Corn Dogs

How could I go through On a Stick! without making the most "quintessential food on a stick" (48)? A corn dog! So of course, as my last blog I'm finishing off with a classic. Starting with the ingredients:

• 4 wooden sticks
• 1 qt. vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. black pepper
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 egg
• 4 jumbo hotdogs
• ketchup and yellow mustard, for serving

In contrast to the long list of ingredients, there was a very minimal amount of simple steps. Start with preheated the oil in a large, heavy pot on medium high. Then mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper in a bowl and whisk in the milk and the egg gently until everything is fully combined. And there, you already have the corn part of the corn dog (48)! Once the oil is heated, put the hotdogs on sticks and drench them into the batter so they're coated completely.

Fry 2 at a time for 4-5 minutes and then came only challenging part of this recipe: getting the hotdogs out of the oil. I struggled at first, trying different utensils to carry it out, but I figured out the one that works the best is the large, plastic, pasta straining spoon. There was only enough batter for 4 hot dogs, so after about 10 minutes they were all ready to go! And definitely served best warm with ketchup and mustard. Overall these home-made corn dogs were pretty good, but I don't really know if I'd make them again. They tasted  similar to just the frozen ones that you warm up in the microwave. But it was a nice, simple, and delicious way to finish off my last blog!




It seems like a lot of people don't, but do you eat corndogs with mustard?


Armendariz, Matt. On a Stick! Philadelphia, PA: Quirk, 2011. Print.

S'mores with Home-Made Marshmallow

Deep-frying macaroni and cheese was quite a challenge, so I decided to step it back a little and make something easier. As my fourth blog post, I made s'mores on a stick, with home made marshmallows. I decided to go with this recipe because it's a little simpler, and I haven't made a dessert yet! The author, Matt Armendariz, states, "these taste even better than the s'mores of my youth because they feature homemade marshmallows" (173). And Armendariz was sertainly not lying about this. As always, I started with gathering my ingredients:

• Picks
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 4  cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. light corn syrup
• 2 tbsp. (2 envelopes) unflavored gelatin
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 egg whites
• Powdered sugar, as needed

The first step is to line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it off to the side. Then, to begin with making the marshmallow, stir gelatin into 1/3 cup water. In a separate bowl, place sugar, another 1/3 cup water, and corn syrup, and once mixed together put in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until boiled. After it has been boiled and the sugar dissolves, mix it into the gelatin mixture and let it sit for 5 minutes. As I was waiting for the five minutes to be up, I whipped the 1 1/2 egg whites (it was really hard to get just a half of an egg white) using an electrical mixer on low-medium speed. Following the proper timing, the sugar-gelatin mixture needs to be slowly poured into the egg whites. Whipping all of it together took a very long time, because you needed to wait until stiff peaks form. After doing this step, I realized there was an error somewhere; in the ingredients it states you need vanilla extract, but no where in the instructions does it say to put it in the mixture. So on a whim I put it in at the very end, and I don't know if that could have effected the marshmallows in any way. I also learned that I should read the directions thoroughly before starting the recipe, because I didn't realize that the marshmallows need to sit in a fridge for about 3 hours. Finally after a long, anticipating wait, I began adding the "s'more" part to the marshmallow. After cutting the settled marshmallow into 1 inch by 1 inch squares, put them on a stick and set aside on parchment paper. I crushed the graham crackers up into tiny pieces and set that aside, also, in a shallow dish. The final step is to melt the chocolate, dip the marshmallows in, then roll in graham cracker crumbs. It seems like the easiest part, but I ran into a problem. You're supposed to melt the chocolate chips in a double broiler over medium heat and stir it occasionally (173), but my chocolate melted in less than two minutes.

I added a whole bag, and it quickly hardened and burned. I have no idea why this happened, it was cooking at medium heat, as suggested, and I stirred occasionally, also as suggested, but it still didn't work out. This made it really hard to dip the 20-ish marshmallow squares I had and roll them in graham crackers. I ended up only being able to get about 7 done before the chocolate was completely unusable.

They may look like a complete fail, but they were actually pretty delicious! My family quickly devoured them. Overall, through the misleading directions and burnt chocolate, this recipe turned out alright. I probably wouldn't prefer to make them again, but if I did I would definitely choose from a different book with clearer instructions and a different type of chocolate.  

Do you prefer your s'mores black and burnt or golden brown?

Armendariz, Matt. On a Stick! Philadelphia, PA: Quirk, 2011. Print.



Deep-Fried Mac 'n' Cheese

Continuing onto my third blog post, I decided to bring up the skill level a little higher with making Deep-Fried Mac 'n' Cheese from On A Stick! by Matt Armendariz. As stated by Armendariz, "there's a certain amount of culinary bravado required to pull off these crunchy squares of scrumptious mac 'n' cheese" (56). But I knew it would be worth it in the end, so I took on the challenge. To begin, as always, I gathered the ingredients (and this time there was a lot):

• 4 picks
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 cup milk
• 2/3 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup grated white cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup grated fontina cheese
• 1/2 lb. dried elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
• 5 qt. vegetable oil
• 2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups panko bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper to taste

Once set out, I began by greasing an 8-by-8 inch with cooking spray and put it aside for awhile. Then I whisked in the flour with melted butter in a saucepan for four minutes and milk was added slowly until everything was combined. After another four minutes the cheese was stirred in a little at a time and eventually the mixture was completely smoothed. Now I did the easiest part, folding the cheese sauce into the noodles and seasoned it with salt and pepper (Armendariz 56). The mac 'n' cheese, before the deep frying, was absolutely delicious. And my taste tester, Violet, agrees! She even gave it two "thumb's up":

Unfortunatelyit has to sit for one day in the fridge, which considering I'm extremely impatient this was pretty hard to do. So I placed it in that previously greased pan, and after 24 hours cut it up into squares and put it in the freezer for another hour. Finally, after a lot of waiting, it's actually time to deep fry them.  I heated the oil in a large pan, although I did not use 5 quarts, as suggested. Similarly to my first post of deep fried mozzarella sticks, the pasta squares are dredged in flour, dipped in egg, then rolled in panko. The last step is to let the mac 'n' cheese cook in oil for around six minutes then take them out and they're ready to go!

Although they look pretty appetizing, they didn't taste all that great. I would have much rather eaten the macaroni before it was refrigerated and deep fried. In conclusion, I probably wouldn't use this recipe again unless I was looking for some quality home-made mac 'n' cheese (not deep fried).

What are some other ordinary foods that are good deep fried?

Armendariz, Matt. On a Stick! Philadelphia, PA: Quirk, 2011. Print.



Pizza Skewers

On a Stick! has many appetizing foods to look through, but out of all 80 pizza skewers is a must-make. My last blog of deep fried mozzarella was pretty simple, so I decided to go with something a little harder but not too intense yet. To begin I gathered all of the ingredients:

• 8 popsicle sticks
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flower
• 1 (13.8 oz) can refrigerated pizza dough
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. store-bought pizza sauce, divided
• 2 cups grater mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1 cup toppings of your choice (optional)

I chose not to add any extra toppings because I prefer just plain cheese pizza. After preparing, the oven was set to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, and lightly sprayed pam on a cooking sheet. Now it was time for the actual pizzas! The first step is to dust a cutting board with flour and roll the dough onto it, shaping the dough into a 12 inch square, about 1/2 inch thick. The second step is the only one I changed a little bit; the directions state to spread 1 cup of the pizza sauce over the dough (Armendariz 87), but that seemed like too much pizza sauce for me, so instead I put on about 2/3 cup. Then add 1 1/2 cups of cheese on top. The next step is the most challenging, which is to roll up the square of dough so it looks like a log, but it had to be done very carefully so no cheese would fall out.

After rolling, cut into eight pieces and place on the cooking sheet, and, finally, cook for 12 minutes. These pizza skewers were definitely best right out of the oven, as the cheese was still sizzling. Although they're supposed to be "skewers", I found it was easier to eat them without the stick.


Overall the mini pizzas were amazingly good, and will be made again. As the author Matt Armendariz states, "they're fun, different, and delicious" (87) which he was not lying about... and Ethan agrees!

What are your favorite toppings to go on a pizza?

Armendariz, Matt. On a Stick! Philadelphia, PA: Quirk, 2011. Print.

Fried Mozzarella

I have never been good at cooking in any way. The only thing I ever make is Mac n Cheese, and even that's a stretch, but I love to try almost anything. So, when I was beginning to start this project I decided that using a cookbook would be a fun challenge. On a Stick! by Matt Armendariz demonstrates 80 "party-perfect" recipes that are all, of course, eaten on a stick. Since I have little to no experience in the kitchen, I chose to start with a simple yet savory appetizer of fried mozzarella. To begin, I gathered all the ingredients:

• 12 picks
• 1 qt vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-pupose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 lb part-skim fresh Mozzarella, sliced 1 inch thick and then into triangles
• salt and pepper to taste 

After, I cut the cheese into triangle-like shapes, then began to prepare everything else needed. First, I placed the cup of flour in a shallow dish. Then, beat the eggs by hand with a whisk in a separate dish. Next, I placed the seasoned bread crumbs, panko, and Parmesan in another shallow dish and mixed until they were all combined. (Armendariz 67) It was a big set up including lots of dirty dishes, but I knew it would be worth it in the end! Next I did as the author says, "dredge mozzarella pieces first in flour, shaking off excess, then dip in egg and dredge in bread crumb mixture until fully coated." (Armendariz 67)

The next step after this is to preheat the oil at medium-high, then put a few of the covered cheeses into it for 6-8 minutes. This process took a little longer, since I decided to make a few extras with the remaining cheese I had. I discovered that these fried mozzarella sticks tasted the best when they were still fresh and hot and the cheese was still melting and oozing. After they were all fried, I stuck in some toothpicks and shared with my family.

I wanted to follow the guidelines by keeping them in the oil at least 6 minutes, although that caused some of them to come out a little burnt. Still everyone enjoyed eating them, and they weren't that bad if I do say so myself. Although I wished they had a little more bread or less cheese, because the cheese seemed to be overpowering. If I was to do this again, I would make the chunks of cheese smaller while cutting them, add more breading, and not fry them as long. But overall this was a delicious finger-food and I would love to have them again!


Is there any tricks while deep-frying to keep the food from burning? What are some other appetizing fried foods?