# Tempura batter **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970 "2008-04-04T19:14:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/1 "2008-04-04T19:14:20Z")
Hello, my name is Plant, and I eat things that come out of a box. That’s how I feel admitting to this crowd of good cooks that I used McCormick Tempura Batter. But now I can’t find it anymore and my Sweet and Sour Chicken has suffered. What is your recipe for tempura batter? The McCormick thing will be our little secret, right? ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/2 "2008-04-04T19:15:06Z")
Recipe? Whichever box is on the shelf! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/3 "2008-04-04T19:50:12Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl] Recipe? Whichever box is on the shelf! [/QUOTE] There ain’t no stinkin’ box on no stinkin’ shelf, least wise at no stinkin’ Kroger store. [McCormick](http://shop.mccormick.com/products.cfm?PageIndex=2&category=13) claims to still make it, but it’s not the sort of thing I plan far enough ahead to buy on the internet. We all know the Evile Kroger Lady hates me, so it may just be a Kroger thing. But digression has always been a fault of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/4 "2008-04-04T21:57:57Z")
Yeah, Kroger kinds sucks… I find it under the sub-company Golden Dipt. They have it at Bristol Farms, I know, and Albertson’s. ETA- shit, linky no worky, looking for a picture of the box… ETA again- like [this](https://shop.albertsons.com/eCommerceWeb/ProductListAction.do?action=getProductDetails&prodId=37048&fromSearchPage=productResults&searchStr=tempura&isSaleItem=false&totalMatch=3) … ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/5 "2008-04-05T01:31:09Z")
Strange as it would seem, when Skaggs-Albertsons (yes, I bought food at a place named “Skaggs”) went their separate ways, the store became Harvest Foods, and as time passed in its petty pace from day to day, became Kroger, the kingdom of the Evile Kroger Lady and her minions upon the Earth. I shall try the Harvest foods in an Hispanic area, and the Politically Incorrectly named “Joes’s Oriental Grocery” which has little saran wrapped dinners with some unusual conch shells and stuff. I have little hope in either case. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/6 "2008-04-05T04:31:01Z")
You DO know Tempura batter takes almost nothing to make, right? I mean, I understand the need to have a box you can grab, but 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup corn starch, 1 tsp of Baking Soda, 1 tsp of baking powder, an egg (optional) and Ice Cold Water isn’t that tough to stock in the pantry. Heck, I generally just google ‘tempura batter’, close my eyes, and click one of the top links, I don’t even know where my recipe IS. ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/7 "2008-04-05T04:59:39Z")
This is a stupid question, but that McCormick blurb says “Fry your seafood and vegetables just like your favorite Japanese tempura bar!”; is there such thing as a tempura bar? At least in the US? ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/8 "2008-04-05T09:33:53Z")
**Unintentionally Blank** - ice cold \*\*soda \*\* water, but otherwise, pretty much, that’s my recipe for light batter. It’ll be cheaper to make your own too. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/9 "2008-04-05T14:22:54Z")
[QUOTE=irishgirl] **Unintentionally Blank** - ice cold \*\*soda \*\* water, but otherwise, pretty much, that’s my recipe for light batter. [/QUOTE] Thank you both. CP ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/10 "2008-04-05T14:25:15Z")
[QUOTE=Lama Pacos] is there such thing as a tempura bar? At least in the US? [/QUOTE] McCormick has a recipe for sauce on the back of the box using their own dried ginger. They probably exaggerate about other things, too. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/11 "2008-04-05T14:36:10Z")
[QUOTE=irishgirl] **Unintentionally Blank** - ice cold \*\*soda \*\* water, but otherwise, pretty much, that’s my recipe for light batter. It’ll be cheaper to make your own too. [/QUOTE] Good point! Unfortunately, I rarely have club soda laying about the house (the other ingredients, ja.) I doubt it’d turn out _quite_ the same way using Tonic Water. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/12 "2008-04-06T00:45:06Z")
I owe you a beer, Blank. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/13 "2008-04-06T03:02:02Z")
Rock on! I’ll look ya up next time I head south. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Foolonthehill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Foolonthehill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foolonthehill)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/14 "2008-04-06T06:52:24Z")
Cannot emphasize **cold** enough. Also I leave my batter a little lumpy, not getting all the flour thoroughly mixed. Batter explodes off the food. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tempura-batter/443970/15 "2008-04-06T13:23:22Z")
I used room temperature club soda with excellent results.