It is Monday lunchtime and I am hunkered down in a secret location in Aberdeen waiting to try a food recipe so outlandish that it has only ever been tried a handful of times before.
By my side are two foolhardy volunteers who have agreed to join me on this journey into the near unknown.
Across the table, Alan the chef wordlessly tosses small circles of pastry in a bowl of flour. A deep fat fryer hums ominously in the corner, its molten innards bubbling like a demonic cauldron.
Patiently, we wait our turn.
The creation of the Rowie Fritter
We are here because a little over a decade ago, a man called Craig Adams decided on a night out with friends that what the world lacked was a deep-fried rowie.
Craig, who is a co-owner of Aberdeen bar and live music venue Krakatoa, believed he was the man to right this perceived wrong so took a bag of supermarket rowies to local chipper the Dolphin and got them battered.
The result – the Rowie Fritter, as it was christened – was so intriguing that Craig has spent the intervening years trying to persuade the rest of Aberdeen it is the late-night snack of the future.
This is despite Craig discovering not long after the infamous night at the Dolphin that he is coeliac, meaning he has never been able to recreate the Rowie Fritter.
Until I got involved.
Earlier this year, I spoke to Craig for a weekly feature I write about butteries. His tale of late-night chip shop excursions and culinary invention was so inspiring that I decided to bring the story up to date.
Craig was game. As was James, a bluff young journalism student from Fraserburgh who helped me with the initial story. James is something of a deep-fried expert, having eaten more than his fair share of battered Mars Bars and pizzas.
Rowies were new for him, and he was eager to explore.
A quick call to Aberdeen’s leading gluten-free food expert, Bev Lee, who owns Holburn Street restaurant Bev’s Bistro, and we were ready to go with coeliac-friendly rowies and batter for Craig.
The stage was set.
The double-denim of food
Of course, coming up with the wheeze in a comfortable office is one thing. When you are staring at a deep fat fryer waiting to eat what comes out of it, second thoughts start to creep in.
The Rowie Fritter is, after all, the double denim of food stuffs.
A rowie has already been oven-cooked in its own fats and lard, so dipping it in batter and cooking it again multiplies the sins. As someone points out, we are hoping that two wrongs make a right.
Luckily, we have Bev’s Bistro’s chef Alan to guide us on our journey. Alan makes high quality butteries using his own gluten-free recipe that sticks to the traditional principles – lard, butter and a good dose of salt.
We could not be in safer hands. So why am I nervous?
As we wait for Alan to finish, Craig outlines his hopes for the Rowie Fritter. The bar owner is bullish – he sees it as nothing less than a new mascot for Aberdeen, a rallying point for citizens to come together in a shared love of the city’s culinary heritage.
“This goes deeper than just dipping a rowie in batter and frying it,” Craig explains.
“Decades ago, the two main sources of nutrition in Aberdeen for the working person was the chipper and the baker. So what we’ve done is take something from the baker and we’ve then put it through the chipper process and created a hybrid product. This then is just a natural extension – a coming together of the two main sources of nourishment in the city.”
To find out what score we gave the Rowie Fritter and to watch video of the taste test keep reading
As a marketing sell, it’s not bad. Our anticipation increases a notch as we realise we might be on to something here. A new emblem for Aberdeen? A deep-fried union for the senses?
Across the table, James quietly picks up his fork.
The Rowie Fritter taste test
The hour has arrived. We are ready to eat. Craig gets his Rowie Fritter first and impatiently waits for the photographer to get ready.
Mine is next to drop and I’m faced with a choice of condiment. Should I eat it naked or give it a little bit of jam? There’s also the gourmand’s route of cream cheese.
In the end I try a little bit of everything.
James is served his and we tuck in. Sounds of contentment fill the air. Ten years on from first eating one, Craig remains confident that he has discovered the next big thing.
“I think every chipper should either get rowies or every baker should get a deep fryer,” he says.
In general, the verdict is positive. My buttery has a lightness that I wasn’t expecting from something deep fried.
Later, we deep fry some supermarket rowies to test the difference, but they are far crispier and heavier than Alan’s gluten-free butteries. The jam adds some needed sweetness but the cream cheese sets off beautifully against the slight blandness of the batter.
Overall, it is a triumph. Craig feels vindicated. In his mind, the secret location we are conducting the taste test will one day have a blue plaque on it to denote the birthplace of the Rowie Fritter.
James is also enamored, and sums up the mood nicely.
“I didn’t have high expectations,” he says. “But I’ve been pleasantly surprised.”
The results
Craig: I would definitely have one again, and I wouldn’t leave it 10 years this time. I’d have one next week if someone had them available.
You could have this as a supper with chips. You could have it with cheese on, or as a dessert like you would with a pineapple fritter. I’d love to strap a pineapple to one before deep frying it because I think that would be the ultimate. It would take it to a whole new level.
Verdict: 10/10
James: I didn’t think that deep frying it would add much, but it has. I would definitely have it again. It takes more time to eat this than a normal roll because it’s been deep fried, but there’s loads of different things you can have with it. It works really well with the cream cheese.
Verdict: 10/10
Andy: The batter adds an extra layer to get through but it does give it more volume, which is good. Butteries always have the fat mixed with the salt, but when you add the batter on top of it, it amps it up a little bit more.
Verdict: 8/10
Andy delivers his taste test on Aberdeen’s latest sensation, the Rowie Fritter.
To read about Bev’s Bistro’s gluten-free butteries made to Alan’s special recipe, click here. To order, click here.
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