Fry Light, Fry Right: Fried-Food Flavor Without Deep Frying

Imagine eating Potato Skins with Quick Ranch Dip, Beer-Battered Fish, Chicken Fried Steak with Country Gravy, Shrimp Fried Rice, Chicken Fingers or Nuggets, Restaurant Cheese Fries, Beef & Bean Nachos Grande, Onion Rings, Corn Dogs, Potato Chips, or Jelly Doughnut Muffins with Vanilla Glaze without guilt! Sound impossible? Not according to the author of Fry Light, Fry Right! These and many more favorites have been lightened and degreased in her recipes.

In the introductory chapters, the author describes why deep-fried foods taste so good and also why they aren't the best choices for us. She details the techniques she uses to keep the flavor and crunch while trimming the fat.

The introduction gives examples of how dramatic the nutritional content can change in her recipes from the original. Chicken Nuggets lose 30 calories and 10 grams of fat per serving. Though, she is quoted, "But as I always say, healthy food isn't going to do anyone any good if no one is eating it. It has to taste good. That's why I test my lightened recipes on all sorts of people--and the recipes in this this book were very well-liked across the board."

I wanted to try Chicken Fingers (oddly called Chicken Tenders in the introduction while referring to the Chicken Fingers recipe page). Unfortunately, the recipe calls for 1 cup of instant potato flakes and I dislike the flavor of those, so don't want to buy a whole box just to try one recipe. The recipe also calls for fat-free half-and-half which is full of trans-fats and tons of sugar. Seems incongruous to use this in a healthy recipe. She says we can substitute low-fat or whole milk. How much would the results change?

How about All-White-Meat Easy Chicken Nuggets? Well this one is doable, but not from my pantry. It calls for Wondra flour and buttermilk, neither of which I keep on hand normally. Rats!

This got me to scanning the recipes a little closer to see if they all called for things that I don't keep on hand. Some special diet cookbooks are notorious for this. Wondra shows up here and there mixed with egg substitute to help adhere coatings. Would regular flour work? She doesn't say. Reduced Fat Bisquick pancake mix puts in an appearance occasionally. Panko crumbs are used in the Pistachio-Crusted Calamari with Lemon-Caper Sauce (doesn't THAT sound good?!), but cornflakes are suggested as a substitute. Other recipes have suggestions for substituting ingredients as well.