Deep frying is one of the first skills you learn to cook with in the kitchen. You simply immerse the food briefly in very hot oil in a suitable deep fry pan until it is cooked crisp and golden on the outside, while moist and tender on the inside.
Fish and chips are a popular and easy dish to prepare
using this method, as are cubes of meat for making sweet
sour pork, and battered drumsticks and chicken wings for
parties. An electric deep fryer with an inbuilt thermometer
seems more convenient than a normal deep fry pan, but that
is not always the case.
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Cleaning up is usually a problem as the oil splatters and grease build-up tend to get into every nook and cranny of the machine.
To take up less space in the kitchen, the draining basket is typically quite small but that means the food does not have enough room to move properly, so you end up wasting time by cooking in several small batches than if you used a larger deep fry pan.
You will also have to change and reheat the oil for later batches and this is an unnecessary wastage that a deep fry pan can save on.
The Asian or oriental-style wok is the ideal deep fry pan.
With its deep sloping sides, the heat from flames can reach a larger surface area at one time without being spread out, thus reducing your cooking time. Also, the inverted conical shape of this type of deep fry pan allows for bigger pieces of food to be cooked in only half the amount of oil than if you used a flat-bottomed pan or an electric fryer. |
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Traditionally, these deep fry pans come in cast iron only. These days, stainless steel is a good replacement as its smooth finish is much easier to clean.
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