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Archive for the ‘Deep Frying’ Category

Fats for deep fat frying should be capable of being heated to a high temperature without smoking or burning.  Smoking impairs the flavor, the digestibility and the durability of the fat.  Once upon a time fat was used over and over for frying.  Over time the smoke became more so unless the cook cleaned the fat between frying.  We now know that this reuse of fat for frying can be dangerous to your health, so it is no longer recommended that you do it.

Vegetable fats and oils are used most often for frying.  They both have high smoking temperatures. They absorb practically no odor from the foods fried and are not likely to burn.  They are the best all around items to use for frying.

Olive oil can also be used for frying, although most cooks use it rarely, especially deep-frying, as the cost is high.  Olive oil has a low smoking temperature as it produces smoke slowly and the smoke is non-irritating.  It also adds flavor to the foods you are frying.

My mother used to use Crisco (in lard form) for frying and it had a very low temperature for smoking!  Very often it would fill the house with smoke as she was frying.  The smoke was very irritating and when she used it more than once it would pick up the flavors and odors from the food, transferring it to the new food.  So I would not recommend this for frying.

The best one I have found for frying is vegetable oil or canola oil, they both have high smoking temperatures and they do not absorb odor from other foods.

Remember although our mothers and grandmothers did it, never reuse the oil for your next round of frying, it is not healthy for you or your family.

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