Photo: travelbex, Flickr.

From my great-grandmother (called MaMa by her descendants), an inimitable Southern cook and hostess, I inherited a wooden spoon and a set of Chantilly silver that she purchased for herself from wages earned on the Singer Sewing Machine sales floor. Recently, I found out that another piece of MaMa's kitchen is still in the family: her West Bend Deep Fryer, which she purchased in the mid-1970s and passed along to my mother when my parents bought their first beach condo.

As an over-active child, I paid no attention to the equipment my parents used to fry the bream and bass that my brother and I caught in a lake near our condo. Fast forward two decades, during which my family indulged in fried foods less and less. The fryer had fallen into disuse until a few weeks ago, when I decided to try my hand at homemade French fries to accompany some rib-eyes that my cousin sent for Christmas. I was spending a week with my family at our current condo on the Florida panhandle, and my mother mentioned that I could use the old deep fryer.

Heirloom silver and an old wooden spoon are one thing, but antique appliances? Between the fryer's advanced age and my complete inexperience with fries, I was apprehensive to say the least. Find a picture of the results after the jump.

Earlier this week, I mentioned that I was doing some frying at breakfast, since I wanted something sweet that didn't involve using the oven. I ended up making beignets. Beignets are made from a yeasted dough that is deep fried and covered, usually, with powdered sugar (although savory versions exist). They are similar to doughnuts, but are almost always cut into small squares and lack the center hole that practically defines a doughnut. New Orleans is famous for its beignets and making them at home is almost as good as hopping on a plane and heading to Cafe du Monde to pick up some fresh ones, served with a cup of coffee with chicory on the side. You can try the recipe yourself, or stick to your summertime diet and just feast on food porn here.

Clearly, there are some people who will deep fry anything. Mars bars, Twinkies, chocolate truffles, fruits and vegetables are all fair game for the fryer, but this deep fried bacon double quarter pounder is the first of its kind that I have seen. Bacon was fried and added to two, stacked quarter-pounders (with cheese) and coated in batter before being fried. Click here to see a step-by-step photo essay. The chef says that he ended up eating the whole thing and wasn't hungry again for more than 24 hours.

And what is that beside the burger? It looks like a pile of crispy, fried batter - the savory version of funnel cake - not french fries. This meal could only get greasier if the plate was fried, too.

For the health conscious, a regular double quarter pounder (with cheese) has 731 calories and 45 grams of fat (91% of the RDA of saturated fat). Add in the bacon (3 pieces) at 120 calories and 9 grams of fat. Add in the deep frying and the batter and, though I won't hazard an exact guess, you can bet that's a lot of extra fat.

After disclosing that its fries contain more trans fat than the nutritional information claimed, McDonald's revealed that their frence fries also contain potential allergens from dairy and wheat. The fries had always been considered to be safe for customers with a gluten intolerance, as the suppliers of the potatoes remove all potential allergens before shipping them, but the flavoring agent that McDonald's uses has derrivatives of both wheat and milk ingredients.

The revelation comes following the laws passed at the beginning of the year which require companies to disclose potential allergens, including eggs, nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat and soy. The director of nutrition at the company says that proteins found in the wheat and dairy are what cause allergic reactions and that they are not present in the flavoring agent. She also notes that if you have been eating the french fries without experiencing an allergic reaction, you will be able to continue to do so.

Even if it does not affect those with allergies, vegetarians may be concerned that the fries contain ingredients derived from dairy.

Spicy is probably the most popular way to make a chicken wing, with the Buffalo-style leading the flock. However, there's more than one way fly. And fry. Most of chicken wings taste great either grilled or deep-fried (my preference) then simply tossed, while still hot, with a sauce. To start, deep fry cleaned and dried wings in oil over medium heat, about 5-6 minutes. Then, use one of the following:

• Original Buffalo wings - For every pound of wings, mix 2 Tbsp. melted butter, 1 Tbsp Franks RedHot Sauce, and a dash of cider vinegar. Serve wings with Blue cheese dressing and celery sticks.
• Asian Spice - mix 1 Tbsp. sesame oil, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp chili sauce (sriracha or sambal) and 1 Tbsp sugar. Toss sauce with chicken wings.
• Barbecue - many people marinate meats in barbecue sauce before grilling or broiling. However, I prefer a fairly sweet barbecue sauce, which would end up burning too quickly. Instead, I grill wings that have been seasoned lightly with salt and pepper and lightly oiled with olive oil, then leave a barbecue sauce out for dipping.
• Italian Fried - Just like making oven-fried chicken, dip each wing in melted butter, then coat the wings with bread crumbs that have been generously seasoned with dried basil, oregano and Parmesan cheese. These wings are baked in an oven at 400 degres for 40 minutes. I love to serve these wings with fried mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce for dipping.

Anything you do to the rest of the whole chicken, you can do to the wings. Tandoori? Terikyaki? The options are endless.