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Scottish Deep-Fried Pizza

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Text-only version printed fromhttp://FXcuisine.com/default.asp?Display=112
A northern cousin of the Neapolitan deep-fried pizza, this proud member of the Scottish Diet makes one nutritious snack.

After the traditional Neapolitan pizza fritta, here is a more Western version with an Oriental twist, from the Edinburgh fish-and-chips where I had my first taste of the Scottish Diet.

An already baked pizza is dipped into the fish-and-chips batter ... then dipped again until it is yellow with batter all over.

The battered pizza is dropped into the huge container of frying oil used to fry fish and chips.

The pizza swims with the fishes until it turns golden.

One truly nutritious snack - the deep fried pizza and its crust juicy with frying oil.

Most Scottish deep-fried pizza is done with frozen pizza but Selim matches tradition with quality and makes his own pizza dough. Sure, he could go the whole way and prepare pizza fritta but he's not from Napoli and the Scots wouldn't eat that even though it's deep fried.

But what's in it? Looks like meat - kebab meat indeed. Gentlemen, we have reached the confines of the known world, where food fusion becomes confusion. Kebab pizza deep-fried Scottish style. This is the new Europe. Pass the oyster sauce please.

This is one of the fine treats served at Café Piccante in Edinburgh, Scotland, where East meets West and South and back again. One of the best places in Scotland to try deep-fried specialties. Or you can have it in New York.

Café Piccante
19 Broughton Street
Edinburgh, Scotland
+44 (0) 131 478 7884


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33 Comments

  • #1
  • Comment by Saxit
I got a cardiac arrest just from reading that article :P
  • #2
  • Comment by Joanna
I've walked past Cafe Picante many a time without a second thought ... just LOVED this post. Next time I'm in Edinburgh, I might drop in, for a look, if not a taste!Joannajoannasfood.blogspot.com
  • #3
  • Comment by j
Great site, I have foie gras recipe that is unusual and delicious:2 slices bread (toasted)1 good smear peanut buttersear a  piece of foie grassome sliced cheddara thin spread sambal olek2 tbl dark chocolate sauce with fleur de sel, and smoked paprika added to your tastetoast one side bread with peanut buttertoast other side with sambal and cheeseadd foie gras to bread then drizzle salted,smoked chocolate sauce over top
  • #4
  • Comment by parshu.narayanan
Travel advisory: Indian nationals, who are built with thinner arteries and a higher propensity for cardiac illness, are advised to avoid Selim's deep fried Kabab pizza at Cafe Picante, Edinburgh and stick to f & c. In fact all nationalities except blubber-tolerant Innuits are also advised the same. :-)
  • #5
  • Comment by Lyra
What is the age expectancy for Scotts again? I would think that most people wouldn't make it past 50 on that diet.
  • #6
  • Answered by fx
To tell you the truth, I got sick myself after that one. Not cardiac arrest but that's definitely where such food is leading to. This being said Scottish life expectancy is not due to this specific deep-fried specialty which I had some trouble locating. They eat & drink all sorts of rather unhealthy things. It's really a pity with such lovely people and with the great products they grow up there - salmon, venison, grouse, etc...
  • #7
  • Comment by Tony
If my cardiologist knew I was reading this he would be sooooo pissed!
  • #8
  • Answered by fx
Tony, you might be surprised. Our local cardiologist preaches like yours but we caught him eating at Mc Donalds!
  • #9
  • Comment by jet
You know what?  Shut it.  All of you, with your "heart attack" crap.  Seriously, people have been living for years and years with long lives before we "knew the dangers of high fat" and such.  Besides, do you really wanna live forever and see what the next generation is gonna do to completely screw up this society?  I sure as hell don't.  Therefore, I will eat all the delicious looking fried pizza I want, and not have any reservations about it.  Get a life.  That is all.Thanks for playing.
  • #10
  • Answered by fx
Jet I could not agree more. It is very conforting to be able to choose your own poison - death from Deep Fried Pizza is my choice too!
  • #11
  • Comment by Tim
This wouldn't be that unhealthy as long as you also order the deep fried salad.
  • #12
  • Comment by amit shah
Hi, I think its fab!
  • #13
  • Comment by David
My panchreas hurts just from the sight of this monument to fat!
  • #14
  • Comment by Pete
I live just outside Edinburgh & eat deep-fried pizza many times, but only ever after a few beers.... believe it or not it actually tastes ok... its normally followed by deep fried ice-cream.. but I really don't think you could eat it sober....
  • #15
  • Answered by fx
David you are right, your panchreas will be hurting seriously as will your liver if you indulge in deep-fried pizzas too often. Actually I was sick for 2 hours solid after my session at Café Piccante, just because of the quantity of fat I had absorbed. Ah, the things I do for the readers of FXcuisine!
  • #16
  • Answered by fx
Pete you are right, lots of beer is the way to wash down deep-fried pizzas!
  • #17
  • Comment by lorien
Some of these comments annoy me...!This isnt the typical Scots diet and most Scot's cringe at the thought of our deep-fried-cuisine image!I have actually tasted a deep fried mars bar.... the tiniest wee bit, and all beacuse my American friend begged me to!!By all means if you want to, give it a try... but dont tar us all with the same brush :P
  • #18
  • Answered by fx
Lorien, you are right that deep-fried fare such as the one seen on FXcuisine is not ubiquitous at all in Scotland and it certainly does not justice either to the fine foodstuff produced in Scotland nor to the fine people who live there.
  • #19
  • Comment by Stuart
I can't say I eat it all the time (maybe once or twice a year) but I quite like a deep fried pizza. Every culture has their horrible fast food option that can be eaten on the odd occasion, but so long as it isn't a staple it's fine in my opinion. Let's face it, if you ate McDonald's food as a staple you'd be in just as bad shape as you would with a deep fried pizza.
  • #20
  • Answered by fx
Sure, Scottish deep-fried pizza is great fun on a night out with the mates. I don't think anybody eats that many of them anyway and I had to hunt down that chippie to get some. Not really common in Scotland.
  • #21
  • Comment by Maven
Dear heaven,
I thought this type of insanity was confined to the midway at the State Fair of Texas - where the deep-fryer food vendors each try to outdo each other. Deep-fried Coke was offered for the first time this year!  (Don't ask me how, I didn't even go to see it)  It follows its fore bearers like deep-fried oreos, candy bars, batter-fried corn on the cob, fried cheesecake on a stick, and the granddaddy of them all - the famous Tx State Fair Corndog.  
Some delicious, some revolting, all crazy.  
What's next?  Battered, deep-fried butter?
  • #22
  • Answered by fx
Maven, do you know the dates of the State Fair of Texas you mention - sounds like a place I ought to visit!
  • #23
  • Comment by Alka-Seltzer
A frozen pizza should be lethal.
A fresh pizza a little less.
  • #24
  • Comment by Jane Winter
Great articles - I grew up in Scotland and now feel I had a deprived childhood as our local chippies did not produce such excellent fare.

Jane w
  • #25
  • Answered by fx
Jane, there are many better things than deep-fried pizza in Scotland, and it´s not even easy to find nowadays!
  • #26
  • Comment by Foo
Hello, I see all these recipes for deep fried stuff and I want to try it...but where is the BATTER RECIPE?! :-)
  • #27
  • Comment by leila karlslund
Dear Francois, so glad to notice, that all your answers now are shown in blue text. Yout site keeps on getting better and better, if that's at all possible. Leila
  • #28
  • Answered by fx
Leila, thanks for dropping by! I am planning even more changes in the future, hope you'll like them!
  • #29
  • Comment by Simon
I work almost opposite that particular chippie, and have only ever tried their boring old baked pizza. Thanks for the tip!
  • #30
  • Comment by Randall
Here's an idea ... take a Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza. Yes, a casserole/pie dish stuffed with cheese, toppings, and sauce.

Then, batter and deep fry, a Chicago deep dish pizza? That's the worst combination of a Yankee and Scottish monstrosity.
  • FX's answer→ That might work! Encouraged by the Society for the Welfare of young Cardiologists!

  • #32
  • Comment by ivan washington
OMG :o that looks SOOOOO GOOOOOD!! wish I lived where they served those things.
  • FX's answer→ Ah well you can still make them yourself with a bit of batter, a lot of oil and a frozen pizza!




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