Fried Mac and cheese

[pikawicca]

Could not believe my eyes this afternoon as I was channel-surfing: There was Paula Deen, wrapping a cold slab of m & c with a slice of bacon. She breaded it, then threw it in a pot of fat. Where does such an idea come from?

[im_nomad]

a local restaurant had these on the menu for a while sans bacon, and i ordered them a few times, they were a guilty pleasure. Definitly not something i'd want to know the calorie count of however. I think it was dipped in some thin batter and deep fried.

[Sunday Cook]

The Cheesecake Factory has fried macaroni & cheese balls as an app. Have never ordered them, but it always catches my eye.

I *have* taken leftover, solid chunks of M&C, put panko on them and pan fried it to heat it up. The final result is much better than microwaving leftovers to heat.

[Azizeh Barjesteh]

They are pretty good at Cheesecake Factory. They come with a vodka sauce and basically its just mac n cheese with a crispy fried breadcrumb crust. Not too greasy or heavy, either.

I had something at Mario Batali's restaurant Mozza that reminded me of it. I think it was fried ricotta or something. They were fantastic. They gave them to us gratis, so I had no idea what they were.

[EliAnnKat]

Well, it's no wonder that Ms. Deen is so, umm, generous. How is this for an ep of her show - we get to see her cholesterol test.

I know it's all yummy, but, yikes!

[Shayna Madel]

They had it at the Texas State Fair in 2007, sans bacon. Wasn't half-bad, even to this Northerner.

[Reene902]

I thought it was pretty common now. Didn't TGI Friday's or a similar restaurant have it on their menu as an appetizer a couple years ago?

Your reaction reminds me of my own upon seeing Fried Oreos in New Jersey.

[heathermb]

Alton Brown made fried mac n cheese squares on an episode a while back. Looked quite good the way he did it, to be honest!

[mamaciita]

I saw that. Seemed less obscene, somehow, when Alton did it. . .

[mojoeater]

I've had it on both the east and wast coasts (breaded and deep-fried). Sometimes it's damned good. More often it's just greasy.

[sommrluv]

I've actually seen her fry a salad.

I like Paula as much as the next girl, but I had to laugh out loud when I stumbled across a recipe of lovely spring greens and vegetables, that than called to be tossed in a pan with butter.

I'm 99% sure it wasn't a joke. I think I'm just holding out hope that someone would pan-fry new mixed greens....

[twodales]

I know of 2 places that serve deep-fried mac n cheese: Granite Mountain ski resort in Wausau Wi and Russell's BBQ in Elmwood Park IL.

It's very popular with the ski crowd as are the deep-fried cheese curds.

In Wisconsin I believe these two items are considered vegetables.

[boppiecat]

in iowa green jell-o is definitely a veg. as is boiled white rice mixed with cool whip and crushed pineapple . . . but hey - another story for another thread.

[jeni1002]

LOL!!! Sorry, I don't have an answer, but the moment I saw the title of your post, and before reading it, my first thought was 'this must've been on one of the Paula Deen shows....' Guess I got that part right :) She is for sure the Queen of Frying....

[Bhutani]

Fried Mac & Cheese is not that uncommon a dish. I haven't seen it with bacon wrapped pre-frying though. It is somewhat akin to arancini or suppli (italian fried risotto balls) where you take day old risotto, bread it and then deep fry it.

[pikawicca]

She didn't pre-fry the bacon and the mac was only in the fat for a few minutes, so the bacon must have been nearly raw.

[heathermb]

Have you seen the episode where she made deep-fried butter balls? I kid you not.