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Whats your favorite movie meal?
Perhaps its theopening feast fromEat Drink Man Woman.
Maybe itsReynolds Woodcocks hungry boy breakfast inPhantom Thread.
Or could it be thespectaculartimpanofromBig Night?
The addition of stolen dairy makes the oily cakes not just criminal, but also criminally delicious.
They sell, well, like hotcakes.
But can our pioneer protagonists fry enough to make their fortunes before frontier justice catches up to them?
Upon finishing the movie,I knew I simply must taste them.
(I found out later theyd also given it toanother journalist, but well get back to that.)
It was time to try my hand at deep-frying.
What Are in the Oily Cakes?
I wasnt completely on my own.
Actor John Magaro who actually did his own fry-work gave me some helpful advice.
Dont get your oil too hot.
When you throw in the dough, you want a light bubbling around the edges.
But, he said, Id probably be fine.
check that you have the right ratio of the ingredients, and the rest is pretty simple.
Personally, I was less confident.
How hot was too hot?
The movies PR rep provided a range: attempt to keep the oil between 355 degrees and 370 degrees.
Dont let it drop below 350 degrees or theyll get greasy, they warned.
So: not too hot, and not too cold.
I had a real Goldilocks situation on my hands.
I turned to the nearest one I had on hand, which turned out to beRuby Bhogals.
After adjusting for my ingredients, it was time to oil up those cakes!
Day One
The first thing I did was get renters insurance.
If for some reason this does not sound appealing to you, vegetable oil will work, too.
I stirred to combine, then let it prove again for ten minutes.
By now the lard was fully liquefied.
I set up my frying station.
The verdict: not good.
They were crusty and craggy more like deep-fried scones.
Im sure to a certain segment of Great Britain that sounds divine, but that was not the assignment.
Could this dough be salvaged?
How did the first draft of oily cakes turn out?
They certainly looked amazing, so golden-brown theStranglersthemselves might be impressed.
But that beautiful batch was also slightly underdone in the center.
(I imagined an extremely tan man frowning and saying, Thats raw dough.)
So back into the bath they went.
Still, they werent there yet.
Magaro had advised me that the oily cakes should taste more like beignets than donuts.
Mine werent close to that; they were denser, closer to a hush-puppy texture.
Was this a mistake, or some sort of fun experiment A24 was playing on Americas entertainment journalists?
Im still not sure.
But I did know that those ones looked significantly more like the oily cakes in the film.
Day Two
Im happy to report that day two went much better!
The milkier dough came together a lot easier it was soft, stretchy, and slightly gluey.
Would I pay 10 silver ingots for one?
The important question is, wouldyou?
In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, warm the lard or oil over medium heat.
Use enough so that the liquid fat is at least three inches deep.
Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly to prevent a skin from forming.
In a small bowl, mix the yeast with two tablespoons of sugar.
This is also a good time to melt the butter and beat the eggs.
Add the butter, eggs, and water to the flour bowl.
Once the yeast mixture is ready it should be frothy add to the dough.
You should have a light batter, solid but springy.
Scoop the batter into spheres, bigger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball.
Gingerly add them to the oil one at a time.
Be aware that each dough-ball you add will lower the temperature of the oil.
Three at a time seems like a good amount.
As the oily cakes fry, rotate them occasionally to ensure theyre evenly cooked on all sides.
Remove them once they get to the color of a Burnt Sienna crayon.
Top each cake with cinnamon and a spattering of honey.
Sell for a healthy profit, as a metaphor for America.
