Cookbook:Deep Fat Frying
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Cookbook | Recipes | Cooking techniques | Frying
Deep frying involves fully immersing food in hot oil. It is an extremely fast cooking method, and, despite the use of liquid oil, is best classified as a dry cooking method.
Deep frying does not actually make the food greasy if it is done properly. What happens is the water in the food repels the oil. However, the hot oil also boils the water within the food, and steams the food from the inside out. As long as the oil is hot enough and the food is not immersed in the oil for too long, no oil will enter the food itself. If the food stays in the oil too long, the water will steam out and the oil will penetrate the food. If the oil is too cool, the food won't be done before this happens.
Most fried recipes rely on either a coating of batter or breading, or on foods that have or produce a natural skin around the food such as potatoes or whole poultry with the skin on. The effect of this is that the outside of the food becomes crispy and browned while the inside is tender, moist, and steamed.
[edit] Tips for frying
- starting with cold foods (good idea), generally frying temperatures are around 325-375 degrees Fahrenheit (160-190 degrees Celsius). It may be higher for small foods. If the oil is too hot, the outside will burn before the inside is done.
- When starting with warm or hot foods, the oil can be much hotter. (this is why the egg roll recipe instructs you to use hot filling, and why the fried fish recipe instructs you to microwave the fish before breading and deep-fat frying it)
- Filter your frying oil regularly, if your fryer has a filtering system.
- Cooled oil can be filtered with a tea strainer, kitchen paper, muslin or coarse coffee machine filter paper.
- Change the oil when it becomes extremely dark. If you don't, your food will all taste the same - fries will taste like fish, fish will taste like fries, and, in the end, everything will taste a bit rancid.
- A rule of thumb is to change oil each week under heavy use, or every three weeks if it's only used for frying vegetables.
- When using new oil in your fryer, add an extra 1.5 minutes to your frying time.
- Don't add too much food at one time; it will cool the oil too much.
- When breading with a dry powder, use an egg wash or viscous liquid (such as buttermilk) to make it stick to the food.
- When breading with a moist batter, use cornmeal, cornstarch or flour to make it stick to the food.
- Shake off excess batter or breading before frying; otherwise it will come off in the oil, requiring more frequent oil changes.
- Do not use a basket with food which could stick to the wires. Alternatively, suspend food in oil with tongs for ten seconds before releasing.
- Opinions differ regarding the storage of used frying oil. Some say frying improves with repeated use of the oil and use one batch of oil for three to six fryings, while others claim used oils are hazardous either due to bacterial growth or due to the breakdown of the oil into harmful compounds. Those who reuse oil disagree as to whether refrigeration is necessary, but generally agree that it is important to filter the oil and then store it tightly capped and away from light. Discard reused oil when it becomes dark or begins to smell "off".
- If reusing oil, add fresh oil for each use in order to extend its usefulness.
- Oil can be purified by deep-frying parsley. The parsley absorbs the odors in the oil. Watch for spatters!
[edit] Warning
- Flames from a pot of hot oil can be 2 or 3 feet high. Particularly if you must work under low shelves that could burn, be sure to have a dry powder type fire extinguisher (designed for burning liquids) ready to use. A box of baking soda might not be up to the task.
- If you place too much food into the oil, the oil can flow over the sides. Then it may go down into your gas range or burner coil and catch fire. If at all possible, you should cook under a metal range hood.
- When the oil starts to give off continuous smoke, you have it way too hot. Next time, choose an oil with a higher smoke point. The oil becomes carcinogenic at this point.
