Our friends Shelley and Jens have a thing for stuff that is deep fried. Being from the south, Shelley grew up frying fowl, but Jens is Danish and just developed a taste for it after meeting Shelley (we think). In any case, their love is strong so for Jens’ birthday last month, they had a ‘bring stuff to deep-fry’ party. We had deep fried chicken legs and thighs and wings, battered deep fried shrimp, deep fried Twinkies (Better than un-fried I might add, although still disgusting), and of course we brought; Sandwiches. We were a bit shocked to discover this, but of course someone has done this before, and there is a famous sandwich called the Monte Cristo with turkey, ham and cheese, and served with sugar and jam on top; a sweet, possible dessert, sandwich. So, we made it (and it was good, but fattening like a neutron bomb in your belly). This was an evening party and we forgot our good camera, so please excuse the photo quality…

Sandwich Recipe

Makes 4 sandwiches, which can make 16 bite-sized appetizers

• 12 slices of cinnamon white bread
• 8 Slices Cooked Turkey
• 8 Slices Cooked Ham (We used black forest ham)
• 8 Slices Swiss Cheese
• 8 Slices Gouda cheese (A little nutty and nice and melty)
• Powdered sugar
• Your favorite jam.
• Honey

Each sandwich will use three pieces of bread, and the order is this:

1. (top) Bread
2. 1 slice of Swiss cheese
3. 1 slices of ham
4. 1 slices of turkey
5. 1 slice of gouda cheese
6. (middle) 1 slice of bread
7. 1 slice of gouda cheese
8. 1 slice of turkey
9. 1 slice of ham
10. 1 slice of Swiss cheese
11. (bottom) bread

Assemble all four sandwiches and then wrap them tightly in plastic foil. Put a toothpick through all four corners (this also goes in the deep fryer later), and store them in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Batter

• 1 Egg
• 1 – 1 1/4 C. Water
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 tsp. Sugar
• 1 1/2 C. Flour
• 1 Tbs. Baking Powder

Note: the batter should be thick, so depending on your flour the exact amount of water will wary. The one we used ended up a bit too thin as you can see on the photos.

Mix the baking powder, flour, sugar and salt, and while stirring, add the water until you have a thick-fluid batter and everything has been dissolved.

Deep frying

Please be careful, deep frying with hot oil is serious business!

You need to fry in vegetable oil, and we’ll assume you know how to set that up.

Remove the cold sandwiches from the refrigerator and dip all sides in the batter so the sandwich is completely engulfed. Then deep fry until the sandwiches are golden brown. You might have to turn them over now and again (we had to turn them twice).

Remove and let them cool before removing the toothpicks. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top and serve with jam and a quick drizzle of honey (See first photo).

After you eat this, you need to clear your arteries. This is by far the unhealthiest thing we have ever made, which is why we cut it in 4 pieces, snack size for everyone at the party to taste. Yowser.