Deep Fryer

[sourceninja]

I myself have been looking for a good fryer. I have an electric stove so I've been worried about controlling the temp with a dutch oven. Thoughts?

 

[waffleironhead]

These type of countertop fryers are used by restaurants all over the country. If there was a significant problem they would not be certified and aside from that, word would quickly spread amongst owners of any problems. I've used them over the years without issue. Now, if there's lighting or other demands on that circuit, you would probably blow the breaker.

Which is why I said "dedicated outlet". I never said anything about problems. Just that it's maxing a typical circuit.

 

[MongGrel]

Yeah mines electric too, why I'd thought of getting a side one to begin with.

Gonna keep pondering things a bit, the Lodge Cast Iron looks pretty decent.

 

[NetWareHead]

That's incorrect. There are a number of commercial units that use 120 volt 15 amp service. Here's one http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/waring/wdf75rc/p4607.aspx

The unit may be certified for commercial use but it is still a low powered frier and I would not expect it to hold up to the power of a cooking stove. Unless my calculations are wrong, my old cooking stove burner has double the amount of power.

15 Amp * 120 volts = 1800 Watts of frying power. Each Watt translate to 3.4 BTUs. Therefore 1800 Watts = 6120 BTUs. My crappy residential stove has 4 12000 BTU burners and some new stoves on the market are coming built with 18000 BTU burners (gas).

 

[momeNt]

You would be better off with a thermometer, a multi purpose pot/dutch oven, and a wire basket and just do it off your stove.

I don't think countertop electric fryers are going to do a very good job on 2+ pounds of chicken wings. They would be most likely fine for fries, or dough balls, or elephant ears.

 

[Kaido]

I have a FryDaddy. A pot on my stove does the same thing, but the FryDaddy has a lid, which means that I can strain the leftover oil & store it in the FryDaddy bucket a few times. I think I have this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-05420-F...dp/B00005KB37/

I usually just use canola oil. Makes amazing chicken nuggets (chop chicken breast or tenderloin into popcorn-chicken-sized chunks, dip in egg, roll in 1/2 potato flour & 1/2 coconut flour, fry up til brown for a minute, bake for 10 minutes @ 350F, then coat with garlic salt, smoked paprika, and yellow curry powder).

I'd like a better fryer with temperature control & a basket, but I don't really fry enough to justify one.

 

[DrPizza]

We have an electric one - the key is that it takes just a bit more than a gallon of oil to fill it. That helps a lot with the thermal mass, but even with a gallon of oil, to make enough french fries for 4 or 5 people with dinner, I have to do it in two batches, allowing time for the oil to recover temperature in between.

And, (Magnus can correct me if I'm wrong), the higher the oil temperature, the less oil is absorbed by the food. Frying in a lower temperature leads to soggier, more oil saturated food. Putting in a lot of fries, allowing the temperature to drop to 300, then slowly recover = greasier french fries.

 

[MongGrel]

I'm still tempted to try the Emeril one out, yeah I grew up with a FryDaddy in the house years ago.

I'm not a QVC fan in general, but the YouTube thing looked pretty decent.

Still on the fence a bit I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_N10pkSViA

Might just go back to the Dutch oven idea

Think I shall.

 

[notposting]

And, (Magnus can correct me if I'm wrong), the higher the oil temperature, the less oil is absorbed by the food. Frying in a lower temperature leads to soggier, more oil saturated food. Putting in a lot of fries, allowing the temperature to drop to 300, then slowly recover = greasier french fries.

I had to go look it up, but CI did some testing for an alternate fry method, cold start and one cook cycle, oil never getting above 280F the whole way, total time 25 minutes. They sent samples out and the fries absorbed less fat (13% vs 20%) than fries cooked conventionally in 2 stages at 325 and 350 degrees, total time 10 minutes.

Here's the explanation quote:

Fries absorb oil two ways. As the potatoes cook, they lose moisture near their surface, which is replaced by oil. Then, as they cool after being removed from the hot grease, oil from their exterior gets pulled in. Because our cold-start method cooks the fries more gently, less moisture is lost (but enough so the fries stay crisp) and less oil is absorbed during frying. Plus, this approach exposes the spuds to just one cool-down, versus the two cooling-off periods of the classic method, so less oil gets absorbed after cooking as well.