I was doing some research on shrimp toast for an upcoming video, and I became obsessed with the thought of frying things on white bread, which led to being obsessed with the thought of frying things in white bread. These fried peanut butter and jelly pinchy pies are the result.
The technique was ridiculously easy, but naming these delicious discs was another thing altogether. They aren't cakes, donuts, or fritters; so I was sort of stumped on what to call them. I decided to make up something completely new (or at least Google says so), and the pinchy pie was born.
As I mention in the video, the possibilities are endless as far as stuffings go, so I can see this really catching on. I think I'm actually going to trademark the name, and maybe hit the state fair tour. These would totally fly out of any Ferris wheel-adjacent food stand.
Regarding the title: While frying stuffed Wonder Bread is about as stereotypically "white trash" as it gets, I don't like or condone the use of that term. I only used it here because I couldn't think of anything as clever. Enjoy!
65 comments:
This may just be the thing to make me get over my fear of deep frying. Brilliant!
The State Fair is in Sacramento this time of year, and we're heading there Thursday with the grandkids. Maybe I should fill them up on Pinchy Pies before we leave. That way they get their fill of carnival food for pennies on the "Grandpa's" dollar.
So weird...I must try it!
I bet Elvis would have loved these with a little bit of banana in them!
Peter
chef i just made this like in this very moment as soon as i saw the video and they're delicious!
i must admit i had a bit of a problem with mine
my bread was umm thristy?
i had a pan full of oil and after two of this delicious pies all the oil was gone!
either way they were awesome, but is there a secret for my bread not to suck up that much oil?
I thought maybe "pinchy pies" was yet another food I've never heard of, so I searched them, and you're the first results, followed by mentions of you. Shazaaam! You are brilliant!
Of course I'll also try bananas and peanut butter pinchy pies, and chocolate chips and peanut butter pinchy pies too.
That Eminem reference was epic. Well played.
My in-laws indoctrinated me into the way of the moon pie, which is essentially your pinchy pie cooked in a clamshell iron over a campfire. Never thought to attempt it on the stove!
These would be terrific with Nutella cocoa spread and raspberry preserves!...or maybe apricot-pineapple preserves with a touch of cream cheese!
Looks amazing. Keep up the good work, i LOVE your blog.
Looks amazing! Keep up the good work, i LOVE your blog :)
Gabi, sounds like you oil needed to be a little hotter before frying?
Wow. I think I will try these with whole wheat bread, almond butter and sugar free fruit spread, and bake them in the oven on a piece of parchment paper. Should be about the same.
Just because something sounds good and looks great does not mean you should make it or eat it. This is one of those times.
"Just because something sounds good and looks great does not mean you should make it or eat it. This is one of those times." - anonymous
- "anonymous" must be the life of the party...
fried uncrustables!
LOL @ uncrustables! I've never seen those before!
I "wonder" if I might "marshall" my resources and (deep)fry these in DUCK FAT .... woooo HOOOOO !
(not that it mathers, er, matters ...)
These were called Mountain Pies when I was a kid. Like Jesse, we cooked them in a cast iron clam shell contraption over an open fire. We filled them with everything from fresh blackberries we had picked earlier in the day to tomato sauce and cheese! YUM!
Actually, I believe Elvis would've added some crispy bacon to the PBJ mixture. I know I will!
Sorry I did try them, but it was like eating fry bread bit like you get here in England up north ,they fry everything
Sorry, I did try it. But it was like eating fry bread a bit like you get over here in England up north they fry anything lol
i haven't had white bread in yearssss! the way you were pinching the bread (pre-deep frying) - makes me want to get a loaf and just gnaw on it. AHAHAHA!
i am sure to try that. i'll just have to get over the hump of deep-frying phobia.
This redneck says "Hell yeah!"
And of course I'll serve this to my brood barefoot in my front yard with a baby on my hip!
Pinchy pie power!!!
great video chef john!! i tried it using guava paste and it turned out wonderful! ps looking forward to the shrimp toast video.
"One chef's white trash is another's white treasure"
please, Chef John, not on a Food blog
wow~ my son would love this~
will make this weekend for sure!
and you were mentioning shrimp toast~~ yummm~!
so will there be shrimp toast recipe in the future? I hope so~! :)
talking about shrimp toast, have you ever tried ebi katsu burger (aka shrimp burger) from Japan? If you like shrimp toast, I think you'll absolutely love~ ebi katsu burger~ (just a thought) ;)
Hmmmm. Down south here we just call em fried pies. True though that I've never made em with bread. Pastry, biscuit dough, etc. No reason not to use bread.
LOVE the name! SO fun to say!
Ps. I adore the way make us jealous with all that crunching
..sigh.. I really need a pinchy pie.
Saw this recipe yesterday and wanted to try it really bad. Well, last night I made wontons; pork and spices in the food processor, egg and wrappers...ugh. After about 2 dozen the excitement id over and I don't want to make any more wontons. I only want to eat them. As a result I had leftover pork mixture. I decided to make a chinese pork pinchy pie. My friend, you have stumbled onto greatness. The possibilities are endless. Savory. Sweet. Nutella. Cheeses. I can hear my doctor yelling at me already.
I will give it a try, BTW chef John your voice is very soothing :)
This looks so amazing, especially with the powdered sugar on top. A serving size is 50 of them, right? Don't ruin this for me.
Not sure white bread in France does that, but I certainly want to try!
So how bad can peanut butter, jelly, white bread and deep frying? These are just wonderful. I made 10 of them and they were gone in a flash. So I had a few banana's and tried peanut butter and banana's. Oh my it was like eating a little piece of heaven.
Thank You Chef!!!
Eat more than your share of these and there will be more to pinchy on your belly.
Did this with Nutella! It's awesome.
I immediately thought of these: http://www.firepies.com/irons.html
Pretty much the same, but not deep fried.
chef john- porkenstein/porkporken stuffed pinchy pie? my husband and i think that the pinchy pies would be good with cubes of pork, goat cheese and minced garlic. yum! great idea!
Dearest Chef John,
The State Fair would LOVE to have you! Especially in the Califonia Food Styles building. We have chef demos and competitions! Check it out at www.bigfun.org
Would it be something you would consider for 2012's Fair?
The ever-hungry,
Emily
P.S. I <3 duck fat
Going to give this a try. I will be having a few over for cider chiecken and this is a simple dessert to do. Will probably try cheeses in the middle as well as nutella.
Please make another Cheesecake Recipe.
Pssst...John, take a leaf from the book of the Uncrustable. These things will last in lunches about 10,000 times better if you put peanut butter on BOTH pieces of bread, then jelly in between. It'll keep the donut bread from getting soggy.
These pies came out sooo good. I did them once with maltese white bread, and once with regular brown bread. Both turned out great!
I love the pies . . . Just be careful saying the name in a traditional Hispanic home. I got slapped when I told my grandma what they're called. "Pinche" pie!
*f'ing pie
OMG. Chef. This was awesome.
First try was with too old potato white bread so it flattened but didn't "pinchy". I also did not have regular PB so I used the "Bee's Knees" pb from Peanut Butter & Co. that has honey already in. For jelly I used Olallieberry from CMB Sweets. I ended up frying/sautéing/grilling them in butter as one would a grilled cheese.
I have to tell you. It was insane. INSANE. My SO had lost his job and I was sicker than sick and these perked us right up. Until we went into a food coma. Just one ~3" round crispy warm gooey not-pinchy pie was enough for each of us.
Magical. Truly magical. This next go-round I'm using Justin's Cocoa Almond butter (better than Nutella!) and bananas. I will also grill them in butter. None of that pansy (j/k) veg oil for us!!
(btw just using brand names because they're odd ingredients, not because I get them or am employed by them. Though I wouldn't mind free PB...)
I tried making this, but my bread sort of soaked up the oil and it became too oily for us. It was still good, but felt as though it was pretty unhealthy for our liking.
Any tips on how to avoid the bread soaking up the oil and stuff?
Dear Chef John,
Well, I hope you're happy!! I just made these for my grandsons--2 1/2 and 6. They LOVE them! If their mother ever finds out, I'm dead :-)! Please have the decency to come to my funeral!
Jackie
My husband likes them, too. He also liked the one with cheese that I made for him.
these are like those uncrustables except deep fried. they're made by smuckers. look them up!
My family also use to use the cast iron clam shells in a camp fire using this recipe and we called the "hobo pies". We filled them with canned fruit pie fillings such as apple and cherry. They are just as fantastic fried in oil on the stove!
Yep all I could think was fried Smuckers Uncrustables... or Mountain Pies that we grew up with.. same thing. I forgot how much I loved em. Thanks!
Well, your invite, has really made me think of making these with reb and(or) yellow bell pepper and dried tomatoes, and white cheese filling..... Just the though makes me droooooooooool
OMG! These would make awesome grilled cheese with jalapeno peppers!
The only time of the year I eat white bread iis the end of summer for homegrown tomato sandwiches with mayo..(White Trash cooking at its best!) ..but I found a new way to use it after the tomatoes are done!
Please, Chef John, what can one do to avoid the bread from soaking up all the oil in the pan? It just seems so unhealthy digesting all that grease. Your video didn't show that happening. Please respond. Thanks.
If the oil is hot it doesn't absorb much fat at all!
Got'cha...thanks! I can't wait to try it with my goddaughter this weekend. Although she's 6, she'll get a kick out of it. I'll let her do the pinching!! ;-D
I hate pb&j, but they would be amazing with nutella and bananas! yumm....thanks, chef john!
Sometimes I just watch Chef John's videos for entertainment. The man's inappropriateness is quite entertaining on so many levels. LOL
Hi!!! Loving all your recipe videos--THEY'RE SO FUN TO WATCH! Perfect for dorm life... where first-year meal plans limit imaginations...
In Taiwan/Japan, we actually have these kind of sandwiches and the mold to make it. (Not the fungi mold *sound effect*. Love that one!!!) I think it's 'cuz some people don't like the crust... In convenience stores, we have Peanut Butter/Tuna Salad/other flavor Pinchy Sandwiches!!!
The frying technique also looks a lot like what we call "fried ice cream sandwich." Imagine my surprise when I saw this video!!! Cool coincidences!
(Found a picture online! One with taro ice cream!!!)
http://blog.roodo.com/tieny/17050f16.jpg
After frying, it look good but tasted like it had a ton of oil in it. Was nasty to tell the truth! I wouldn't recommend this recipe to anyone.
Had a similar rendition served with a dollop of Creme Fraiche, raspberries and Nutella on the side Need I say more......delish!!
What a great idea. I did my with peanut butter and banana.
I tried this with a few changes. I put bacon bits and cream cheese inside of mine. Dipped into a beaten egg and fried like french toast. A bit of powdered sugar and syrup made for a very great breakfast. Thanks for showing this technique
I tried this with a few changes. I put bacon bits and cream cheese inside of mine. Then dipped the whole thing in egg and pan fried it like french toast. With a little powdered sugar and syrup on top it made for a really amazing breakfast treat. Thanks for the technique.
Chef John the diet wrecker... Sigh, well am off to make some banan pbj punchy pie :)
Oh my god... the crunch at 3:01-3:02... Everything about those split seconds needs to be what my life is made of. <3
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