Deep Frying: Techniques and Tips

[Phaz]

Has anyone fried in bacon fat?

I've heard good things about cooking burgers sous vide and then deep frying them to sear. A friend and I thought bacon fat would be a good choice to deep fry with. We are thinking we can just cook a LOT of bacon at a lower temp to render all the fat out, then pour it into a container with water in it, let that cool and scoop more purified bacon fat off the top.

We weren't able to find any info on the smoke or flash point of bacon fat but we are guessing it would be close to that of Lard.

Another option is to mix it with some duck fat and fry in that. From my experience duck fat makes everything taste better.

[BadRabbit]

Has anyone fried in bacon fat?

I've heard good things about cooking burgers sous vide and then deep frying them to sear. A friend and I thought bacon fat would be a good choice to deep fry with. We are thinking we can just cook a LOT of bacon at a lower temp to render all the fat out, then pour it into a container with water in it, let that cool and scoop more purified bacon fat off the top.

In my experience (I'm from Alabama so my experience with bacon fat is extensive), you don't need to use 100% bacon fat to get the desired effect. I usually just add a half cup or so to 4-5 cups of either peanut oil or lard and use that to deep fry.

Even though you specify you're going to need a lot of bacon, I bet you're underestimating how much it would take to get enough for 100% bacon fat deep frying. I keep a quart mason jar to collect my bacon fat and it takes forever to fill it (we easily eat 2 lbs/ week in my family).

Edited: for clarity

Edited June 18, 2010 by BadRabbit (log)

[Phaz]

Has anyone fried in bacon fat?

I've heard good things about cooking burgers sous vide and then deep frying them to sear. A friend and I thought bacon fat would be a good choice to deep fry with. We are thinking we can just cook a LOT of bacon at a lower temp to render all the fat out, then pour it into a container with water in it, let that cool and scoop more purified bacon fat off the top.

In my experience (I'm from Alabama so my experience with bacon fat is extensive), you don't need to use 100% bacon fat to get the desired effect. I usually just add a half cup or so to 4-5 cups of either peanut oil or lard and use that to deep fry.

Even though you specify you're going to need a lot of bacon, I bet you're underestimating how much it would take to get enough for 100% bacon fat deep frying. I keep a quart mason jar to collect my bacon fat and it takes forever to fill it (we easily eat 2 lbs/ week in my family).

Edited: for clarity

Thanks for the tips.

I thought of mixing some duck fat in with the bacon fat to get the quantity we needed. We were looking at probably 10 pounds of bacon to get the fat we needed. Using less than that and having the same effect seems like a much smarter plan.

I wonder how mixing oil flavors works. I'm curious if mixing peanut oil, duck fat and bacon grease will let you taste all three flavors or if they will just mix together into a random mess or if one will just overpower the others. Sounds like we have some testing to do.

[Chris Hennes]

If you're just looking for a way to get bacon flavor into the burger I suggest grinding the raw bacon in with the beef, rather than trying to actually deep-fry in it. It seems awfully wasteful of all that good bacon fat, when you'll only get a couple uses out of it before it goes rancid from the heat-cycling.

[nickrey]

Another variant on the triple cooked chip method.

I took the first part of this process (ie using the microwave) from the excellent Playing with Fire and Water blog.

Instead of peeling and boiling as the first stage, simply clean the outside of the potatoes and place in microwave on paper towel. Cook at full heat for 4-8 minutes (depends on size of potato).

Take potatoes out of microwave and prepare chips while they are still warm. You can easily peel off skin if you want or leave it on. Cut into chunky chips.

Place chips immediately in deep fryer at 140C, cook until slightly coloured. Drain oil, place on paper towel, and put chips aside.

Crank deep fryer up to 180C then refry chips until golden.

Drain and place on paper towel. Add salt immediately and serve.

[palo]

So by whatever method/recipe you have produced some great fried food. Now presuming we are working in our home kitchen, we will need to prepare our food in batches due to cooking appliance limitations.

Now my question is, based on your experience, what is the best way to maintain the first batch while you produce the second/third batches? Keep in mind the goal is not just maintaining the temperature, but the crispy fried texture of that first batch.

A second question might be, how do you reheat something like fried chicken to get as close as possible to the original?

p

[gulfporter]

I got tired of popping up and down, out of my chair to keep up with fresh batches of fried foods.  

 

We bought a Masterbuilt indoor electric turkey fryer (doubles as a boiler for masses of homemade ravioli or large boiled dinners).  I use this for all my large parties where fried foods from oysters to chicken are on the menu.  I love this piece of equipment.  And yes, we use it for turkeys....they are amazing and so fast!  

 

FYI: I normally put the fryer on a covered porch or patio to keep the fried smell out of the house.  

[radtek]

It's really a frustrating situation.

 

I've found reheating fried food to be subpar at best when compared to freshly fried. The crust/breading usually is too dark by the time it heats through. Letting it warm up before the oven causes condensation and soggy breading. 

 

A warm oven will help keep the fried food in it's preferred state for a little while. A rack on a sheet pan. Not ideal as previously mentioned.

[gfweb]

Also the fried stuff should never be covered while it is sitting in the oven (or anywhere) they will steam themselves and get soggy.

[Anna N]

It's really a frustrating situation.

 

I've found reheating fried food to be subpar at best when compared to freshly fried. The crust/breading usually is too dark by the time it heats through. Letting it warm up before the oven causes condensation and soggy breading. 

 

A warm oven will help keep the fried food in it's preferred state for a little while. A rack on a sheet pan. Not ideal as previously mentioned.

The Cuisinart steam oven does a fantastic job of reheating fried food.

[palo]

@AnnN: Please tell me more, I have a CSO and haven't tried the steam function as I thought it would make it soggy.

 

p

[Anna N]

@AnnN: Please tell me more, I have a CSO and haven't tried the steam function as I thought it would make it soggy.

 

p

here you go

[KennethT]

I keep the fried food on a rack and use a heat lamp... it's not good for reheating, but it will keep fried foods hot while waiting for subsequent batches and will not trap the steam which leads to soggy crust.

[William Colsher]

One of the "secrets" to keeping fried food crispy is wheat dextrin, aka Benefiber, aka Trisol. A quick Google will give you percentages.

[Anna N]

here you go

I was asked by PM what time and temperature I used to re-heat KFC chicken. I believe I would have used the bake steam function with the rack in the middle position and a temperature of 250°F for 20 minutes.

[Kerry Beal]

One of the "secrets" to keeping fried food crispy is wheat dextrin, aka Benefiber, aka Trisol. A quick Google will give you percentages.

I think Benefibre is inulin rather than wheat dextrin.  It's a sugar that's not absorbed in the gut - hence passes through taking water with it.  Cause of major gut grief on occasion in the form of jerusalem artichokes for me!

[Fernwood]

I think Benefibre is inulin rather than wheat dextrin.  It's a sugar that's not absorbed in the gut - hence passes through taking water with it.  Cause of major gut grief on occasion in the form of jerusalem artichokes for me!

 

Apparently Canadian Benefibre is inulin and American Benefiber is wheat dextrin; go figure!

http://www.benefibre.ca/fiberHealth/index.shtml?faqs

http://www.benefiber.com/fiber-faqs/

[Kerry Beal]

Apparently Canadian Benefibre is inulin and American Benefiber is wheat dextrin; go figure!

http://www.benefibre.ca/fiberHealth/index.shtml?faqs

http://www.benefiber.com/fiber-faqs/

Interesting - I remember looking for US Benefibre in the past (likely for the same reason) and finding only flavoured varieties.

[kwankapang]

I normally deep fried the food in batches, and then leave it in the oven at about 80 to 100 degree Celcius.  It works quite well even after two hours.