Food Fit For A King

As an epilogue to my two previous posts (read them here and here) about my trip to New Orleans, I thought that I would say a few words about the trip home. Since we were heading back through Tennessee anyway, and since it only added about an hour or so to the trip, we thought that it would be pretty cool to stop at Graceland on our way through.We didn't actually eat in any of the restaurants at Graceland, but while we were there I had the strangest craving for a deep-fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. I made a mental note to attempt it when I got home.
I was quite impressed by Graceland, not so much for the mansion in and of itself, but for the sense of walking in the footsteps of greatness. In fact, I was a little disappointed by the house, because although it's a very nice house, it's not unusually large or particularly tricked-out. This, I came to realize, is not the point. There's no flash photography allowed inside the mansion, so I don't have any pictures of the Jungle Room or the Media Room, but just the implied activities that probably went on there were enough to make me stand in one spot, looking around with a goofy grin on my face. Elvis was a very cool guy, and it's too bad he's not still around.When I got home, my plan was to improvise some sort of deep-frying apparatus using a large pot and various lifting implements, so it was off to Canadian Tire to purchase a wire mesh lifter and possibly some sort of wire basket for inside the pot. Well, the stars must have been in alignment. When I got to the store, there was a clearance sale happening for a large pile of merch whose packaging had been either slightly or very damaged. What did I spy, but a deep-fryer unit with all of its parts in a really beat-up box, marked down from $129.99 to $60 then to $30! Sold. I drove off with my swag, giggling like an imbecile. The next stop was the Grocery Palace, for the requisite ingedients. I thought that Wonder Bread would be a good choice for the PBB sammies, so I picked up a loaf, along with a couple of bananas, and a jar of Kraft Creamy peanut butter. Booya!

Now, I checked out the 'official' version of Elvis' favourite sandwich, and it requires that you pan-fry the sandwich in a large amount of butter. I thought that I would try a slight variation on this theme, by coating the sandwich in batter, then deep-frying it in my new toy. Here's the recipe I used.

The Gallumphing Gourmand's Deep-Fried PBB Sammies
Yield: 8 little Nuggets of Joy

Sandwich Makin's
4 slices White Wonder bread
1 ripe banana, mashed
Kraft smooth peanut butter

Batter courtesy of CDKitchen (find it here)
½ C corn starch
½ C flour
1½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 dash sugar
½ C milk
1/3 C water

* Fill the deep fryer with oil and preheat.
* Spread some peanut butter on each piece of bread, covering right to the edges.
* Spoon a thick layer of banana on to two of the pieces, and place the other pieces of bread on top, making two sandwiches.
* Cut each Sandwich into quarters.
* Combine together the dry batter ingredients, then add the liquid and mix well.
* Dip each piece of sandwich into the batter and coat well, letting the excess drip off before placing in fry basket. Deep fry two at a time for about 2-3 minutes.
* Remove from deep-fryer to absorbent paper towels, and blot to remove any extra oil.
* Cut each piece in half diagonally, and dust with powdered suger. Devour immediately.For a 'what-the-hell' kind of recipe, these turned out really well. I was initially concerned that the batter was going to be too heavy, but it was just right, giving the sandwiches a bit of crunch, with the gooey PB and banana centre melting in the mouth. Also, I wasn't sure whether or not they would stay together in the hot oil, but they did, and came out golden brown and very very evil. This is not a sandwich to be eaten every day, but it's definitely worth a try at least once. You'll thank me.