Deep-fried Mars bar
The practice of deep-frying a Mars bar in egg batter, producing a deep-fried Mars bar (DFMB), is one reported in various media from the mid 1990s. Largely confined to chip shops in Scotland, the "dish" was never a mainstream item, and its popularity with the media is in part an ironic commentary on urban Scotland's notoriously unhealthy diet.
A deep-fried Mars bar consists of an ordinary Mars bar dipped in the egg batter usually used for fish. This is then fried in the same deep-fat-frier as the chip shop's usual fare (including fish, chips, black and white pudding, sausage, and often haggis). Doing this successfully poses the fry-man something of a delicate challenge - if the Mars bar gets too hot it will melt, and the whole assemblage will disintegrate, contaminating the fryer with an inappropriate chocolate flavour. For this reason the Mars bar is typically chilled, but this too leads to problems, as an overly cold bar can also disintegrate (in this case from stresses imposed upon it by the differences in internal temperature when it is plunged into the boiling oil).
Potential contamination of the friers is often avoided by using a consumer deep-fat frier specifically for confectionary. The smaller quantity of oil is cheaper and easier to replace, and does not threaten other foods being coooked.
Many (perhaps the majority of) Scottish chip shops still fry in beef dripping; this lends the exterior of the battered bar something of a beefy flavour. For a time the DFMB was a popular lunch for schoolchildren (particularly those rebelling against the healthy eating messages they were shown at school), who joked that the savoury exterior and dessert interior made the DFMB a complete, balanced meal.
The origin of the practice is unclear, with some reports claiming it began in Stonehaven or nearby Aberdeen. The Stonehaven report states that the practice originated in 1995 at The Haven chip shop (now renamed under new ownership) as the result of a bet between the owner and a customer during a promotion in which the owner offered to deep fry any food item that customers cared to bring along.
With the decline of the fad, and the waning of media attention on it, actual frying of Mars bars has become less common. It can however still be found in some chip shops around the country, and in England and Northern Ireland A number of chip shops catering to tourists (particularly the legions of backpackers who visit Edinburgh's Royal Mile) still proudly declare they sell deep-fried Mars bars, along with other treats such as deep-fried pizzas and haggis pakoras. Irn-Bru is a common drink accompanying Scottish fish suppers and their kin.
The deep fried Mars bar has also given rise to the frying of other confections, such as the Snickers bar and (especially at Easter) the Creme Egg. Such deep fried candy bars are available at the Minnesota State Fair. This continues the Fair's tradition of offering deep fried, on-a-stick food. It is also available at Noah's Ark Water Park.
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