Recipe: Tempura batter (extra crispy!)

lightly whip the whites

I got thinking yesterday about that last recipe for tempura batter.  It's good no doubt, but could it be better?  Partly inspired by Heston Blumenthal's approach to advancing a recipe, I mentally broke down every element and conceived how it might work better.  When you already have a decent recipe, are you splitting hairs by making it a little bit better?  Well, better is better, and if you have all the ingredients (and equipment), this recipe is just that little bit better than the last.

First off, in my experience, for the sake of crispiness, rice flour and cornstarch produce better results than wheat flour, so this recipe uses a mix of both.  Similarily, by using egg whites instead of whole eggs, many recipes will come out crispier - after all, you don't make pavlova with whole eggs.  

mix the batter

The next bit was directly inspired by Blumenthal's fish and chips episode of "In search of Perfection" - at every stage in the process, I worked to get air into the mixture, as it is the air that will eventually give you the crispiest result.  I lightly whipped the egg whites before mixing.  Finally, I strained the mix and loaded it into an iSi gun and charged it.  Overkill?  Possibly, but as I said, if you have the ingredients and the equipment, why not go all out?

You will need:

125ml / 1/2C                rice flour

125ml / 1/2C                cornstarch (plus extra for dredging)

2                                   egg whites

strain

250ml / 1C                   soda water

pinch                            baking soda

to taste                          kosher salt

iSi gun

NO2 charges

Method:

 - sift the rice flour, cornstarch, salt and baking soda together

 - separate the egg whites and give a light whisk

 - add the egg whites to the dry mix, add a bit of the soda water and mix smooth

load the gun

 - add more soda water until you have a nice consistency (slightly thicker than cream)

 - strain the mix

 - load it into an iSi gun and charge with NO2

 - shake very well and keep very cold

 - set your fryer to 360F - 375F depending on the size of items frying

 - dredge the item in cornstarch and shake off any excess

 - blast the batter into a bowl

 - coat the item in the batter 

 - fry

 - drain on paper towel and season with salt

the fully aerated batter

tempura pork belly and Rice Krispy square