competitor in Abel Gonzales Jr., also a finalist, who comes this time with fried chocolate. Gonzales won last year with his fried butter, which Oprah Winfrey even had it in an episode of her talk show.
As for the fried beer, the Texas Alcoholic Commission has already ruled that people must be aged over 21 to try it. However it is surprising that fried beer hadn’t come under the purview of the FDA. Beer is an industrially processed food and intended to be served chilled without any further treatment. Although it is not clear whether the heating is up to 375 degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit, it is considerably high even in terms of Fahrenheit. Heating of beer could produce considerable changes in its properties particularly since it comes in contact with hot oil, and if so, the effects of these need to be ascertained. Also, alcohol frying being introduced, there is very likely to be a horde of aspired chefs, bent on frying alcoholic drinks. Given the explosions and burn experience of Zable, OSHA might have a big task at hand. The future is anyone’s guess; but for now fried beer is hot and ready, and so “Cheers to Zable” .
