Ingredients
Bread
- 500 gdark rye bread, a day old
- 4 clovesgarlic
- 500 mloil, for frying
- salt
Cheese sauce
- 200 gcheese, grated
- 150 gmayonnaise
- 2 tbspsour cream
- 2 clovesgarlic, crushed
To serve
- cold beer
Directions
- Use dense dark rye that is a day or two old. Fresh rye is too moist and soaks up oil rather than crisping in it.
- Cut the bread into sticks about 1 cm square and 8 cm long, leaving the crust on.
- Heat the oil to 180°C (355°F) in a deep pan.
- Fry the sticks in batches for 2 to 3 minutes, until crisp all over.
- Rye is already dark, so judge them by sound and feel rather than by colour. They should rattle in the pan and feel light in the spoon.
- Drain them on a rack and salt them immediately.
- Now rub the hot sticks with a peeled clove of garlic, or toss them with crushed garlic.
- Rub the garlic on while they are hot. The heat draws the oils into the surface, whereas garlic added cold just sits on the outside and tastes raw.
- Mix the grated cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream and crushed garlic into a thick dipping sauce.
- Serve hot with the sauce and a cold beer, which is the entire context of the dish in Lithuania.
Technique
- It is a bar snack rather than a course, and it is engineered to make you thirsty.
- Borodinsky or any sour dark rye works best. A pale wheat bread misses the point entirely.
- Eat them within minutes. They soften surprisingly fast once the garlic goes on.
Substitutions
- Any dense sourdough rye.
- Grated hard cheese with garlic mayonnaise, if you would rather not make the full sauce.
Variations
- Baked rather than fried, which is lighter and less good.
- With a cheese and dill sauce.
- Cut into cubes rather than sticks and served as croutons.
History
Rye bread strips fried and rubbed with garlic, the standard Lithuanian bar snack served with cheese sauce.
Frequently asked questions
What is Fried bread?
Fried bread is a snack from Lithuania: garlic-rubbed fried rye sticks with cheese sauce; beer snack. Rye bread strips fried and rubbed with garlic, the standard Lithuanian bar snack served with cheese sauce.
How long does Fried bread take to make?
Fried bread takes 10 min of preparation and 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Fried bread?
Yes, within limits. Any dense sourdough rye. Grated hard cheese with garlic mayonnaise, if you would rather not make the full sauce.
What is the most important thing to get right in Fried bread?
Use dense dark rye that is a day or two old. Fresh rye is too moist and soaks up oil rather than crisping in it.
