Asian Corned Beef’s rolls are thick-shelled, and the cheese plays a relatively minor role compared with the rolls sold in other shops, like Mr. Fo-Fo’s, which also serves some of the best in Detroit. For some insight into the finer points involved, Mr. Fo-Fo’s co-owner Otis Lee, who goes by Mr. Lee, recently provided me with a demo of corned beef egg roll assembly. To stress the importance of clean grease, he pulled a roll out of the fryer and cut it open, noting the air pocket between the filling and the top of the casing. If the grease were dirty, he said, the shell would collapse, and the whole thing would end up soggy and heavy. When fried correctly, Mr. Lee told me, the casings are light, crisp, and surprisingly un-greasy to the touch. Indeed, his sample egg roll, for having just been pulled out of boiling oil, felt unexpectedly dry to me, almost like it was covered in peach fuzz. Mr. Fo-Fo’s laces the meat with more shredded cheese than most shops, which, along with the generous beef portions, make these the biggest rolls in Detroit—though they’re also slightly more expensive, at $4 each. Because of their size, Mr. Fo-Fo’s doesn’t label them “egg rolls”—instead, they’re “fried grinders” or sandwiches, because “that’s more what they are,” Mr. Lee’s son, Keith, explained.
