Deep Fried Recipes: The perfect deep-frying

Thursday, December 9, 2010

The perfect deep-frying

If you drop onion rings, shrimp or green beans into hot oil, take them out and drain them, they absorb little or no oil. But most deep-fried foods are first coated in a batter (flour, egg, breadcrumbs) because that's what makes them crispy. This coating absorbs the oil -- less if it's fried "perfectly", but still more than non-fried foods.

The "perfect" deep-frying is right here !!

*Deep, clean peanut oil (1-2 quarts of oil; strain it after each use and throw it out after a few uses)
*Perfect temperature (365 degrees), heated slowly and never allowed to smoke
*Cook only a few pieces at a time, the perfect length of time
*Remove with tongs or a wire basket (not a slotted spoon), and drain on racks (not paper towels)

Most people don't have the patience, budget or equipment to do this at home.

It's not just added calories that make deep-fried food less healthful; it's the high heat. The crunchy coatings of fried foods are primarily starch; so are potatoes (French fries). When starches and sugars are browned in hot oil, they form Advanced Glycation End Products (AGE's), that are carcinogens.

What about deep-fried foods in restaurants? Fried foods in fast food and many other restaurants (french fries, onion rings, chicken nuggets, etc.) in addition to the AGE's.

If you love fried foods, make them an occasional treat, not everyday fare. Order your deep-fried foods at better restaurants and ask whether they start with fresh potatoes or other foods, not frozen; and fry in liquid oil, not Crisco. (Frozen french fries and other frozen foods for frying are most likely to contain partially hydrogenated oils.)

The most healthful diet includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and other seeds, steamed or cooked in liquid, or eaten raw.

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DEEP FRIED INFORMATION: CITED WIKIPEDIA.COM

Due to a lack of either resources or technology, frying was absent from some ancient cultures. Because these cultures did not have use of rotary motion, they could not reduce their quantities of peanuts or other seeds to oil. While European cultures used round wheels, Native Americans ground maize and other grains with a to-and-fro motion. After Europeans arrived, some Native Americans found the unfamiliar cooking oils and fats repulsive. In modern Latin America, with some exceptions, such as street fair food, fried tortillas, and pescado frito (fried fish), frying is not among the significant methods of cooking.

Foods, especially meats, were fried during the first century C.E. in many cultures around the Mediterranean. In Rome the term "frying," or frigere, had two meanings, first, the toasting of grains in a dry skillet, and second, cooking in oil. From the eighth to the fifteenth century, fats and frying played an essential role in Arab cooking. Sheep tail fat was a frying delicacy; books from this region and period tell how to extract, clarify, perfume, color, and store this fat, which was used to finish-fry boiled meats. During the same period, Lebanon, Andalusia, Maghreb, and Syria were known for their olive oil, which was exported to Iraq and Egypt.

Many European scholars writing about the food among the original inhabitants of the New World could not believe that these cultures did not have oil and did not fry. During the British colonial period, frying spread from Europe to the Americas and Africa. American colonists adapted frying with great frenzy, and in a Harper's Magazine story of 1866, Americans were said to be eating, "Fried ham, fried eggs, fried liver, fried steak, fried fish, fried oysters, fried potatoes, and last, but not least, fried hash." These preparations, as well as doughnuts, pancakes, and fritters, were served "morning, noon, and night," according to the magazine contributor, who thought that Americans consumed too much fried food.^[1]

Deep fried pork intestines

If performed properly, deep-frying does not make food excessively greasy, because the moisture in the food repels the oil. The hot oil heats the water within the food, steaming it from the inside out; oil cannot go against the direction of this powerful flow because (due to its high temperature) the water vapor pushes the bubbles toward the surface.^[2] As long as the oil is hot enough and the food is not immersed in the oil for too long, oil penetration will be confined to the outer surface. However, if the food is cooked in the oil for too long, much of the water will be lost and the oil will begin to penetrate the food. The correct frying temperature depends on the thickness and type of food, but in most cases it lies between 175 and 190 °C (345–375 °F).

Some fried foods are given a coating of batter or breading prior to frying. The effect of these is that the outside of the food becomes crispy and browned, while the inside becomes tender, moist, and steamed. Some foods – such as potatoes or whole, skin-on poultry – have a natural coating and do not require breading or battering.

Oil deterioration

Overheating or over-using the frying oil leads to formation of rancid-tasting products of oxidation, polymerization, and other deleterious, unintended or even toxic compounds such as acrylamide (from starchy foods). Deep-frying under vacuum helps to significantly reduce acrylamide formation,^[3] but this process is not widely used in the food industry due to the high investment cost involved.

Some useful tests and indicators of excessive oil deterioration are the following:

Sensory: Darkening, smoke, foaming, thickening, rancid taste and unpleasant smell when heating.
Laboratory: Acidity, anisidine value, viscosity, total polar compounds, polymeric triglycerides.

Instruments that indicate total polar compounds, currently the best single gauge of how deep-fried an object is, are available with sufficient accuracy for restaurant and industry use.

Disadvantages

This article's Criticism or Controversy section(s) may mean the article does not present a neutral point of view of the subject. It may be better to integrate the material in those sections into the article as a whole. (December 2009)

Deep frying produces large amounts of waste oil, which must be properly disposed. Waste oil is increasingly being recycled into biodiesel.

Some deep fry shortenings contain trans fat.

Cooking oil is flammable, and fires may be caused by it igniting at too high a temperature. Attempts to extinguish an oil fire with water cause the water to flash into steam due to the high heat of the oil, in turn sending the burning oil in all directions and thus aggravating the fire. Instead, oil fires must be extinguished by smothering, for example by putting a lid over the fire, or the bottom of a larger pot or skillet. Also could be controlled with a fire extinguisher. Other means of extinguishing an oil fire include dry powder (e.g., baking soda, salt) or fire fighting foam. Most commercial deep fryers are equipped with automatic fire suppression systems using foam. Another disadvantage is the splattering. When you are frying something, the oil tends to splatter. So when you are frying something like chicken or anything else of that sort, be sure to always stay a good distance away from the fryer to avoid burns.^{[cited WIKI INFORMATION]}

Deep Fried Food, Deep Fried Chicken, Deep Fried Steak, Deep Fried Calamari, Fried

Thursday, December 9, 2010

The perfect deep-frying

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