Deep Fat Fryer Help Needed

cooking-mama

I would be fat with hardening of the arteries if i had a deep fat fryer.:eek:
..I used to love those wee skinny french fry chips done in the fryer,not to mention real home made chips and deep fried chicken drumsticks,altho i hated anything soggy fried,had to be crispy n dry........havent had a fryer for 20+ years..I do enjoy the occassional "chippy"..I did toy with the idea of investing in an actifry,and recently looked at a delongi fryer that uses 50% less fat,but cos it rotates,it doesnt actualy reduce the amount of fat in the food just in the fryer,,but overall i think my taste buds have changed and wouldnt realy welcome a fryer into my daily cooking nowadays.Would hate to think my cooking could contribute to heart disease in my family.

rachbc

Don't get me wrong we aren't using it every day, or even week - so the health impact is not huge. And for me, I'd rather feel my family hm fried stuff once in a while than processed alternatives.

I certainly wouldn't say any of my family were any fatter as a rsult of our purchase and as a gadet it makes sometihng easier and better than the alternative, unlike say the bm whcih makes soemthing easier but not as a good as the alternative.

valk_scot

I saw a genuine old fashioned chip pan in Tesco today. I was interested enough to actually stop and look at it too...last time I owned one was about 15 years ago. I refuse to buy an electric one though because it goes against my principles of (a) not owning too many gadgets and (b) deep frying isn't paticularly healthy because of the higher fat content of the cooked food and (c) it costs a fortune to keep one in good fresh oil, because we know now that reusing deep frying oil more than two or three times breaks even good vegetable oils down into nasty ones. (I forget the details unfortunately...)

On the other hand I do remember how chips fried in beef dripping tasted.....!

CupOfChai

I think I would get a proper old fashioned chip pan if I lived in my own home, but it would only get used occasionally so I could still have real homemade chips (because they're AMAZING!).

We had a deep fat fryer in uni and I would never have one again. Complete nightmare to clean out. I think because things are sold that can be just stuck in the oven now people don't bother with them and see them as too unhealthy and more of a hassle. I think at least with chip pans many people are afraid of them catching fire too, and might have the same worry with a fryer even though as I understand it they're perfectly safe when used properly.

marmalize

valk_scot wrote: »

On the other hand I do remember how chips fried in beef dripping tasted.....!

oh real dripping chips.........

quite a few years ago i lived close to a chip shop that fried in beef dripping....oh the temptation after a late shift at work became just too much.....had to move house in the end (that or book my place at the fat farm...)

a few years later i drove past it again but by that time it had gone the way of most chippies 'We only fry in 100% vegetable oil'...blugh..

xrjtg

Anybody who fries their own chips but hasn't tried making their own oven chips should give it a go. Put the raw chips on a baking tray or in a roasting pan and brush all over with oil, then stick them in the oven. Keep turning them so that they cook all over and to stop them sticking. I haven't had deep-fried chips for a while, but I've no complaints about ones done in the oven.

triticale

rachbc wrote: »

Don't get me wrong we aren't using it every day, or even week - so the health impact is not huge. And for me, I'd rather feel my family hm fried stuff once in a while than processed alternatives.

That's precisely the way I look at it, the fryer is only used a couple of times a month, but like tonights tea (gammon, egg, chips & peas) it makes it special and proper.

I certainly wouldn't think of filling it with findus crispy pancakes, bernard matthews turkey drummers or other such junk! :eek: (where's the sick emoticon? :S )

Neither myself or my brother grew up obese or chubby. My kids would eat spag bol/tuna pasta every day but they still love the odd treat of 'mum's proper chips'.

I would be interested in comparing fat content between pre-fried oven baked convenience foods and the homemade (properly) deep fried equivalent...

Trow

This might be the answer: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1310446/The-Airfryer-The-frying-machine-gives-perfect-chips--oil.html

Having said that - at £200 I'll stick to making home made oven chips....

skipkoo

Dont laugh, but we only use ours on nice days and then I put it outside!! our kitchen opens straight out onto the terrace so I pull out an extension lead and put it on the table outside :-) works a treat, lovely chips but no lingering smells!!

sparkleworld

skipkoo wrote: »

Dont laugh, but we only use ours on nice days and then I put it outside!! our kitchen opens straight out onto the terrace so I pull out an extension lead and put it on the table outside :-) works a treat, lovely chips but no lingering smells!!

I threw mine out only two weeks ago! Before that i too used to use it outside. Think my neighburs thought I'd lost the plot when they first saw me doing it- That and the ironing outside in nice weather.

What made me throw it away- I'd be lucky to use it 3 times a month. It took 6 litres of oil to fill it- Despite cooking outside with it as soon as I brought it inside you could smell the fat, It took up a whole cupboard ( which always needed cleaning) to itself next to the cooker - this has now been better utilised with all my herbs and spices on one shelf and all my sandwich bags, freezer bags, cling film, baking parchment etc on the bottom shelf- Had to remove the shelf to accommodate the fryer. I haven't missed it yet and when I do I still have an old fashioned chip pan/basket which is easy to clean takes far less oil, so is changed regularly and as regards safety- I will NEVER leave this type of fryer unattended.

In the past *cough splutter* amount of years I have only had 1 fryer I found easy to clean but even that got to the stage where it just didn't feel it got clean enough to cook in anymore.

So I suppose in essence for me it was the hygiene
( succinctly put in 11 words)- sorry for the ramble