In Praise of Deep Fat Fryers

[UnderOpenSky]

I know they aren't very popular these days, but I do love having one for occasional use. Just for starters chips taste so much better as does all sorts of cheap frozen foods. Current favorite are battered chicken you get in Iceland, 8 bit for £2 and square sausage slices.

I've not bought anything from the takeaway on the way back from the pub since I got it, so it's certainly paid for itself. It's bizarre though that fry only chips actually work out cheaper then buying spuds and making them yourself.

Anyone else got one and what are your favorite culinary delights you create in it?

 

[DotCommunist]

I always found the home use ones to be such a bastard to clean that it never got done and they go minging within six uses.

ma has a commercial one that is reltaviley easy to clean but its big enough to feed the five thousand so it never gets used except for when she's doing church catering

 

[joustmaster]

They just make the house smell to much.

The last couple of times I've used mine, I have put it outside in the garden.
Then the last time, I used it I couldn't be bothered cleaning it, so just chucked it out.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Yeah, I've still got to work out what to do with oil as it's time it need changing. I've not owned one since I was a student. Back then I used to pour it down a street drain, but I suspect that's a bit irresponsible.

On the flip side I have fried chicken on demand.

 

[Frances Lengel]

Tip the oil into a glass jar/a couple of glass jars, wait for it to go cold, put the lids on and launch into the bin. Or just don't change the oil - It takes on the flavours of what's previously been fried & just keeps getting better.

Mind you, they coat your kitchen in grease particles so on that basis alone I wouldn't have one. If I had an outbuilding I could use as the frying room I'd have one then though.

 

[joustmaster]

just chuck it all in to the canal

 

[chemn]

Battered deep fried bacon was either one of the soaring pinnacles or squalid depths of my life as a student, depending on what you're into...

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Yeah, I've still got to work out what to do with oil as it's time it need changing. I've not owned one since I was a student. Back then I used to pour it down a street drain, but I suspect that's a bit irresponsible.
<snip>

Pour the boiling oil through the slits in your castle outer wall to repel invaders. Then sit and eat chicken and chips while said invaders die horribly.

But Frances is right - store it until it is cold and chuck it in the bin. But years ago we used to use waste oil to fry stuff like bread and make seed cakes for the birds, but you'd need saturated fat to do seed cakes. They used to love it in winter.

 

[Sprocket.]

Sorry, I thought the thread was about, reticent, rotund, Benedictine monks.

 

[Yelkcub]

Don't put it down a drain!

 

[dessiato]

I use my wok for deep fat frying. It is easy to clean, seems to use less oil than a dedicated fryer and has multiple other uses. I use olive oil in it, except for doing stir fries. It is easy to empty, I wait till it is cold, then pour the oil through a filter into glass bottles where it is stored until reusing or discarding.

If you have a diesel car it is possible to use the oil as fuel. BUT make sure that your car will run without damaging the engine before chucking it in as some will not run very happily on waste vegetable oil. If you have enough you can convert the oil to Bio-diesel very easily in a domestic kitchen.

 

[Citizen66]

Pour the oil down the drain then brag about it to your eco activist mates.

Or just don't change the oil - It takes on the flavours of what's previously been fried & just keeps getting better.

Chips start to look minging though. And is it alright to have bits of fried fish hanging around indefinitely?

 

[Shirl]

Battered deep fried bacon was either one of the soaring pinnacles or squalid depths of my life as a student, depending on what you're into...

I wouldn't go anywhere near anything like that now but I would have loved it as a teenager and it's the sort of food my mother cooked anyway

 

[Sprocket.]

The only advantage of a fat fryer is it has reduced the fatalities of drunks playing Rotherham roulette. (Cooking chips when pist)

 

[farmerbarleymow]

The only advantage of a fat fryer is it has reduced the fatalities of drunks playing Rotherham roulette. (Cooking chips when pist)

That is precisely the reason I've never had one, as I know what I'm like when pissed.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Recently discovered the joys of frying by making Tempura for the Mrs, also bought a job lot of deep fry Samosa's as they were on offer for Ramadan which are utterly lush and perfect snacky food. I use a Wok for it and works well.

Dealing with the oil is a bitch though.

 

[Sprocket.]

We use groundnut oil bit more expensive (sorry jamie) but the for small amount of use it gets, no problem.
We save the bottles the new oil comes in for disposing of the old at the local recycle centre.
Tempura veg being the fave.

 

[chemn]

I wouldn't go anywhere near anything like that now but I would have loved it as a teenager and it's the sort of food my mother cooked anyway

It happened last year.... I was 27 at the time ...

 

[Callum91]

I'm sure I read something about the oil getting unhealthier the more times you use it? Or did I start on the vaporiser early this morning...

 

[telbert]

Yeah, I've still got to work out what to do with oil as it's time it need changing. I've not owned one since I was a student. Back then I used to pour it down a street drain, but I suspect that's a bit irresponsible.

On the flip side I have fried chicken on demand.

Let it cool,re -bottle it and use it(only a little)to light the bbq.Or find some one thats into bio fuel.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I'm having bonkers thoughts of buying another one as I'm getting more into cooking Chinese takeaway type food.

I'm using a Wok at the moment like dessiato and it works great. The issue is even with my 5 burner hob, once you have a big wok in the centre cooking anything else like stir frying chow mein gets tricky. Need to build more shelving first. Always bought cheap ones in the past and not owned on for about 6 years, but these seem popular on some groups and apparently filter the oil.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tefal-Oleoclean-Fryer-Portions-Litre/dp/B01I06PEBU

 

[dessiato]

I'm having bonkers thoughts of buying another one as I'm getting more into cooking Chinese takeaway type food.

I'm using a Wok at the moment like dessiato and it works great. The issue is even with my 5 burner hob, once you have a big wok in the centre cooking anything else like stir frying chow mein gets tricky. Need to build more shelving first. Always bought cheap ones in the past and not owned on for about 6 years, but these seem popular on some groups and apparently filter the oil.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tefal-Oleoclean-Fryer-Portions-Litre/dp/B01I06PEBU

That looks quite good. I’ve been thinking of getting one for the same reasons that you mention. But at the moment I’ve started making my own udon noodles and pasta so a spaghetti machine (preferably electric) is higher on the wish list.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

That looks quite good. I’ve been thinking of getting one for the se reasons that you mention. But at the moment I’ve started making my own udon noodles and pasta so a spaghetti machine (preferably electric) is higher on the wish list.

I've been tempted by one for a while but fear it will get used a few times and then gather dust, like the meat grinder/sausage maker attachment for food mixer. Which doesn't get enough use itself.

I'd be really intersted on how you get on though!

 

[campanula]

I have one. Almost exactly the same as the one you like, UnderAnOpenSky. I retired my ancient chip pan which, after 30 years or so of use, was so hideously encrusted with ancient oil, we had to keep it hidden in a cupboard (the shame). Even though the shiny new steel fryer is now almost equally grim, the pleasures of home-made chips, from our home-grown Kestrel potatoes, is one of the great joys of late summer and autumn. For a few short months, we eat 'something with chips' a couple of times a week. I don't have to think very hard about menus, shopping or planning because, at the very least, there will always be eggs (with chips) in the cupboard. Plus, our chips are glorious - crisply brown on the outside, tenderly fluffy inside. I don't use it (the fryer) for anything else...but would miss it if we ever had to eat the abominations known as 'oven chips'...or, worse, those rubbery bits of stringy nastiness called 'fries'.

I did cave in and buy some Rooster potatoes - and have eaten them tonight with sirloin. less than 15 minutes to prepare and cook.

 

[MrCurry]

I use mine for chips, onion bhajis, pakora, chicken in breadcrumbs, potato skins, and pre-cooking chicken chunks in batter for Chinese dishes like salt&pepper chicken. I have an air fryer too, but there’s really no cross over between the two. Air fryer is good for fast grilling stuff like chicken tikka, oven chips, fish fingers, etc. Deep fryer is for actual frying.

If you get one with a lid theres not so much oil mist escaping to coat your kitchen walls. Emptying it once in a while to clean it isn’t the end of the world veg oil can be had for less than a quid per litre.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Think I'll have chips tonight

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Think I'll have chips tonight

Being slack as its been a manic day so picked up some frozen ones, but home made triple cooked need to feature in future. And lots of Chinese takeaway type food.

View attachment 219415

 

[UrbaneFox]

Formerly known as 'the chip pan'. I won't have one in the flat.

End.

 

[BristolEcho]

My Mum has one and I love going back home to have Egg and Chips. Sadly I doubt we'll ever get one.

 

[BristolEcho]

I have one. Almost exactly the same as the one you like, UnderAnOpenSky. I retired my ancient chip pan which, after 30 years or so of use, was so hideously encrusted with ancient oil, we had to keep it hidden in a cupboard (the shame). Even though the shiny new steel fryer is now almost equally grim, the pleasures of home-made chips, from our home-grown Kestrel potatoes, is one of the great joys of late summer and autumn. For a few short months, we eat 'something with chips' a couple of times a week. I don't have to think very hard about menus, shopping or planning because, at the very least, there will always be eggs (with chips) in the cupboard. Plus, our chips are glorious - crisply brown on the outside, tenderly fluffy inside. I don't use it (the fryer) for anything else...but would miss it if we ever had to eat the abominations known as 'oven chips'...or, worse, those rubbery bits of stringy nastiness called 'fries'.

I did cave in and buy some Rooster potatoes - and have eaten them tonight with sirloin. less than 15 minutes to prepare and cook.

This sounds amazing by the way.