Scottish Deep-Fried Candy Bar

fx

Fri, 25 Mar 2016 13:28:52 GMT

Maybe there is some truth here

fx

Wed, 9 Mar 2016 17:01:38 GMT

You may be right.

fx

Wed, 9 Mar 2016 07:59:15 GMT

Yes I agree this is not fair on the Scots.

fx

Wed, 9 Mar 2016 05:50:03 GMT

Indeed! Must be the climate

pat

Sun, 3 Mar 2013 22:34:48 GMT

syrka,i am in disbelief that you are in disbelief over the fat content of this item.YOU are from Spain!

ignorance

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 01:18:16 GMT

Nobody in Scotland eats these. Ridiculous article.

Andy L

Sun, 27 May 2012 15:18:56 GMT

Honourable mention for the defining invention of the Scots" Irish Gaelic cousins.
Hats off for Irish Coffee - the three essential food groups of sugar, fat and alcohol all in one place :-)

Lauren

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:14:59 GMT

This article is ridiculous. As a Scot it made me very angry to see such a stereotype portrayed as the truth. I"ve never seen a shop that actually sells deep fried Mars bars, they are few and far between and mainly for tourists. Although a lot of Scots have a bad diet, many of us are very healthy. I"m especially disturbed that there seem to be a number of articles on deep-fried Scottish foods and none on traditional foods such as haggis or cullen skink.

Lou

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:27:40 GMT

How naive are you??? I am Scottish born and bred and have never eaten a fried mars in my life!! Do you believe everything you read or hear? Believe me, popular belief is that huge portion sizes and fatty foods is a standard diet for a lot of americans, however we don"t all stereotype. yes there are a few "establishments" who self this concoction but I highly suspect the majority of the small sales are to naive visitors who are gullible enough to believe this is part of our every day diet!! Grow up and think about it.

syrka

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 18:14:02 GMT

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!
Sorry, I"m Spanish and I can"t conceive how can people eat so much fat at once.

suki

Mon, 6 Sep 2010 17:40:13 GMT

our local chippy does a selection of battered sweets, and the best is a battered freddo bar, i can polish off about 5 of these! i used to like special edition snickers cruncher in batter (they had rice cereal instead of the nougat) mmmmmmmm

Simon

Mon, 31 May 2010 18:30:18 GMT

I have *never* seen or heard of anyone sprinkling vinegar on their Mars Bar in batter! Avoid the city centre chippies if you don"t want to be overcharged for one of these.

Allan

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:19:59 GMT

Hi Fran�ois-Xavier,

This article made me laugh - I"m originally Scottish and your commentary for these pictures is great! They do like to fry things a lot is Scotland.
I have actually eaten one of these as my ex was italian and had heard the legend - it came out with a chip stuck to the side but we eat it all the same! - The craziest I ever had though was a deep fried macaroni pie - macaroni cheese... in a shortcrust pastry... in batter... then deep fried! & with chips!!! - Instant heart attack!! - I"m pleased to say I have a much healthier diet now!

Just wanted to say I"m really enjoying your website! After discovering it by chance. I"m very impressed with the the recepies and images too myself being a keen amature cook & photographer... your images certainly do make the food look tasty! Keep them coming!

fx

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:25:13 GMT

I think it"s because the Scots are so fond of frying everything that people glued them Deep fried candy bars onto Scottish cuisine.

Gertie

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:32:02 GMT

I"m not sure where anyone is getting deep fried candy bars or even deep fried mars bars as some sort of Scottish icon of food, seeing as they were a cult favorite in downtown Dallas dives and a favorite dessert in small town catfish restaurants in my childhood more than 30 years ago. They were touted then as a fav of Elvis, who"s mama invented them just for him, but my granny said she remember them as a child, certainly well before his birth. I expect dipping chocolates and frying them is likely as old as deep frying.

Ralf

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:47:20 GMT

Don"t matter if its original scottish or not. It tastes more than ok. I tried one in the Highlands (listed as Dessert, concerning calories it is more than a full meal! :-) ). And it hasn"t looked as compact as the one in the article. It was not really fatty. Probably this is depending on the dough and the temperature of the fat.
It will not become my favorite dessert, but its worth the experience!

A guy in Edinburgh told me (laughing), that Scots are deepfrying EVERYTHING, even little children, when it`s necessary.... :-)

I really like scottish food. It IS totally different from the english!

Give it a try!

British Food

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:11:47 GMT

Do these sell well ? I"d like to try one, but I live in the US, where good fish and chip shops are few and far between.

fx

Wed, 6 May 2009 15:21:28 GMT

Thanks for those learned observation of a fascinating institution!

eduin

Wed, 6 May 2009 04:28:52 GMT

The timeline needs addressed for this.

Scotlands chippies have always differed from Englands in offering more than a turgid piece of cod and some horrific pies. The variety was wanted, remember the UK didnt have any real fast food other than chippies.

There"s a basic historic reason for this. "No meat on a Friday" was a long standing Scottish tradition which the chippies exploited but left them with little else to support their business. This meant there was a market for more chippies in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK but less market off Fridays. Offering variety meant they might sell a bit more through the week but for no Scottish family would a chip supper every become a mainstay of the diet.

By the 70s you could get sausage, black pudding, white pudding, haggis, steak pie, scotch pie (called a mutton pie but actually made from beef!), hamburger and a few others depending on location.

Candy bars and pizza were most definately not on the menu.

During the 80s, starting in the West "supermarket pizza" (cheap pizza which when fried correctly does not absorb the fat) started to become a popular choice and spread. Also Smoked Sausage started to appear.

There were still no Candy bars on the menu.

The actual origin of the "deep fried mars bar" is a myth. It was almost certainly created for Americans and to respond to American myths which began on the Internet and were a response to the variety in Scottish chippies.

Because it became an internet meme, some Scots no doubt eat this now. Some chippies no doubt serve them (I have once seen a chippy with it on their price list). But it is by no means a "Scottish" dish. It has nothing to do with Scotland and everything to do with the Internet.

Having a Supper once a week isnt the reason for Scottish ill health, smoking, drinking and sedentary lifestyle, combined with pockets of drug addiction in areas of urban deprivation do.

But what the hey. Ive never had one, it probably does taste ok. Enjoy the myth. But that is all it is.

fx

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:25:34 GMT

At last a true-hearted fan of the rarer Scottish deep-fried delicacies!

RosyB

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:56:35 GMT

LOVE IT!! I"m a student in Edinburgh, and I only eat them when my friends from England and Wales come to visit, but they"re SOOOOO GOOD!! There"s a chip shop just round the corner from where I live that will deep fry anything - we got them to do skittles a few months ago. And their deep fried Crunchies are to die for!! :-D

fx

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:37:50 GMT

Deep-fried rotten shark meat perhaps?

fx

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:29:20 GMT

Thanks, Eh! Let me know how your efforts to serve this at home come through, the oil temperature might need to be adjusted a little. Perhaps you could try this with a frozen Mars bar too.

fx

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:27:28 GMT

Pastor, ah but maybe this is a trademark Scottish dish? No, I made a typo, thanks for letting me know! Celeriac and potato mash sounds really seriously good, I will definitely try this.

Pastor Bentonit

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:31:31 GMT

Dear FX, let me just slightly correct you on one thing: it"s *Staphylococcus aureus* (in italics; mmmmmkayyyyy, I"m after all a PhD in microbiology and I"m hereby officialy *outed*).

Do check out my slightly different Boeuf Bourguignon recipe too. It"s in Swedish but I think you"ll get the hang of it. They"re both good! The potato/celeriac mash is divine...

Canadian Eh!

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:24:07 GMT

Loved the article, laughed like hell! I came across it when I was googling the recipe for a Deep Fried Mars Bar, which happens to be my son"s favorite dessert at a local restaurant. I figured it would be more cost effective to make at home, they charge an arm and leg there. I just needed to know if it was the same batter I would use for my deep fried pickles (yes, I love these too). Of course everything is in moderation, and even though it probably sounds like it, I am not overweight.
Wonderful that you are able to laugh at yourself and your heritage. I just love your style of writing and will bookmark this site and check back often. Life"s too short, laugh like there"s no tomorrow.

Aleksandar �i�ić

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:32:23 GMT

James May: "I have had a bull"s penis and a rotten shark"s meat but I can"t handle this!" :-)

fx

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:21:47 GMT

Kids love it!

barbara

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:02:51 GMT

aaaaaaargh!

fx

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:16:22 GMT

Barbara, these are usually eaten between the chip butty and the bacon butty!

barbara

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:36:29 GMT

oh my God, I thought this was just an urban legend. That must have twice as many calories as a chip butty.
Melted Mars bar is very nice poured hot onto vanilla icecream.

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:12:26 GMT

Jenny, thanks a lot, I am glad that as a patron of Cafe Piccante you did like my article nonetheless!

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:40:59 GMT

And that it is.

emma jones

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:04:03 GMT

Sounds nice, but it looks really disgusting and oily!!!

Jenny

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:31:03 GMT

As an English girl living in Edinburgh I have taken many a visitor to Cafe Piccante to savour the joy of the deep fried Mars bar!

This article had my flatmate and I in tears of laughter, you have a very English sense of humour FX!

fx

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:55:52 GMT

Robert, indeed Scottish seafood, its landscapes and its people are all great!

Robert McArthur

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:53:29 GMT

Very funny articles. Though I have to say that I"m scottish and have never tried a deep-fried mars bar nor pizza in my life, nor do I know anyone who has.� I think it"s promoted mainly for the american tourists ;)on another note - scottish seafood is absolutely delicious.� And so is haggis, contrary to popular belief. �(there are traditional equivalents to haggis in many european countries but for some reason the scottish one seems to be cause of laughter).� All I"ll say is, don"t knock it til you try it!

fx

Thu, 6 Nov 2008 15:19:20 GMT

Jeez, no suprise the Panda bear is constipated seeing his diet!

conpanbear

Thu, 6 Nov 2008 03:18:24 GMT

I used to enjoy a good deep-fried Mars bar on occasion as a child when I lived in Adelaide, Australia. There was a fish "n" chip shop only a 5 min walk away who did a fantastic one. Since moving to Melbourne 4 years ago, I don"t think I"d had one... but I just cooked my own at home just a moment ago!! I must say, I got a bit deep-fry-happy, and I can tell you that Tim Tams don"t work so well, but the nutty Boost bars are an absolute must-try!!

fx

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 14:39:30 GMT

Judith, the Scots have all my sympathy and support to try and change their food culture, myself I come from a part of Switzerland with a higher-than-average premature death rate due to our diet, and I understand how difficult it is to change a people"s culinary habits. The Scots definitely deserve to live longer than 50!

Judith Basham

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 02:04:32 GMT

The Scottish Parliament is pushing through free hot lunches for children in Scotland to improve their diets and health, so deep fat fried Mars Bars is not a figment of someone"s imagination. The real tragedy is that this burden will lie on the taxpayer to fund - primarily those in England who are already contributing to Scotland"s free university tuition, free hospital parking and many other freebies which are not available in England. Perhaps it would be wiser to let the Scottish choose their own diet at their own expense and wait for the outcome.

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:21:06 GMT

Margaret, how about you make it at home? It will lack the fish smell, but hey, who will miss that? All you need is a pot full of boiling oil, the mars bars and a little batter made with milk, flour and one egg. Then you"ll be instantly voted Mom of the year!

Margaret

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:25:54 GMT

Our local fish and chip shop here in Melbourne sold deep-fried mars bars and my children loved them. Unfortunately the shop closed down and now my daughter has to travel far and wide making quite a spectacle of herself trying to track down this elusive delicacy. Some shops do have them on the menu but others, upon request look at you as though you are from another planet. It must be genetic as although I was born in Scotland my children were born and bred in Australia. I myself had never tried one until they started buying them. I couldn"t eat a whole one as they are too rich but tasty never the less. I loved your article. It made me feel quite homesick.

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:54:22 GMT

I"ll ask Selim to put one deep-fried mars bar in the mail out to you!

bill martin

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 01:41:38 GMT

As an exile Scot my ideal meal is a haggis supper, that is haggis and chips deep-fried and mars bar and choc ice deep-fried of course as I can not get it England does Selim do mail order?

fx

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:05:07 GMT

Nas, thanks for visiting and please resist eating them lest you become yourself another pension fund statistic!

Nas

Thu, 7 Aug 2008 06:06:34 GMT

In Glasgow many years ago I thought I heard the lady in front of me ask for a Fried Mars Bar. Nah, must have heard wrong - probably the accent I thought! And then I saw the Glaswegian version of Selim open a Mars Bar, dip into batter and fry it - just like your pics. I recalled a news article from a couple days earlier where Scottish had one of the highest heart disease statistics in Europe, and wondered if there was a connection. Healthy?

The fried mars bar did not appeal then and still do not, but your commentary is hilarious. The world can learn a lot about pensions - maybe the fried mars bars can be subsidised by tax-payers where pensions are a real problem!

..... and to my Scottish friends, I"m just teasing. As a Londoner, I can say you are amongst the friendlist and nicest people in the UK, Europe and probably anywhere. And it that down to the mars bars, then keep it going :-)

Great site btw!

fx

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 14:35:31 GMT

Emjoi, this article was nominated Health Food of the Day so I guess you"re right!

emjoi

Thu, 3 Jul 2008 22:38:11 GMT

Apart from the fact that it"s got some fried batter around it, this doesn"t sound that fattening really. Not much worse than just eating a Mars Bar.
The fat doesn"t sink into the chocolate, I assume, like it does into chips.

The main effect would be that the chocolate is a molten goo.

graeme

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:40:01 GMT

hi, i am scottish, and i dunno where you are from but you have no idea about scotland do you? the deep fried mars bar is not our national dish, it is haggis actually, and if you where meaning in terms of take away food then you will find it is fish and chips! and you say we have a crap diet? yea we drink alot, hey atleast we can handle it. but i think you should check out America!! have you seen the shit they eat!!