Deep-Fried Pizza is pizza which is deep-fried before serving to customers. Its spiritual home is Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland.
In Scotland, it is made at fish and chip shops (“chippies”) from an uncooked frozen personal-size pizza, the kind that you would normally bring home from the supermarket and pop into the oven for a few minutes to cook. The pizza used is the economy kind: just crust, tomato sauce, and a bit of cheese.
Some chippy shops do the pizzas in batter (called “fried pizza crunch” by some); others do them with no batter (called just “fried pizza” by some); some offer both battered and unbattered.
The pizza needs to be frozen still when it hits the oil, or the sauce and cheese will come off. And, it can’t have extra toppings like mushrooms or pepperoni, as they will come off, even if frozen.
Some people will fold the pizzas in half, with the plain bottom on the outside and fry. Some cut it in half and fry. Some fry the pizza whole, then fold in half after frying, and then serve it to customers with chips inside the fold.
After frying the unbattered pizzas, some chippies may quickly blot off some of the grease from the top of the pizzas.
You can garnish Deep-Fried Pizza with salt and vinegar, or in Edinburgh, it may be served with chippie sauce on it.
A pizza supper in Scotland is a deep-fried pizza, with chips. A fried pizza supper costs about £3.60 (½ a pizza costs £2.50); a battered fried pizza supper costs marginally more, about £3.80 (half pizza costs about £2.60 ). (2008 prices.) [1]
![fried pizza supper costs about £3.60 (½ a pizza costs £2.50); a battered fried pizza supper costs marginally more, about £3.80 (half pizza costs about £2.60 ). (2008 prices.) [1]](http://pugwash.cat5.org/articles/pizza/deep-fried-pizza-2.jpg){kind=link}
As of 2008, Deep-Fried Pizza had started to appear at some places in America. [2] Some people know it’s Scottish in origin; some believe it’s an American invention. In fact, The Blue Diner Grille in North Carolina, demonstrating American chutzpah at its best, advertises theirs as “the original.” [3]
In America, some are doing theirs by cooking a plain pizza, then refrigerating it, then deep-frying it. Battered slices are going for about 3 dollars each (2008 prices), with no accompaniments. Some places such as the Blue Diner Grille mentioned above are doing variations such as an Italian breading coating. [3]
Sources
[1] Earle, Jared. What is a Deep-Fried Pizza? 22 August 2008. Sourced from “The 23x Blog.” Retrieved July 2009 from http://blog.23x.net/13/what-is-a-deep-fried-pizza.html
[2] Stoneback, Diano. There’s a new slice in town: Deep-fried pizza. Allentown, PA: The Morning Call. 25 February 2009.
[3] Foodie Find at the Got to Be NC Festival: Deep Fried Pizza. 29 May 2009. Retrieved July 2009 from http://gottobenc.blogspot.com/2009/05/foodie-find-at-got-to-be-nc-festival.html
Alvarez, Lizette. Ah, Scotland! The Moors, the Braes, the Fried Pizza. New York Times: 7 December 2004.
Kuban, Adam. Deep-Fried Pizza. “slice america” column in Serious Eats. 28 May 2008. Retrieved July 2009 from .http://food.yahoo.com/blog/sliceamerica/13/deep-fried-pizza