Definitions HQ

Tempura (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a floury lace through which freshness circulates owing to the quality of the oil used.

Tempura (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a graphic art, an alternation of pots, brushes, water, paper, performed before the diner , presented not as finished merchandise, but as a product whose meaning is not final but progressive.

Tempura (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a light floury milk, so fragile when fried that it covers the piece of food imperfectly, revealing here a pink of shrimp, there a green of pepper, a brown of eggplant, thus depriving the fry of what constitutes our fritter, which is its sheath, its envelope, its density.

Tempura (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a meditation on selection, on the light, on the aerial, the instantaneous, the fragile, the transparent, the crisp, the trifling.

Tempura (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a word which comes from the Portuguese (tempora) and is a food specific to lent, but in the Japanese context it is not a food of a time of fasting and expiation, but of a kind of meditation on another kind of time or temporality - that of the instantaneous, the airy, the moment.

Tempura (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠light, not heavy, and in it flour recovers its essence as scattered flower.

Tempura (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠marked by a quality which seems denied to all fried food: freshness.

Tempura (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not greasy, but the oil is dry.

Tempura (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠stripped of the meaning we traditionally attach to fried food, which is heaviness.