Thursday, November 15, 2012

Baked snickers and $26,000 meal


Baked Snickers bar

One of the desserts I’ve wanted to try for years is deep fried Mars bar. This exclusive dessert is hard to find. The closest I’ve come to potentially having it was in Azerbaijan out of all places. A restaurant had it on its menu and it could also be delivered. I didn’t go for it and I still think that perhaps I should have.

Today I finally decided to put my curiosity at ease, but I only had Snickers bar at home. And I didn’t feel like deep frying, not that there is anything wrong with it. So instead I took the easier route, baking in puff pastry. I wouldn’t go into a debate on whether baking in puff pastry is healthier than deep frying. But baking is certainly the easier and less messy option.

As you would expect, baked Snickers bar is awesome. It is really awesome. Imagine warm gooey caramel and chocolate surrounded by crispy puff pastry. I can imagine it going quite well with ice cream.

The one downside, albeit small, is that the peanuts become slightly soft after baking. I can see why Mars bars are deep fried instead of Snickers bars.

Interesting facts about deep fried Mars bar. The maker of Mars bar contacted Carron Fish Bar in Stonehaven asking them to make clear that the product (deep fried Mars bar) is not authorised or endorsed by Mars as it does not fit the company's promotion of healthy living. Carron Fish Bar claims to be the "birthplace of the world famous deep fried Mars bar". It is interesting how selling Mars bar is considered promotion of healthy living while putting batter around it and deep frying it turns it into something unhealthy.

According to Wikipedia, out of the 300 Scottish fish and chip shops surveyed in 2004, 22% sold deep-fried Mars bars, while an additional 17% had sold them in the past. The recipe is available here.


Today's Favourite Photo
Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie with Dulce de Leche Walnut Streusel



Today’s Favourite Blog
This sounds absurd and unusual. Le Castagne, an Italian restaurant in Philadelphia, is offering a $26,000 dinner for four. The nine-course meal includes white truffles and a 47mm Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 Amagnetic 3 Days Automatic Titanio watch. The watch retails for around $11,000, according to Gear Patrol. I don't understand the many words used to describe the watch but I think it can also tell you the time.

To explain how the watch ties in with the meal, managing partner Anthony Masapollo said,"Timing is critical for both cooking the most delicious food as well as harvesting Italian truffles, the most expensive food in the world." That sounds reasonable, have a meal and walk away with a watch also. You hope the chef also has the same watch since he/she is the one cooking the meal. Maybe they should also give good quality thermometers since temperature is also critical. Now I am being ridiculous.

Anyway, if this is of interest to you and you need a watch, and a meal, here is the full menu:
 - puree of pumpkin soup, faro almonds, pumpkin oil and white truffles 
- milanese style egg, truffle bread crumb, spinach, roasted cherry tomatoes, truffle vinaigrette and humboldt fog goat cheese
 - beef tartare with marinated pioppini mushrooms, shaved parmesan cheese, quail egg, and white truffle ricotta mousse
 - tagliatelle con tartufi bianchi pasta with parmesan cheese sauce and white shaved truffle
 - veal rack, roasted baby potatoes, turnips, bacon, parmesan and shaved white truffle
 - roasted quail stuffed with house-made sausage, potato, guanciale and finished with black truffle demi-glace
 - creamy polenta, wild mushrooms, pancetta and shaved white truffles
 - fillet of dover sole stuffed with scallop, shrimp mousse and black truffle beurre blanc
 - chocolate lava cake with truffle ricotta gelato and honey
 - wine pairing with each course from the world-renowned Antinori Estates
 - one limited-edition 47mm Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 Amagnetic 3 Days Automatic Titanio wristwatch
 - one full-day Italian cooking class conducted by Le Castagne executive chef Michael DeLone.

16 comments:

  1. I've never had a Mars bar so I can't compare what your dessert must taste like but candy wrapped in puffed pastry can't be bad.

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  2. LOL!!! I would certainly hope the watch can do the basic thing like telling time :D Only one watch? I'm imagining the 4 diners fighting for it.
    I'm all for baked Mars bars! Not a fan of peanuts in chocolate bars, so no Snickers for me. I've encased mini chocolate bars in cookie dough and baked ... why have I not thought of pastry? Yum!

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    1. I guess the one paying for dinner keeps the watch, unless they split the bill, in which case the winner of the fight gets it:)
      Choc encased in cookie dough sounds really delicious, probably quite different (and better?) than pastry.

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  3. Mr. Three-Cookies, you should patent this awesome dish! It is one of the most creative desserts I have seen in my life. If I had to choose out of the famous bars I would choose Bounty... I wonder if it would be falvoursome in puff pastry. Your recipe gives me lots of crazy ideas. Very inspiring!
    As for the healthy lifestyle... I totally agree: how can anyone producing Mars bars pretend promoting a healthy lifestyle??
    The meal offered in this restaurant is ridiculous and most dishes sound really awful. It's so nouveau riche... the dishes, the watch, the whole idea...

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    1. Thank you so much. Not sure if I will patent this, don't want to become famous for this recipe!!!
      Bounty should work fine, it should be delicious. There's more moisture in bounty - maybe make holes on top of the pastry so moisture can escape. I didn't do it with snickers, maybe I should have

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  4. To be fair, Mars (the company which owns, coincidentally, the Mars Bar), do have a *lot* of products in their line-up, although they're pretty much all in the "snack" range. I find it pretty absurd that they even dare claim to promote "healthy living" - "hey folks, why bother eating a chicken sandwich and an apple when you could have a Mars bar!". Still, I suppose they have to protect their brand... they were probably just jealous they never thought of battering the candy bar themselves :D

    I love the look of the baked snickers - it looks really good. I'm wondering how it would turn out if one used filo pastry instead of puff.

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    1. I suspect filo would be much crispier.
      I wonder how many of Mars employees tried fried Mars and loved it.

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  5. Seriously i am a die hard fan of mars bars. Now even a bigger one :)

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  6. That looks like one extraordinary pumpkin pie! And I think I'd rather use the $26,000 to buy a new car!

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  7. I just don't need a meal or a watch that badly. That is just so over-indulgent. I love the look of the cake with the pretty oak leaves. And I too have never had a deep-fried mars bar and I actually have always preferred a snickers to a mars. It's a shame to hear the nuts go soft but I would prefer to eat one of these then suffer that pretentious $24,000 meal xx

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  8. I wanted to try that as well but before I cook them at home I want to try the real one first.

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  9. I ordered a deep-freid mars bar not long ago but it was not a success. I always wanted to try it at home too. Really like your puff pastry baked idea.

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