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Thanks. I sent you a PM too! (I'm desperate ) You can ignore that! I'll let you know how they taste!

Yeah.. got it, Magnus!!! Good luck!

Well, they are very sweet and tasty. But I gotta say, they looked nothing like the conch fritters I've had at restaurants. Turned out more like conch blobs. We do very little frying, so maybe I did it wrong. Fortunately thay smelled and tasted WAY better than they looked! I highly recommend trying them!

If you are in Key West and want some really good conch fritters, try BO's Fishwagon, corner of Caroline St. & William St. You should also try a cracked conch sandwich. The best I've found is at Mangrove Mama's. Mama's is located at mile marker 20 on US1. If you are coming from the south it kind of sneaks up on you, so slow down around MM19 and look to your left. Coming from the north, it's easy to spot. Mama's also has really good key lime pie.

mmmm conch fritters

weirdo0521 wrote:mmmm conch fritters

WweirdoS

IMHO the conch fritters from Alabama Jacks are the best I have ever had. They are not the traditional round or hush puppy style. They come out in a big ball, kinda like one of those blooming onions or wad of onion rings.

Tried your recipe for Conch fritters and had a problem. I measured PRECISELY and the batter was extremely runny. Dropped it into the deep fryer and it fell apart making crumbs and little balls floating on the top of the oil. Added another quarter cup of the cornmeal mix and still too thin. Tried another quarter cup and STILL too thin. Had to add another 1/3 cup and now it works fine. Your directions say:
In a lare mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, buttermilk, baking powder, 1 t. of the salt, and the Crystal sauce. Where did the second cup of milk come from. Its not listed in the ingredients. I didn't add it but the batter was still too runny. I did change the recipe and used abalone instead of conch cuz I couldn't find any but that shouldn't have made a difference. Did anyone else have a problem with runny batter? After my adjustment the batter was fine and the fritters turned out OMG delicious.

It sounds like the recipe should be:
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups self-rising buttermilk cornmeal mix
3/4 cup flour

(Like Lulu's makes her hush puppies only she just uses 1/2 cup flour)

I think when the margaritaville cookbook typed it they just misread buttermilk instead of self-rising buttermilk cornmeal mix.

AND you probably don't need the baking powder?? Maybe they were trying to reproduce what is in a mix.

wildman wrote:Tried your recipe for Conch fritters and had a problem. I measured PRECISELY and the batter was extremely runny. Dropped it into the deep fryer and it fell apart making crumbs and little balls floating on the top of the oil. Added another quarter cup of the cornmeal mix and still too thin. Tried another quarter cup and STILL too thin. Had to add another 1/3 cup and now it works fine. Your directions say:
In a lare mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, buttermilk, baking powder, 1 t. of the salt, and the Crystal sauce. Where did the second cup of milk come from. Its not listed in the ingredients. I didn't add it but the batter was still too runny. I did change the recipe and used abalone instead of conch cuz I couldn't find any but that shouldn't have made a difference. Did anyone else have a problem with runny batter? After my adjustment the batter was fine and the fritters turned out OMG delicious.

Sorry - not my recipe. I just copied that one.

I've never tried the recipe from The Margaritaville Cookbook, but the proportions don't sound right.

Margaritaville Cafe's conch fritters have a lot of conch and not very much cornmeal.

Aren't they served with a sauce that is more creamy mustard base than Chili Sauce based?

Guess it's time to go have some and see!

I like this recipe from cook.com:
(Except I like that Margaritaville recipe says to sauté the onion pepper and celery before)

CONCH FRITTERS
1 lb. conch meat
1/2 lg. onion
2 stalks celery
1/2 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
1/4 c. buttermilk
1/4 tsp. Tabasco
Salt to taste
1 egg
1/3 c. self rising cornmeal
1/3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
Put conch through food grinder or food processor. Process next four ingredients and mix with conch, adding salt and egg. Mix well. Mix together cornmeal and flour. Add conch mixture. Mixture should be thick. Add buttermilk and Tabasco. Drop by heaping tablespoon into deep oil until light brown. Drain. Serve with Grey Poupon mustard, mayonnaise and lime juice.

Cajun Remoulade from Margaritaville cookbook:
Ingredients:
2 cups mayonnaise
2 T Creole mustard
1/2 t blackening seasoning
1/2 t chili powder
1 t kosher salt
1 roasted red bell pepper, peeled, seeded & diced
1 T scallion (green only), chopped fine

Prep:
In a large mixing bowl, combine the mayo, Creole mustard, blackening seasoning, chili powder, and salt.

Add the roasted red pepper and chopped scallion, then stir.

Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, then refrigerate for at least 12 hours before serving.

Margaritaville's conch fritters are now bought pre-made and frozen. They just fry them up for you.

These pictures look tasty, though.

Didn't see my previous post and started to submit again. Didn't realize there were more one page of posts. Sorry.