My Virgin Kitchen

As a youngster I stumbled upon spam fritters at my local chip shop. Back in the day these thick slices of tinned spam fried in a heavy batter were very popular – they originally came about because of fish shortages during the Second World War. I’ve swapped the spam for some juicy bacon loin steaks in a Cajun seasoning and the heavy batter for a light and bubbly tempura!

4 bacon loin steaks

2 tbsp Cajun seasoning

olive oil, for frying

1.5 litres vegetable oil

110g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

180ml sparkling water

1. First give the bacon steaks a dry rub with the Cajun seasoning, rubbing it into both sides. Put a frying pan over a medium heat, add a splash of olive oil and cook the bacon loins for roughly 4 minutes on each side until cooked through and browned. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

2. Next pour the vegetable oil into a deep saucepan and heat to a steady 180°C/350°F (or to the point where a small piece of bread sizzles as soon as it hits the oil).

3. Make the batter as late as you can before dipping. Pat the bacon loins dry with kitchen paper and dust in a little flour all over. Dry loins will hold the batter better. Put the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl, then add the sparkling water and whisk to make the batter. Do not over whisk – just get it to a stage where it is dunkable and more or less smooth.

4. Dunk one bacon loin at a time in the batter and then put in the hot oil. Cook in the oil for 4–5 minutes, or until golden brown. Carefully lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper while you cook the other bacon loins.

VIRGIN TIP

This goes brilliantly with the minty peas here and some oven chips, not forgetting a good splodge of ketchup!