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The New York Times - May 15, 2002
What do you do if you are young, bored, and working the deep-fryer in a fish and chips shop? As any fry-master knows, you deep-fry everything you can get your hands on, of course.
In the U.K., this has traditionally meant favorites like Mars bars, frozen pizza, and even haggis in Scotland.
But if your fish and chip shop happens to be in Brooklyn, and the bodega down the block has a surplus of Twinkies, well, what experimental soul could resist?
Such is the origin of the deep-fried Twinkie, a brand new specialty of the Chip Shop, a 14-month old fish and chips restaurant in Park Slope.
And special it is. Something magical occurs when the battered, oblong pastry hits the hot oil. The creamy, white vegetable shortening filling liquefies, impregnating the sponge cake with its luscious vanilla flavor (imitation, but potent….). The cake itself softens and warms, nearly melting, and becomes a buttery and suave contrast to the crisp, deep-fried crust. The piece de resistance, however, is a ruby-hued berry sauce, adding a tart sophistication to all that airy sugary goodness. Vaguely reminiscent of the famous molten vanilla cake Pastry chef Bill Yosses serves at Citarella, I for one find it irresistible.
And so do many of the Chip Shop’s customers, says Christopher Sell, the shop’s owner. With his mod hair-style and Union Jack-in-a-heart T-shirt, Sell looks like he would be intimately acquainted with the inner workings of a fish and chip shop. Indeed, he is. Hailing from Rugby, England, he spent his teenage years working at the one across the street from his home. Inventing different deep-fried goodies was simply a right of passage.
“That’s what you do in a chip shop,” he said, “you buy a bunch of things and toss them in the deep-fryer until you hit on something that actually tastes good.”
Since opening his shop, Mr. Sell has deep-fried everything from jam-filled English muffins (“brilliant for brunch”) to peppermint patties (“awful”) to M&M’s (“too small, they sink to the bottom and make a mess).
All the sweets are fried in the same oil as the fish, which is the classic technique.
“The fish oil adds that je ne sais quoi to the flavor,” a British fried-chocolate-enthusiast explained.
Though the roster of chocolates changes, currently the restaurant offers Mars bars, coconut-filled Bounty bars, Snickers, Twix, and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, which are the second best sellers to the Mars bars. “They’ve got a fantastic, sweet-salty quality to them,” Mr. Sell said of the Reeses. (And a terrifically chewy texture that makes them even better the original candy, I would add.)
But the Twinkies—a decided break from the candy bar mold— are his personal favorite.
“We go all out with the Twinkie and put some four-berry coulis on the plate,” he said. “It makes it into a fancy schmancy dessert.”
Deep-fried Twinkies are $3.00 each at the Chip Shop, 383 Fifth Avenue (Bet. 6th and 7th Streets) 718-832-7701.