Deep frying: It’s not for weenies any more
Posted on | November 2, 2009
A lot of the students at my culinary school were terrified of the deep fryer. Not me. I, who had never, ever deep fried anything at home, was fascinated by it. So much so, that I am debating getting a deep fryer at home. Anyone got any thoughts on that (should I get one, which one is good, etc.)?
Okay. So join me in my love of all things fried …
Out of the frying pan and …
In my post on pan frying, I talked about the standard, three-pan breading procedure. So, if you want to brush up on your breading skills and missed that post, you might want to take a second to pop back and review. Not that you have to bread your fried foods. You could always use a batter instead. Batters tend to use something for heft (baking soda, say, or beer) and something for coating (rice flour gives an especially nice, crisp coating). Batters tend to be lighter than breading (think onion rings versus fried chicken), but both are nice, so use whichever one you like.
And if anyone has a nice batter recipe they want to share, please do!
Oh, and of course, you don’t have to use a breading or a batter for your food if you don’t want to. You can always fry naked (the food, not you, oil splatters, remember). Such as the great fried potato, otherwise known as French fries (and, yes, you can batter or bread these, too, but carbs on carbs, why bother?). So feel free to experiment with breading, batter, or nudity (the food).
So here are my tips on deep frying
Oil me up
Obviously, you want to use an oil with a high smoke point, such as safflower. If you use an oil with a lower smoke point, such as olive oil, you are not going to like the results. (You can also use animal fats, but these, too, have a low smoke point so you might want to blend them with something that has a high smoke point, such as soy bean oil if you really want that taste. Or you can reserve your animal fat for poaching and make a nice confit.)
Is it hot in here?
Heat your oil to somewhere around 350°F – 400°F (I’d err on the side of higher, rather than lower, to account for recovery time). Why does it have to be this hot? Very hot oil will seal your food so it doesn’t become greasy. And no one wants greasy food. But everyone likes a neat trick, so here’s one I learned at culinary school: Put the handle of a long-handled wooden spoon into your oil for a few inches. If the oil bubbles up around the handle, it is likely around 350°F. Brilliant, yes? And handy when your thermometer is, erm, no one knows where. But, beware, you can’t do that too many times with the same spoon in the same cooking session — the spoon heats up and stops being a good indicator.
It’s a dry heat
Dry off your food before you put it into the oil, otherwise, you will have some seriously painful splatters on your hands and arms. I haven’t gotten any nasty splatters, but some fellow classmates have treasure maps on their arms. So be careful.
No crowding in the pool
Food in the fryer lowers the temperature, so the more food you add, the lower the temperature. Temperature that is too low, results in greasy food (the oil is more readily absorbed by the food). So don’t crowd your fryer.
Allow yourself time to recover
Every time you add food to your fryer, your temperature will drop. So, after you take your food out, if you are frying another batch, give your oil time to come back up to temperature. Otherwise, we will revisit the land of greasy food. And no one wants to go there.
Paper towels are your friend
Put your cooked, fried food on paper towels (but don’t crowd them or your food will steam and will go soggy). If you’ve kept your temperature up, you won’t have much grease on your food, but those towels are perfect for soaking up any extra oil. By the way, your other friend when you are frying is a spider. You can use tongs, sure, but a spider gets more food and allows more oil to drain back into the pan. However, if you do use tongs, never, never lift them above your elbow because any hot oil caught inside those them will run down the tongs and onto your hands and down your arm and you can bet that will be painful (thanks to Motorcycle Chef for that tip).
Invite me
Yes, I expect an invitation every time you fry, two if you are frying fish, three if it is shellfish. I won’t be able to eat enough for two, let alone three, but that is hardly the point!
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4 Responses to “Deep frying: It’s not for weenies any more”
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November 2nd, 2009 @ 8:39 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by foodiePrints, Cooking Student. Cooking Student said: How to properly, safely, deliciously deep fry, straight from culinary school: http://bit.ly/4sYVRz [...]
November 6th, 2009 @ 3:22 pm
I lived in Spain for about 3 months where my apartment came with a deep-fryer. We used this to make croquetas and wow, was it worth it! I don’t have own now, but would LOVE to re-create that meal any day!
November 13th, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
If you’re just one person, or someone with a small family who is wanting to deep fry food in the comfort of your own kitchen, then you need a mini deep fryer. Like with any cookware appliance, certain aspects of a mini deep fryer that you want to look for are durability, easy of use, safety, easy clean-up, and a style that meets your particular needs and general liking.
November 14th, 2009 @ 8:53 am
Or you can use any large pot you’ve got and a big bottle of canola oil!
There, just saved you a few dollars.
Cheers!