Deep Fat Fryer

SuiDreams

Not sure about the whole Chip Pan Thing, feel a deep fat fryer would be a lot safer. Also want to have a go at the Vegtable Crisps that were on another post and make my own batter as well.

pavlovs_dog

chip pans terrify me, but then i'd feel like a right lardy if i went out and bought a deep fat fryer!

considering how rarely i eat chips these days (used to live on the things as a kid), i enjoy a bag from the chippy. at a pound a time, the 1 bag will do me and the OH quite comfortably, and local is the best chippy in the world, so its money well spent in my eyes

culpepper

we have had a couple of deep fat fryers over the years. I prefer a big pan and chip basket as fryers take up a lot of room .Plus if you just have a big pan and chip basket,you can use it to blanch vegetables before putting in the freezer so doubling its use.
Anything you do in a fryer can be done without it.They do advise not leaving the fryer unattended anyway,so you cant dissappear while its frying anymore than you could with the more basic method.

se999

Why not try homemade oven chips instead, at least they're a bit healthier and none of the risks of hot fat and fires.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_chips.shtml

I think I've got to try the chilli version

Admittedly it's an occasional treat to go to the chippy for real fish & chips, we normally just get one lot and share it though, the fish & the chips are both too big for just one at the chippy we use

This thread is no good for dieting, I shouldn't read threads like this

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

I have a deep fat fryer that I bought about 3 years ago and still going strong.

We make chips once every 10 days or so and sometime I cook my roasties in it-if short on time. Part boil the pots then crisp up in fryer for 15mins and drain-perfect crunchy roast potatoes OH would use it all the time for cooked breakies etc :eek: Sometimes I finish off a battered sausage in there for DD (but only as a treat and rarely). We probably use it weekly and our one is very easy to clean.

Good Luck

PP
xx

Simba_25

Please please please be really careful if using a chip pan rather then a fryer! i used to work on a chip pan unit (a small unit showing you the effects of water on a chip pan fire) with the fire brigade and have seen on numerous occasions the reults of chip pan fires. if you do go for the chip pan please make sure you have a fire blanket near the cooker and if anything was to happen please use that. DO NOT USE WATER, you will end up loosing the house if not your life

I hope i havnt offended anyone by putting this and i know most will already know about water on a chip pan but just in case..... please be careful xxx

Curry_Queen

Very useful advice Simba_25 :T

Also to add to that - never fill your pan more than a third full with oil either. If you're cooking in large quantities it's better to do it in small batches than risk overloading the pan.

I should have thought to add these warnings when I first mentioned about using a normal pan instead of a fryer, but then I only cook things like chicken balls or pakoras, onion bhajis etc, so only need a couple of inches of oil in the pan. I rarely, if ever, fry chips as I prefer to bake them in the oven drizzled in a little olive oil and seasoned with sea salt ... YUM

Rave

Is there a way of telling how hot the oil is? I did once try deep frying some chips when I was a student but it took me about 20 minutes as I was so cautious about heating up the oil- I thought it was going to burst into flames at any minute! Once I finally got the oil at a decent temperature they cooked quite nicely, but I've not been in any real hurry to try again.

On a vaguely related note, I found this video both informative and entertaining;).

squeaky

Curry_Queen wrote:

Very useful advice Simba_25 :T

Also to add to that - never fill your pan more than a third full with oil either. If you're cooking in large quantities it's better to do it in small batches than risk overloading the pan.

I should have thought to add these warnings when I first mentioned about using a normal pan instead of a fryer, but then I only cook things like chicken balls or pakoras, onion bhajis etc, so only need a couple of inches of oil in the pan. I rarely, if ever, fry chips as I prefer to bake them in the oven drizzled in a little olive oil and seasoned with sea salt ... YUM

Agreed in full. With C_Q. the poster who warned against using water to put out fires and also the poster who said NEVER leave ANY chip pan or fryer unattended.

IF you've never attended a fire lecture at work, nor seen a video demonstration, let me tell you this...

I was taught fire fighting when in the Royal Navy. Think about it. On a ship there is NOWHERE to run to. You either put the fire out or YOU BURN or YOU DROWN.

It kinda concentrates the mind wonderfully.

The standard demonstration was a six inch deep (150mm) six feet by three feet (2m x 1m) tray full of oil.

When they set fire to it - us lot thirty or more YARDS/METRES away could feel the heat.

The flames were easily nine feet (3m) into the air with huge roiling clouds of black smoke atop it.

THEN they put a four hundred gallons per minute fire hose onto it. I SWEAR under oath that the flames shot easily a hundred feet (30M) AND singed all our eyebrows.

Yes, that's right. A hundred feet. Thirty meters. YES it singed me ruddy eyebrows.

The heat was a FORCE that BATTERED us away.

catz747

Hiya All,

I've been meal planning since nearly the beginnning of the year now with thanks to you lot & cooking some meals from scratch.

I need to get some new recipe ideas, eat more healthily and spend less money. All issues for me to address.

Todays issue however is the deep fat fryer - been sitting on the worktop for ages and not once this year (nearly 5 months :eek: ) has it been used.

The reason I have kept it for so long is because we can only use the oven or the grill at any one time. It hasn't been a problem though, we rarely eat chips and we have a small George Foreman type thingy.

So what do you reckon? Stay or Go (Freecycle). ?

Thanks again OS People