Spam fries

One of my guilty pleasures is luncheon meat. As a child, my mother would sometimes serve me Spam sandwiches as an after-school snack. Just fried slices of Spam in between two slices of white bread. In the army, fried slices of luncheon meat were a frequent and not unwelcome option, served with rice, with noodles, and well, with just about whatever they were dishing out each day. I was thrilled to discover, after moving into a new office, that a coffee shop around the corner offers luncheon meat sandwiches as a breakfast option. But the best incarnation of luncheon meat that I have ever come across, and I’m damn upset I’ve only discovered this recently, is Spam fries.

Yup, luncheon meat chopped up into long skinny fries, fried until they’re crispy on the outside, and served with one or more dips. Disgustingly, sinfully, ridicously good. I had these with some friends one night over drinks at Wild Oats, the bar owned and run by Willin Low, and I just about fell off my chair. Within minutes of them being served–Willin serves his with a Kaffir Mayo–all conversation came to halt. When it finally started again, all we could talk about were these amazing fries, about how great they were, how unhealthy they were, how they revived childhood memories, how we really shouldn’t eat more than a just a couple, but damn, weren’t they just addictive.

Now, I know some of you are saying, “What? Luncheon meat? Eeeeeeeew, gross!” But seriously, while I know that “canned, precooked chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added, salt, water, sugar, and sodium nitrite to help keep its color” sounds less than appealing, it really does taste pretty darned good. And, you know what they say, don’t knock it until you try it.

Ever since my first Spam fry, I’ve been pestering Willin for his recipe. Of course, when he gave it to me, I had to laugh. The recipe really is as simple as deep-frying skinny pieces of luncheon meat until they’re nice and golden-brown — or in the case of luncheon meat, reddish-brown.

The recipe is below. I hope this brings you as much artery-clogging pleasure as it has me.

Willin Low’s Luncheon Meat Fries with Kaffir Mayo
1 can of maling luncheon meat
peanut oil for deep frying
1 large egg
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp lime juice
2 kaffir lime leaves

Heat oil to about 185 degrees c. In the mean time, in a processor, add egg, lime juice, salt and pepper and process for about 15 sec, add the olive oil in a drizzle and then in a thin steady stream. Chop the kaffir lime leaves finely and mix well with the mayo. Set aside. Cut luncheon meat to strips about the size of fingers (or fries). Deep fry the “fries” in batches to ensure that the oil temperature does not drop drastically. Remove the fries when the colour is dark brown (the entire “fry” should be very crispy and right in the middle just a little moist.) Serve with the kaffir mayo!

About Aun Koh

Aun has always loved food and travel, passions passed down to him from his parents. This foundation, plus a background in media, pushed him to start Chubby Hubby in 2005. He loves that this site allows him to write about the things he adores--food, style, travel, his wife and his three kids!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

36 Responses

  1. Oh…. no…. A thousand times… wait. Make that a yes!

    Luncheon meat really does bring back memories. As a kid, my memories were contained in a lunchbox filled with white rice, an egg, a slice of luncheon meat and a hotdog. You can’t go more old school than that.

    I wouldn’t mind me some modern day spam fries indeed.

  2. How about fried luncheon meat and egg between two slices of bread? That’s my all-too-often indulgent and artery-clogging breakfast….

  3. just when you thought spam couldn’t be any worse for you than it already was. this looks awesome! what a great idea!

  4. Just the smell alone brings back memories!!!

    My sister (chemistry major at uni) has banned this from her house. Good thing I don’t live there!!!!

  5. i say that if you’re gonna go, just go with a happy belly…or clogged arteries in this case 🙂 spam fries…great idea! didn’t know why nobody has ever thought of it…better late than never. btw, since we’re on the topic…has anyone tried making curry with luncheon meat? sooooper!

  6. That sounds absolutely dericious, but I think my favorite is still teriyaki spamusubi mmmm.

    Perhaps you can twist spamusubi into a nice upscale version for our reading and experimental pleasure next time? =)

  7. I was always a little ashamed of my occasional longing for “mystery meat”. Its good to see this post 🙂 So even chubby hubby suffers the same illness 🙂

  8. I am not the biggest Spam fan but these look delicious. I think I will have to give these a try. I think the choice of dip will really help make them absolutely delicious.

  9. Princess Ci,
    My mum used to make a stir fry with luncheon meat, diced potatoes, onions, chilli powder & curry leaves.. yum.. thanks for the trip down memory lane.. Can’t wait to leave the office so that I can buy my first can of luncheon meat in 20 years.

  10. Luncheon meat (esp Maling brand) was my staple food when I was young, as my mum wasn’t much of a cook. It was soo simple and versatile that I turned to it all the time. Hot steamy white rice, white fried luncheon meat slices, or chopped up luncheon meat in omelette, or in stick-fries form like CH recommends. All great! In fact, my hubby and I celebrated and cooked our 1st meal in our brand new kitchen as newly weds with LUNCHEON MEAT FEAST! haha…

  11. crap. spam fries?! that’s amazing. i’m not a fan of spam but it does take me back to spam sandwiches back in the day 🙂

  12. I was so inspired by your entry that I made tofu fries — along similar preps, for my niece.

    That’ll replace her french fries from now on! 😛

  13. having grown up in Minnesota, near Spam HQ, I struggle with thinking that anything spam related could bring conversation to a halt for the reasons you mentioned, but as you never led me wrong before, I may have to give it a try.

  14. hmmm … I don’t know if its just your photo making it look so good but I’m now dying to try it. I think I’ll add some toasted bread sticks to my luncheon meat fries though just so it won’t be so gelat.

  15. Enjoyed the post. Wow, I never would have thought I’d come across a recipe for spam fries! Definitely have to try this one out. Haha, this sounds better than deep-fried Twinkies! Have you considered setting up a http://www.proprofs.com/polls/ poll for your readers? I find it pretty useful and it’s always fun to vote!

  16. A great idea by the restaurant to make a lot of money. Spam is cheap!

    But Chubby Hubby dude, I would have expected something smarter. What’s next? Durian-flavoured-deep-fried Mars bars?

  17. YEAH! white bread + luncheon meat!!! i hd for breakfast too when i was a kid! usually it went a fried egg! cant hv enough.
    i love your invention too!

  18. Tried making it, it was finger lickin good! i used onion dip instead. it’s super easy to make and perfect to enjoy with a pint of icy cold beer!

  19. I didn’t know spam could take this form.. but it actually looks edible here. I don’t what my husband would think.. I’d probably just lie and tell him it was carrots. HA!
    -Sylvia

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

Back to Top