Cholesterol Concerns and Management Through Diet

[TicTac]

Staff note: to maintain topic focus, this post and the reponses to it have been moved from the My Deep-frying Journey, and Gluten-free Breading Issues discussion.

 

Unless you wish to end up in the Cardiac ward, I am not sure a deep frying journey is well advised....  

 

Save yourself the hassle, the mess and the dauntingly negative health implications and invest in an air fryer instead!  Seriously though, I have enjoyed great results with one (I don't own one, but have had great wings pumped out from these beasts!).

[Alex]

7 hours ago, TicTac said:

Unless you wish to end up in the Cardiac ward, I am not sure a deep frying journey is well advised....  

 

Save yourself the hassle, the mess and the dauntingly negative health implications and invest in an air fryer instead!  Seriously though, I have enjoyed great results with one (I don't own one, but have had great wings pumped out from these beasts!).

 

Pray tell, what is so horribly risky about eating the occasional -- and properly prepared -- deep-fried food?

[heidih]

39 minutes ago, Alex said:

 

Pray tell, what is so horribly risky about eating the occasional -- and properly prepared -- deep-fried food?

I always think of the Wesson commerials that Florence Henderson did showing how much oil went in and what was left. Properly done - almost greaseless. 

[Bernie]

Here is something that is off topic (sort of), but it may be related.

https://sciencenorway.no/cholesterol-fat-heart-attacks/new-model-could-explain-old-cholesterol-mystery/1810159

The point of straying off topic is to remind us all that making assumptions on what is good for an individual based on our own beliefs is not the purpose of egullet (well I hope it isn't).

 

Personally, I don't have to worry about gluten intolerance but have family members who do, but I do know that adapting cooking techniques and ingredients  to deal with it is pretty hard.

I have inadvertently purchased gluten free breadcrumbs, and found them to perform like normal breadcrumbs, though they didn't seem to brown as well. Perhaps it needs higher temperatures.

When I crumb fish pork or chicken I toss in flour, dip in egg and then crumbs. The flour helps the crumb sick to the food.

Trouble is flour contains gluten. I haven't used corn flour but I can't imagine why it wouldn't work, but corn flour can contain (or sometimes is fully) wheat starch which has gluten.

By the way I have no idea what you make gluten free breadcrumbs from.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, Bernie said:

By the way I have no idea what you make gluten free breadcrumbs from.

 

Gluten free bread?

 

[KingDuckford]

5 hours ago, heidih said:

I always think of the Wesson commerials that Florence Henderson did showing how much oil went in and what was left. Properly done - almost greaseless. 

This is correct.  On the long path of deep frying, you realize the biggest problem is oil that is too cool, or more commonly, oil temperature dips even if your initial temperature was good.  Thick batters become mush, food comes out greasy and outright oily.  Tried commercial ham and cheese balls before I knew I had Celiac, and they came out as a giant mush ball.  It becomes a quick learning curve, and you realize why a lot of people hate home deep frying.

 

When frying in the 5 quart dutch oven on a NuWave, I had results with chicken that were acceptable to good.  But, the oil never rotted out, because so much of it was constantly lost on the colder, soggier results that replacement oil to keep it level made sure it stayed fresh!  Poorer, colder frying leads to greasier food, and you can guess how good your fry session was by looking at the oil level when finished.  It is a direct correlation between how little oil came out with the food and how well it fried.

 

That's why I've been so pleased with the new commercial fryer.  Put chicken legs on a rack over a pizza pan, and I could scarcely believe just how dry the pizza pan was, as there was virtually no drip.  French fries thrown on paper towels on plate remain almost totally dry, as what little oil remains on the fries, well, just sticks to the fries and doesn't drip.  20+ frying sessions and I realized that my usual chore of refilling the oil level periodically was now over, because so little oil comes out with the food that it never seems to go down. 

 

Poorer frying methods can certainly make for greasy food.  But, proper temperature control yields incredibly non-greasy food.  Even if certain vegetable oils aren't the healthiest, proper frying methods reduce exposure more than you might think.