Futurama-Inspired Recipes

To honor my amazing Planet Express crew and to welcome them back for their final episodes, I’ve worked out a pretty delicious Poppler recipe (beer battered pork tenderloin) and a cocktail that is as close as we can get to a gourmet Slurm experience.

Popplers, if you don’t know, were found upon a planet by Leela and crew, and then marketed and consumed as fast food. Only to find, that they were actually the young of the Omicronians. So, that’s pretty screwed up. I decided to not use babies in this recipe, but instead pork tenderloin. I battered the pounded out little pieces with a beer batter (Victory Summer Love) and fried them. They were freaking crispy-delicious. Crispalicious. (That was bad, I’m stopping.) Pork products and most fried products are great individually, but they are definitely better together!

To round it out, we made the ever famous Slurm, Fry’s favorite beverage, into a cocktail. I used Diet Mountain Dew (though you can DEFINITELY use regular) and the just-as-vibrant Galliano. (People generally keep Galliano around for Harvey Wallbangers.) It makes a delicious, anise-y and sweet Harvey Slurmbanger.

Battered Popplers

Below is the column as it appeared on HoboTrashcan.com.

Canceled. Again. Comedy Central has chosen not to renew Futurama for another season. We do have some new episodes on the horizon though! Starting Wednesday, June 19th, tune in to get your last bits of enjoyment out of the show that makes us want to be cryogenically frozen for the next 1,000 years.

This is all such a shame, because I had SO many recipes I wanted to make for you guys! Bachelor Chow! Toilet Nachos! Soylent EVERYTHING! But in an effort to chill the fuck out, I’ve narrowed it down to my two favorites: Beer Battered Popplers with Space Honey Mustard and a Harvey Slurmbanger.

But bet your shiny metal ass, if they come back to do more movies or another season, I’m going to be making Chicken Nibblers and Phillip J. French Fries. Oh! Or Bender’s Tender Carnitas and Margaritas for Bender’s Senoritas! Please don’t go, Futurama! You are too lush with food-related puns and references!

So whip up a batch of Popplers (don’t worry, these are Omicronian-safe Popplers) and guzzle down some dranks that would put Slurms McKenzie over the edge.

Beer Battered Popplers
(
With Space Honey Mustard)

Popplers
1 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed, pounded thin and cut into 1-2” pieces
1/2 cup flour + 1 1/2 cups flour
12 oz pale ale
1 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
oil for frying

Space Honey Mustard
1/4 cup whole grain dijon mustard
1/4 cup space honey (or regular if you don’t have the space variety)

Prepare your mustard and stick it in the fridge.

Preheat your oil for frying (to about 375°F).

Set up your bowls. One bowl with the 1/2 cup of flour. A second bowl with your beer, the rest of the flour and all those spices and crap, mixed up.

Begin dipping your popplers. Dredge it in the flour, dunk it in the wet stuff.

When your oil is hot, drop your popplers in, in batches. You don’t wanna overcrowd the little guys. They should be in there for about 5 minutes. They’ll start to float (aw, sad) and turn golden brown.

Pull them out and let them rest on a plate lined with paper towels. Cook through the rest.

Serve along side your Space Honey Mustard. Pairs well with a Harvey Slurmbanger.