Worth buying a deep fryer?

[DavyJonesLocker]

Been contemplating buying a deep fryer  for things like 炸鸡, 豆腐 etc. OK health aspects aside,  I wonder is it worth the hassle. Can you reuse the oil or does it need to be dumped every time.? Hard to clean etc.

 

Anyone buy one?

[ChTTay]

Didn’t you end up with an air fryer? Or am I imagining this? 

[DavyJonesLocker]

16 minutes ago, ChTTay said:

Didn’t you end up with an air fryer? Or am I imagining this? 

 

Nope not me, I did buy an electric pressure cooker which was great ! 

 

Been trying some new dishes in restaurants and although deep fried they weren't as anything as oily as I expected. Really nice too! Wondering if I can replicate them. 

By the way those pictures are from 绿茶 餐厅 in Beijing , really recommend it. Nice environment, great food and cheap!!

[Tomsima]

We deep fry every now and again at home, but as its not that often we do it the traditional way, ie. just pour the oil directly into a wok, heat it until slightly smoky then deep fry using a strainer spoon. Works no problem at all and saves space in the kitchen, oil is reusable and very easy to clean 

[DavyJonesLocker]

thanks @Tomsima 

What oil do you use? I'd be concerned about setting my kitchen on fire?

[imron]

Go with an air fryer.  They're great.

[889]

If you really want to impress your friends over the holidays, this is what you need:

 

www.homedepot.com/p/King-Kooker

 

38,000 BTU! Talk about power. (Turkey not included.)

[Shelley]

I have a deep fryer, its actually one out of a commercial kitchen. It has a separate power supply as it draws more than 13amps.

 

Thats not really relevant except that its high power and I just use regular vegetable oil, rape seed. It doesn't catch fire.

 

You will need to choose your oil carefully they all burn at different temperatures and burnt oil tastes horrible and in the worst case can catch fire. Remember if any fryer full of oil, wok, pan or deep fryer does catch fire DO NOT throw water on it this will be catastrophic.  Soak a tea towel or similar in water, ring it out and put that on top of the pan, remove the heat by turning off the power or flame - do not move the pan. Leave the wet towel in place until it has all cooled down even then approach it carefully. I have a fire blanket in my kitchen for this purpose, it is fireproof.

 

I don't dump the oil every time, as long as it is covered and things can't fall or get in, then its good for months, you may have to top it up.

 

As for cleaning the oil it can be every so often, depends on how much you use it and what you cook in it, for example if you do something with bread coatings it can get full of burnt bread crumbs so then I would clean the oil. Mine has a built in filter and container below to catch the oil and you just pull a lever and the oil drains through the filter in to the container.

The filter is no more that a metal sieve with a mesh, the sort you would find in a kitchen. That gets rid of the large bits. If you want clean it further you can put it through a coffee filter, I never do this but if you want you can, it takes ages to go through and I don't think its worth it. 

 

As for cleaning it, a counter top one my friend has comes apart completely and you get left with the element and controls and then the case and actual oil container can be washed by hand with soap and hot water or put it in the dishwasher. You would do this when you cleaned or changed the oil.

 

I change my oil when it needs it, this is a sort of by eye thing, when it is making things taste badly of the last things you cooked in it. I usually plan to cook fish in it just before i am going to change it. If you use it every day for fish you will need to change it more often, I use mine mostly for chips (fries) so no real contamination.

 

You can cook things from frozen but water and salt spoil your oil, so do it sparingly. Also if its not got enough thermal inertia the temperature can drop and things go soggy.  This is why Simon (my partner) insisted on the one I have, it will cope with frozen things.

 

I think if you got one you wouldn't regret it. I make all my own chips (fries) chicken nuggets, onion rings and more, and they are nicer than shop ones.

[889]

But it's hard to deep-fry frozen stuff right. Your frozen 春卷 are probably going to end up crispy on the outside but still cold on the inside. Lower the temperature to allow a longer frying time and they'll soak up oil and be soggy. So always best to defrost first.

[Shelley]

Yes thats true with conventional home friers but mine is a commercial one, it draws 23 amps and is 5.5 kilowatts so it maintains its temperature and cooks quickly and thoroughly

 

I don't do it often as the water spoils the oil.. 

 

I do suggest defrosting for any thing smaller.

[anonymoose]

4 hours ago, Shelley said:

I have a deep fryer, its actually one out of a commercial kitchen.

 

Pictures?

[Shelley]

@anonymoose Ok tomorrow.

[abcdefg]

I don't fry a lot at home, although I do enjoy fried food sometimes in a restaurant. 

 

One thing to consider is that Chinese recipes often call for a "twice fried" technique in which the items are first fried quickly to do most of the interior cooking, scooped out and drained, then fried again very fast for a few more seconds to crisp the exterior. 

 

Here's an illustration and description of that process: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/58622-spicy-chinese-twice-fried-shrimp-油炸虾仁/?tab=comments#comment-455705

 

 

 

 

I suppose this could be done in a dedicated deep fryer, but it's not necessary. It's easy enough to do with a wok and a large strainer. Doesn't require much oil. After coming off the heat you set the strainer on a stainless-steel pot or ceramic bowl to catch the oil as it drains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some home cooks here also use a "half-moon" fry rack that sits atop part of the work. Use chopsticks to fish things out of the oil as they get done and let them drain right back into the wok. Very convenient. (I used to have one; but don't right now.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In any case, when the oil has cooled, pour it through a fine-mesh strainer into a jar. Keep this in the fridge until next time. Or just throw it out; the volume isn't much.  

 

Personally, having very limited kitchen space, I would not get a dedicated deep fryer. Same goes for an air fryer, which, according to what I've read, is actually just a small convection oven. (Therefore more versatile.) I would probably get an air fryer before a traditional deep fryer.

 

The fewer "single-use" gadgets I have to clean and store, the better. What seems to happen again and again is that I buy some terrific new counter top appliance, use it three times back to back, and then it just sits there gathering dust for several months before I even think about using it again. (Of course I'm mainly cooking for one; not for a family -- that can obviously affect the dynamic.)

[DavyJonesLocker]

thanks for the advice @Shelley 

 

thanks all.

I am in two minds about it, on one hand I'd imagine its safer than a wok full of hot oil and doesn't take up cooker /wok space as I inevitably would be using the gas cooker to cook other stuff at the same time so need both rings

However as @abcdefg mentions single gadget uses can often sitting there collecting dust. Chinese Kitchens are small to say the least and counter work top space always seems to be in short supply

 

6 hours ago, abcdefg said:

Some home cooks here also use a "half-moon" fry rack that sits atop part of the work. Use chopsticks to fish things out of the oil as they get done and let them drain right back into the wok. Very convenient. (I used to have one; but don't right now.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have one of those sitting in my cupboard for more near 5 years now and to this day I never knew what it was for! Mystery solved!!!

Actually I after I posted a thought occurred to me. I got  an desktop induction device as a prize a while ago and only use it for hotpot

 

It has the following functions in chinese which I presume mean in English....

火锅 --> hotpot
蒸煮 -- steam / boil
汤粥 --> soup / porridge 
炒菜 --> stir fry
煎炸 --> fry

 

I am a little confused by it as there is a temperate dial too so why also have the individual settings I am not sure. However it might suffice as a deep fryer as a test run, to see if I use it regularly. It has the added advantage that the top can be removed independently of the heating element.

 

 

[abcdefg]

On 9/30/2019 at 2:29 PM, DavyJonesLocker said:

I am in two minds about it, on one hand I'd imagine its safer than a wok full of hot oil and doesn't take up cooker /wok space as I inevitably would be using the gas cooker to cook other stuff at the same time so need both rings

 

Frying Chinese-style in a wok only involves a little oil. You don't necessarily immerse the item being fried in hot oil. An inch or so of oil is enough. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But a wok does use one burner. 

 

I think the pot you pictured is mainly for hotpot 火锅 and maybe sauteed dumplings 煎饺。But I don't have one and am not completely sure how versatile it is.  

[歐博思]

On 9/29/2019 at 10:20 PM, Shelley said:

You will need to choose your oil carefully they all burn at different temperatures and burnt oil tastes horrible and in the worst case can catch fire

Not only tastes terrible but apparently also carcinogenic , (2) ?

[Teasenz]

I imagine an Airfryer to be less good in China though. Abroad there's a lot of frozen food especially made for airfrying (e.g. frozen fries which contain more oil so that they get more crispy after air frying), but in China there's not.