The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 1065

Don’t Fear the Fat! A hot wok of oil is nothing to be trifled with, but just like a pit bull, it can sense fear Timid novice fryers often decide to keep their hands a safe distance from the oil by dropping the food into it from a height The food ends up splashing hot oil out of the wok, and onto their skin and clothes, making them even more scared the next time The goal when adding food to a fryer should be to minimize splashing You this by bringing your hand (or tongs, if you’re using them) as close to the surface of the oil as possible before dropping in the food For small pieces of food, a couple inches or less, this means getting your fingers to about an inch of above the oil as you add each one For larger pieces—a whole fish fillet, say—it means dipping in one end and then gently lowering the fillet into the oil until only the last inch sticks out before dropping it Lowering foods into the oil a piece at a time will also keep battered items from sticking together in a large mass Avoid Crowds Adding too much food to the hot oil in a single batch will cause the oil temperature to drop rapidly, reducing the effectiveness of your fry Your food won’t crisp properly, and batter-coated foods may lose some of their coating A good rule of thumb is to never add more than a half pound of refrigerator-temperature food per quart of hot oil So, if you want to cook that 1-pound batch of fries, you’ve gotta use a full half-gallon of oil, or go in batches (I suggest batches) Of course, frozen food should be fried in even ...foods into the oil a piece at a time will also keep battered items from sticking together in a large mass Avoid Crowds Adding too much food to the hot oil in a single batch will cause the. .. the oil temperature to drop rapidly, reducing the effectiveness of your fry Your food won’t crisp properly, and batter-coated foods may lose some of their coating A good rule of thumb is to never add more than a half pound... refrigerator-temperature food per quart of hot oil So, if you want to cook that 1-pound batch of fries, you’ve gotta use a full half-gallon of oil, or go in batches (I suggest batches) Of course, frozen food should