The Fearless Frying Cookbook [Paperback]

John Martin Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 1997

Fried food is crispy, juicy, golden, and tasty. It's food that inspires passion, and no matter what anyone says about health you're going to find a way to eat it. But wait, even the health news isn't so bad-if food is fried properly. Hoppin' John Martin Taylor, well-respected food writer and author of Lowcountry Cooking, first shows how food that is cooked in clean, hot oil can be virtually greaseless. Hoppin' John's collection of over 125 fast, easy-to-prepare recipes not only includes the essentials-from fritters to corn cake, Smothered Steak to Pan-Fried Pork Chops-but offers lots of unexpected treats, too, with Asian, Mexican, Indian, and other influences. There are Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Italian Zucchini Pancakes, and Whole Fried Fish with Spicy Thai Sauce.

44,000 copies in print.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Taylor is an authority on Southern cooking (The New Southern Cook, LJ 6/15/95), but the recipes in his latest collection are cross-cultural in inspiration, by no means limited to Southern food. Nor are they limited solely to the deep-fat frying the title may conjure up, for he also covers sauteing, shallow-frying, and stir-frying. An introductory section on techniques, including how to make perfect?i.e., light, greaseless?deep-fried food, is followed by more than 100 delicious recipes of all kinds: Fresh Corn Cakes, Whole Fried Fish with Spicy Thai Sauce, and Stuffed Squash Blossom Tempura, to name a few. Fear of fat or not, this should be popular. For most collections.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

John Martin Taylor, aka “Hoppin’ John,” is best known for his southern culinary expertise and his stone-ground grits and cornmeal. He is the author of four cookbooks, including Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking, The New Southern Cook, Hoppin’ Johns Charleston, Beaufort & Savannah: dining at Home in the Lowcountry and The Fearless Frying Cookbook.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (January 7, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563058472
• ISBN-13: 978-1563058479
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Martin Taylor is a culinary historian and food writer currently living in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is an authority on the cooking of not only his native South, but also of Italy and the Caribbean, where he has lived. He is the former food editor of the French-language magazine, Ici New York. John is considered the expert on the culinary traditions of the lowcountry, the coastal plain of South Carolina and Georgia. He received a Masters in Film from the University of Georgia, and is an accomplished photographer as well. For 13 years, he owned and operated Hoppin' John's, a culinary bookstore and cooking school in Charleston, SC. He closed the shop in 1999 to concentrate on writing and consulting. He has appeared on both local and national radio and television. He is generally credited with reviving the traditional cuisine of the lowcountry and in renewing interest in stone-ground, whole grain grits and cornmeal. He sells heirloom corn products through his commercial site, www.hoppinjohns.com and blogs at www.hoppinjohns.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If cooked right, fried food doesn't have to be oily, October 30, 2001

By 

LBB (Manila, Philippines) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fearless Frying Cookbook (Paperback)

Seeing the title of this book was a great joy for me. I've gotten a little weary of all the nutrition police screaming that anything other than steamed or boiled food will kill us all.

The author certainly knows his stuff and I was impressed at the variety of foods one can fry and how to fry them as well. Taylor is also telling the truth when he says that if cooked right, fried food is surprisingly not greasy.

I tried my hand at his recipe for Southern Fried Chicken. I followed the instructions to a T: using a deep-fry thermometer and keeping the temp between 365-375 degrees F. The result? The crispiest, most tender and delicious chicken I've fried. Fantastic!

Get this book if you want to re-live the joys of fried food. Recommended.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars helpful, May 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Fearless Frying Cookbook (Paperback)

Taylor's technical information was extremely helpful; giving me the courage to fire up 16,000 BTU's under a big stockpot of 400 degree oil! His suggestion for using potatoes to clean used oil was a great insight. After cleaning the oil, we tried the "taters". Yummy! Recipes are a nice addition to the terrific informative sections.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not quite a sensory overload..., January 24, 2011

By 

jbrown - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Fearless Frying Cookbook (Paperback)

I was really excited about ordering this cookbook for my dad since he just got a new deep fryer, but I was less than excited when I opened it up. There were no pictures, entirely black and white, and most of the recipes call for frying in a pan and/or wok. This was very disappointing. While I know that likely anything that can be done in the pan can also be done in the deep fryer, I was slightly disappointed. Hopefully it will at least give him ideas for new things to fry up.