World Baijiu Day
Fry the Bai Novel Uses for China’s Strongest Spirit by Jim Boyce
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baijius. The recipe is simple. Take an angel’s food cake, cut it into one-inch cubes and soak the cubes with booze. Then carefully slip them into a deep fryer and cook until the sides are golden brown and crisp. Merrett says that in lieu of a dedicated fryer, you can use a deep pot and fill it one third full of sunflower oil, as olive or soybean oil can impart off flavors. “Wait for the bubbles to lessen, then test one of the cubes and see if it’s crunchy on the outside,” he says. “You want to be careful not to burn off all of the alcohol.” Remove, garnish and eat. Merrett sprinkled his with icing sugar and added whipped cream and blueberries. The topping options are nearly limitless, with everything from candied hawthorn and dried fruits to honey and jams offering potential. In our taste tests at Jing A, a sorghum-based 52percent-alcohol “strong aroma” baijiu by Xiaohutuxian in Guizhou placed first. Deep frying tamed the sharp alcohol edge while accentuating the savory and fruity elements and made for a pleasant snack. The contrast
MAY 2015
photosphotos: courtesy KippofWhittaker jim boyce
indy City Ballroom Chef Dustin Merrett recently took some liquor from Kweichou Moutai and deep-fried the baijiuzes out of it. Moutai, the most famous baijiu brand, is symbolic of a booze many people love to hate. The intense and unfamiliar aroma, the alcohol content of close to 60 percent and the tradition of repeatedly gulping it bottoms up – ganbei! – tend to facilitate negative associations from the first shot. But what if you eat the stuff? Merrett went to work with some baijiu in the kitchen and discovered his customers – a mix of mostly Chinese citizens and a small number of foreigners – enjoyed it deep-fried. “They were looking at it like little kids, they all thought it was really neat,” he says. It was part of a series of taste tests with China’s national spirit ahead of World Baijiu Day on August 8 and inspired by other experimenters who have deep-fried tequila, Bourbon, and any number of alcohols. It also led to a second session at the Jing A Taproom with a trio of