TGS Presents: Great Moments in Wikipedia

[Spikeditor's note: This is the second in an ongoing series of posts highlighting the best of Wikipedia, one of The Big Two's favorite websites.]

Recently, while reading up on the fine cuisine of Great Britain, I came across a dish of which I had been previously unaware: the Scotch Egg (left, obv). Has anyone heard of this? I'll leave it to the 'Pedia to explain. "A Scotch egg consists of a cold, hard-boiled egg removed from its shell, wrapped in a sausage meat mixture, coated in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried." Mmm... Infarctioriffic! Unsurprisingly, the sausage / egg / heart-stopping grease is not enough -- the delicacy is often served with ranch dressing. You know, to give it that "zing." I hate to admit it, but I would really have no qualms with trying one out.

The dish is actually not Scottish, but - as you'll see below - Scotland is the undeniable world leader in deep frying. Just in case the picture and description above insufficiently describe the dish, Ricky Gervais kindly expands upon how it is made.

This Great Moment in Wikipedia made me think about how much I enjoy a good deep-fried . . . well, anything, so long as it is deep-fried.* I considered the good ol' USA's contribution to the deep-fried food genre. We're big on a lot of deep-fried dishes: chicken, potatoes (in chip and fry form), mozzarella sticks, even chicken-fried steak. And many will be familiar with such gluttonous recipes as deep-fried twinkies and Mars bars. But to which of these and other great fry-inventions can the US proudly claim ownership? Here's a handy scorecard:

• Fried chicken. A delicious homage to the American south, right? Wrong. Originally Scottish (though the red, white and blue can proudly say that we have the vastly superior chicken nugget, first dreamed up by Professor Robert C. Baker of, ahem, Cornell University).
• French Fries. A powerhouse of an American dish, named in obvious mockery of those sniveling, rarely-bathed frogs, right? Wrong. Four countries (Belgium, France, Spain and the UK) lay claim to its creation.

• Doughnuts. These greasy rings o' goodness seem like they must have originated in the northeast, magically coming to life in a Dunkin' Donuts franchise alongside a 74 ounce cup of pipin' hot coffee. Although many countries have their own favorite versions of sweet, deep fried dough, I'm claiming this one for the Yanks! Burly mariner Hanson Gregory is commonly credited for putting the hole in the donut, and I ain't gonna tell you how he did it.

But those, while great, are just so . . . ordinary. Let's get extreme:

• Deep fried pizza. Oh hell yeah. We need to import this stuff by the boatload. Again, the Scottish beat us to the punch.
• Pork rind. Have you ever really thought about this? Crispy-pig-skin-in-a-bag? Ugh. I'll only eat these if I have a full vat of ranch dressing handy. From England.
• Fried pies. "[E]njoyed by many people who do not even like pie."
• Fried Twinkies. Made by a Brooklynite. Summed up nicely by the New York Times: "Something magical occurs when the pastry hits the hot oil. The creamy white vegetable shortening filling liquefies, impregnating the sponge cake with its luscious vanilla flavor. . . The cake itself softens and warms, nearly melting, contrasting with the crisp, deep-fried crust in a buttery and suave way. The piece de resistance, however, is a ruby-hued berry sauce, adding a tart sophistication to all that airy sugary goodness." Good lord am I hungry.
• Fried Mars Bars. Though the delicious main ingredient comes from the uber-secretive Mars, Incorporated in McLean, Va, the kilt-wearers outsmarted us on this one too.
• Fried Coke. Now we're getting somewhere. Some good ol' fashioned Texan ingenuity. Now watch this shot.
• Fried butter balls. OK, at this point, the namer has just given up. But when you look at the recipe, well, it is for fried butter balls. Note: the FDA has only approved this dish for service within 20 feet of an operating room. I can only presume that this is from Texas as well.
• And finally, the danger dog. This sensation is from south of the border. "There is a tradition in New Jersey of serving hot dogs that have been deep-fried in boiling oil until they rip apart ('rippers') or just blister lightly (an 'in and outer')." Dave Law, my esteemed colleague from Jersey, has often said that there is nothing he enjoys waking up to more than a good in and outer. However, I suspect that he really prefers to man up and take in a ripper.

*Please note: the author was once served deep fried vegetables by his fraternity's cook. The vegetables consisted mainly of carrots and green beans. Believe it or not, even the author refused to eat this horrible food.