Gilding the Lily
Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnuts are wonderful when hot: pillowy, ethereal, seemingly insubstantial. Much of the country, however, knows “fresh” Krispy Kreme as the glass case in gas stations or in grocery store packages. While I cannot support the packages—the goodness is lost more than two days out—the relatively “fresh” doughnuts and day-old leftovers are salvageable by another fry, in a pan.
Visiting my parents last weekend in Atlanta, I was faced with a dozen doughnuts Sunday morning that had been purchased Saturday night. Leftover glazed have lost their yielding softness, so the reclamation instead adds a new textural level: a caramelized crust.
To begin, put 1 tbsp of butter in a medium-hot pan; choose a pan large enough not to crowd the doughnuts. (A nonstick pan will serve.) Add the doughnuts and let cook for 3 minutes, monitoring the color until it has darkened to your liking. Flip the doughnuts with a fork and cook on the second side another 2 minutes. Plate.
My mother feels the doughnuts should be flattened to maximize their crunch potential; I would argue against this sacrifice of inside dough volume because I think it makes the redeemed doughnuts less aesthetically pleasing. I will concede that her method makes for an excellent crunch.
It may seem odd to call these fried doughnuts, since they underwent an initial bath in hot oil before purchased. The technique here, though, is like fried green tomatoes without the battering, and the double fry links these to frites, which must be fried twice (submerged in increasingly hotter oil) for their structural integrity.
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Posted Saturday, September 30th, 2006, 10:31 am | Filed in Food. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 30th, 2006 at 11:35 am
Mmmm. I’ve long wanted to try this trick, and the recipe specifics and photos of the result have newly inspired me. I haven’t had fresh Krispy Kreme since moving to VA, and the kind in the grocery store isn’t quite the same … as when, at high school, my friends and I used to cut class when the red neon “HOT NOW” sign was on, a stone’s throw away. (This was the downtown Raleigh, NC location, supposedly the second KK location, after the original in Greensboro.)
Adding a turn in the pan and a plate, knife, and fork to the equation will make for an elegant twist on a taste of nostalgia..
September 30th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
The last year I was in Gainesville we had a “frying party” for a football game. I brought out several kinds of oil (peanut, canola, etc) and we fried pretty much everything we could get our hands on. Other than the red snapper, the fave was “refried” doughnuts—though not Krispy Kremes, but the cake variety.
Great photos, btw!
October 1st, 2006 at 10:58 am
Wow, they look delicious. Okay, I’m buying doughnuts soon (I can’t believe I’m saying this), and you’re frying. And then I’ll have my trans-fat panic.