In certain parts of the world there is a tendency to offer anything fried. Some restaurants in Scotland, for instance, specialize in deep-fried chocolate bars (of which the Mars bar is apparently the most popular.) Moreover, at some U.S. state fares such scrumptious offerings like deep-fried bubble gum and butter are available.
Perhaps seeking to answer the question “is there anything else left that can be deep fried?,” a chef named Jonathan Marcus has proposed deep-fried water. He has come up with the concept with a humorous intent, lampooning the love of all-things fried in some parts of the U.S.
How might deep-fried water work? This requires, according to Laboratory Roots, a chemical process called spherification. Here calcium alginate (which is a gelatinous substance composed of calcium chloride and sodium alginate) is used to surround a liquid with a membrane. This enables water molecules to retain their shape and to be handled like a solid material. The liquid can then be coated with flour, egg, or breadcrumbs.
Jonathan Marcus put forward this deep-fried water to a competition held in San Francisco called the “Stupid Shit No One Needs and Terrible Ideas Hackathon.”
With his creation, Marcus used his spheroid water and coated it in flour, followed by an egg wash, and then he coated the construction with panko bread crumbs. The resultant ball was the plunged into heated peanut oil. This was a tricky process since it carried the risk of exploding.
The process of deep-frying water is shown in the following video:
The final product can be cracked open to reveal intact water inside — scientifically a success. What is tastes like is uncertain and whether it does anybody any good is doubtful. The idea probably won’t catch on, but then stranger things have happened.
The reaction on Twitter to the news has been pretty negative. One user, SwopeCalhoun (@SwopeDza), simply tweeted: “Hhhhheeeeell no.” Tech comapny Waters Corporation (@WatersCorp) exclaimed: “wait, what?” And someone called Tim (@thalcombjr) stated: “Deep fried water is now a thing for all those people who want to hydrate while simultaneously contract type 2 diabetes.”
