Let’s talk about Fat Frying! Fried food is a main staple in food dishes from all over the world, and people from all backgrounds enjoy eating it. If you work in food service, you should add fried food to your menu to offer people something they love. Keep reading to learn about the deep-fat frying basics for food service if your business has never offered deep-fried food.
Best Oils For Fat Frying
Some oils are better than others for deep fat frying based on smoke point, stability, flavor, and more. Since deep frying occurs at a high temperature, you need to use an oil with a high smoke point. You also want to ensure that your chosen oil remains stable at high temperatures.
Peanut and soybean oils are the two most popular oils for deep frying. While soybean oil has higher stability, they both have a high smoke point. You cannot use other popular oils like corn and olive for deep fat frying since they don’t have a high enough smoke point.
Oil Temperature
As mentioned above, deep frying requires a high smoke point since it occurs at a high temperature. Most food service frying occurs between 325 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit (162-204 degrees Celsius). The higher temperature you use to fry, the quicker the food will cook, the thinner the crust it will create, and the less oil it will absorb. However, oil also oxidizes faster at higher temperatures, so you must exercise caution when increasing the temperature.
If you batch fry multiple food items at one time, then the temperature of the oil will drop. This means you’ll need to batch fry those items for longer and monitor whether the oil returns to the previous temperature when you’re done with that batch. Check your oil temperature regularly to ensure it’s in the best range for your food.
Oil Turnover
If you use the fryer, allow it to sit idle, and then try to fry with the same oil, then that oil gets subjected to dangerous amounts of thermal and oxidation stress, making it unsafe to use. You’ll need to start frying with new oil if you’re not frying constantly.
If your fryer stays on and has a good filter, you shouldn’t have much oil turnover. The oil turnover depends on the fryer sitting idle and cooling down.
Understanding the deep food frying basics means knowing what oils to use, what temperature to keep the oil at, and when you’ll need to turn over your oil. While food service requires you to understand many food principles, you must feel confident in understanding these frying. If you’re ready to fry food at your establishment, DSL sells open fryers that you’ll love. Our Henny Penny fryers come in various sizes, so you can pick the exact size you need for your business.