Your deep fryer is a sizable investment for your kitchen, in terms of upfront cost, constant attention by your labour force and the need to constantly monitor the cooking oil. It is hot, slippery work, and requires experience to deal with handling hot oil and properly cooking all types of foods. However, your deep fryer can be your cash cow, turning out crowd favourites like fries, chicken wings, chicken tenders and fried seafood for an excellent profit. Your biggest expense related to the fryer will be the constant need to purchase cooking oil, which is a required component of deep fat frying. This articles explains the causes of dirty oil and how to keep it cleaner for longer, prolonging the life of the oil you purchase.
Contamination and high heat are the biggest issues for oil life. Learn the best ways to get the most out of your oil.
Fry at recommended temperatures – calibrate using a deep-fry thermometer. Decrease heat on the oil when the kitchen is slow to reduce burning and. Skim floating food particles from the top of the oil regularly, especially breading and spices. Water causes oil to break down more quickly. Be sure not to fill baskets over the fryer to reduce the amount of excess breading and ice falling into the oil. Spices, especially salty spices, break down the oil by reacting to it. Starch and protein will carbonise, turning the oil black and destablising it.
If possible, filter oil daily or as frequently as possible. Regular oil filtering will help you realise the full value of better quality oils. Make this a required part of your kitchen or maintenance staff’s duties, because every extra day you can use your oil is money saved in your drawer.
BASICS OF OIL MAINTENANCE
- Do not refill a wet fryer.
- Do not fill baskets over they fryer.
- Never season product over fryer.
- Do not put seasoned, fried product back into fryer.
- Do not overfill fryer baskets or shake baskets during frying.
- Skim off food particles regularly.
CHANGING THE OIL
- Start with a warm fryer.
- Turn off burners and open drain valve.
- Use a tool to remove all particles from drain.
- Remove all food particles from bottom of fryer.
- Rinse with hot water to remove all food sludge.
- Close the drainer and fill with clean water, add fryer cleaner as per directions.
- “Boil Out”: Put in basket and skimmer in tank and boil.
- Turn off burners and drain hot water.
- Keep drain open and rinse fryer, baskets and skimmer with clean water.
- Fill with vinegar/water solution (1 part vinegar to 20 parts water) to neutralise cleaner.
- Drain and rinse with clean water. Dry completely.
- Refill to proper level with oil.
To prevent water contamination, be sure that fryer is thoroughly dry before adding the new oil. If you clean the fryer at night and wipe it out, it will then have all night to air dry before the next day.
WATCH THIS INFORMATION IN A VIDEO:
All of the information in this articles comes courtesy of Whole Harvest Oils, and you can watch it in the video below.
ABOUT WHOLE HARVEST OILS
Whole Harvest is a brand of premium cooking oils that offers the least amount of processing and the most natural oils on the market. Most vegetable oils are extracted from the seed by a chemical solvent such as hexane. Basically, when the seeds are soaked in the chemicals, the oil comes out and is collected. Whole Harvest uses a mechanical method to heat and press the oil out of the seeds instead, which means there is no need to soak the seeds in hexane and therefore a more “natural” product.
Whole Harvest oils last longer in your fryer because they include Vitamin E, an essential oil that is extracted from chemically processed oils. Other oil companies split out the Vitamin E which is of great value to the pharmaceutical industry. However, the Vitamin E plays a big part in keeping the cooking stable at high temperatures, and therefore an oil stripped of Vitamin E will never be able to last as long as one that still includes it. Using Whole Harvest Oils, and keeping to a sensible oil maintenance schedule is the best way to extend the life of your oil, and keep the complete oil change to once a week or less for busy kitchens. Consider investing in a oil strainer and filter, which will give you dramatic results in prolonging the life of your oil.
Ask your BFS sales rep to schedule an appointment to perform a test on your current oil, and compare it to the Whole Harvest method. Purchase of Whole Harvest oils includes the SmartFry Oil Maintenance Kit, designed to make testing and cleaning your oil as simple as possible.
SMARTFRY OIL MAINTENANCE KIT
- Thermometer to calibrate your oil temperature and keep the heat consistent.
- Colour Test Kit: Includes oil (eye) dropper and colour standard for comparison. Suck up some of your oil in the dropper and put in the stand next to the standard against a white background. If oil is lighter than standard, continue to use the oil until it is darker than the standard at which point you should replace it.
- Skimmer to remove loose particles every time you fry.
- Fry Chart – Laminated chart with invaluable frying information including a daily frying checklist, frying guide with helpful tips for extending life of oil, troubleshooting oil issues
MORE OIL MAINTENANCE RESOURCES
Facts about Frying Smoking points for a list of different oils, signs of deteriorated oil, putting out oil fires and deep-frying tips to prolong your use of your cooking oil.
Whole Harvest Cost Calculator: Factor in your current costs and see if premium cooking oil is worth it for you
Deep Fryers and related products for sale at BFS.
Whole Harvest oil products at BFS
