Deep fryers are still a very popular small kitchen appliance. They’re convenient and easy to use, and they can make your favorite fried foods in a matter of minutes. While using a deep fryer is relatively simple, it’s important to understand how they work before you begin cooking or you may end up with soggy French fries or underdone chicken. This post will teach you all about the basics of deep fryers including how they work, what makes them different, and more importantly how to cook with them!
What is a Deep Fryer?
A deep fryer is a kitchen appliance used to cook food. It consists of a pot of hot oil, (typically vegetable, canola, or peanut) that’s heated between 350 and 450 degrees, and used to fry, bake, or even grill foods. There are two types of deep fryers: electric and oil-less. Electric deep fryers use an electric heating element to heat the oil. These are typically the more affordable option because they don’t require any additional equipment to purchase. Oil-less deep fryers use steam in place of oil for cooking. These are often more expensive than electric options but they’re also much healthier for you since they use less fat in their cooking process.
How Does a Deep Fryer Work?
Most deep fryers work by circulating hot oil from a heating element at the bottom of the fryer to a series of cooking baskets that are placed on top. The heat from the oil circulates through the basket, cooking your food quickly and thoroughly.
In some models, there is a thermostat built into the lid so you can cook your food at various temperatures based on what you’re making. You can also choose between a countertop or freestanding model, depending on the size of your kitchen space as well as other needs and preferences.
How to Use a Deep Fryer
Deep fryers are easy to use. Once they’re preheated, you just need to add your food and turn the heat down. Many people might assume that you need to shake your food around in the oil, but this is rarely necessary as the food cooks quite uniformly. We recommend you generally use the low setting initially and adjust as needed for safety purposes as the oil is very hot and can cause burns or other hazards. It’s also important that you don’t fill your deep fryer more than halfway with oil. If it’s full, the temperature will drop too low, which can make cooking take longer and lead to soggy food. An even better idea is to use canola oil instead of vegetable oil because it has a higher smoke point (425°F). This means that your deep fryer won’t have as much of a chance of breaking down while cooking at high temperatures which can create an undesirable taste to the food.
What Should You Look for When Buying a Deep Fryer?
When looking to purchase a deep fryer, there are many factors to consider. The first thing that you should think about is size, as it can make or break your frying experience. You need to know how much room you have in your kitchen and what type of foods you want to cook before purchasing one. If you’re cooking for one person most of the time, there’s no need to buy a huge deep fryer. But if you plan on cooking for your son’s high school football team, then by all means go big! You might also want to consider what type of oil is used by the fryer, as this will affect the taste of your food. Most deep fryers use peanut, vegetable or canola oil, but some newer models are using sunflower oil, which has less saturated fats than most other oils. Another thing that you should think about is how easy it is to clean the machine. If you have a busy schedule and don’t have time every day to scrub the grease off the sides of your fryer, then this might not be the best option for you. Finally, make sure that your deep fryer has plenty of safety features like auto shut-off and cool walls so that it doesn’t burn anything if it gets too hot.
Air Fryer Size and Capacity
Size and capacity are the two main factors when choosing a deep fryer. You want to make sure you can fit enough of your favorite fried foods in the oil without it overflowing. For instance, if you’re cooking for one or two people, a small four-quart size would be ideal. But if you’ve got more than three people coming over for dinner, you may need something larger like an eight-quart deep fryer.
Air Frying vs. Oil Frying
When comparing deep fryers for cooking fried foods, you’ll notice there are two types of fryers: oil fryers and air fryers. Air fryers use a technology called “fry-wave” to cook your food with hot air. This is different from an oil fryer which uses heated cooking oil to cook the food. The differences between the two types of fryers come down to more than just how they heat your food. For one, air frying doesn’t require any oil, so it’s a healthier option if you’re looking for something more low-calorie. However, many people say that air frying doesn’t make food as crispy as oil frying does. We tend to agree as we’ve tested both over the years. Also, oil frying has better flavor retention since there is no air in the chamber like with an air fryer. Lastly, air fryers are much easier to clean than oil fryers and oil fryers do use hot oil so there is always a safety issue to consider.
Conclusion
Even though air fryers are the current small kitchen rage for the past couple of years, deep fryers are still enormously popular and will continue to be. Consumer deep fryers have become much safer over the past few years primarily due to the temperature control feature which monitors and adjusts the oil temperature automatically. All in all, we see no reason not to consider adding a deep fryer to your list of small kitchen appliances to consider purchasing.
