A groundswell of interest has risen over Mac’s revelation at Willow the other night that he is a past master of the pressure cooker, the mostdangerous single device in the Socotra Test Kitchen. Check that. The pressurecooker is the only device that actually could produce high velocity shrapnelduring the cooking process.

The deep-fat fryer also provides a rich threatenvironment for the sensory altered experimental chef, and that is not at all areach to the most deadly industrial cooking device that combines the danger of both, the pressure fryer. Thatdevice is normally found in fast-food restaurants that specialize in chicken,and the beauty of it is that is combines the inherent danger of really hot oilwith the possibility of catastrophic explosion.

The is, by the by, precisely how an itinerant gas station owner from Corbin, KY,got his start as a global icon. Harland Sanders pumped gas and sold friedchicken, which he served in his house next to the gas station. That might havebeen that, save for the expansion of the Eisenhower Interstate System in the1950s. I-75, the fabled pavement that generally follows the path of the oldDixie Highway from the Soo Locks to Alligator Alley in Florida, by-passed once-bustling Corbin, and at the age when most of us are dreaming of socialsecurity, Harlan found his gas station out of business.

(KFC Icon Colonel Harland Sanders inhis trademark white suit. It is rumored that the original was fashioned witharmor plate due to the risk of exloding pullets.)

He took the proceeds from his first check from the SSA and started driving aroundmiddle America with a secret mixture of a few dozen spices, and a potentiallydeadly pressure fryer. The strangely compelling chicken he produced changed thehistory of Japan, among other nations, and led directly to Loving That ChickenFrom Popeye’s and the outbreak of obesity in neighborhoods adjacent to thefranchises.

I would like to experiment with an industrial plant, but have not got around toequipping the Test Kitchen with a rig. But I digress.

Analert reader who is smarter than I am about potentially hazardous cookingdevices forwarded her recipe for Porcupine Balls, an unsettling name for atasty mealtime treat that enters the pantheon of the Socotra House Cloak andDagger cookbook in a manner that unlike Mac’s pressure cooker version, can beprepared in a conventional non-nuclear kitchen.

Mac was a little foggy on how long he cooked his meatballs in the pressure cooker,and I expect it is a trial-and-error thing, waiting either for the explosion orthe perfect duration of the food under pressure. You can’t just open the lidduring the process to see how you are doing, after all, or rather, you can butwill probably only do it once.

My Alaska Correspondent takes a higher and safer road, and here is her version ofMac’s Balls:

Ingredients   1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice   1/2 cup water   1/3 cup chopped onion   1 teaspoon salt   1/2 teaspoon celery salt   1/8 teaspoon pepper   1/8 teaspoon garlic powder   1 pound ground beef   2 tablespoons canola oil   1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce   1 cup water   2 tablespoons brown sugar   2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions In a bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Add beef and mix well.shape into 1-1/2-in. balls. In a large skillet, brown meatballs in oil; drain.Combine tomato sauce, water, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce; pour overmeatballs. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour. Yield: 4-6servings.

This is a guaranteed non-explosive dish. Really.

Copyright Mac, Vic and Alison 2012 www.vicsocotra.com