The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 1065

Don’tFeartheFat!
Ahotwokofoilisnothingtobetrifledwith,butjustlikea
pit bull, it can sense fear.Timid novice fryers often decide
tokeeptheirhandsasafedistancefromtheoilbydropping
the food into it from a height.The food ends up splashing
hot oil out of the wok, and onto their skin and clothes,
making them even more scared the next time. The goal
when adding food to a fryer should be to minimize
splashing.You do this by bringing your hand (or tongs, if
you’re using them) as close to the surface of the oil as
possible before dropping in the food. For small pieces of
food,acoupleinchesorless,thismeansgettingyourfingers
toaboutaninchofabovetheoilasyouaddeachone.For
larger pieces—a whole fish fillet, say—it means dipping in
oneendandthengentlyloweringthefilletintotheoiluntil
only the last inch sticks out before dropping it. Lowering


foods into the oil a piece at a time will also keep battered
itemsfromstickingtogetherinalargemass.

AvoidCrowds
Adding too much food to the hot oil in a single batch will
cause the oil temperature to drop rapidly, reducing the
effectiveness of your fry. Your food won’t crisp properly,
and batter-coated foods may lose some of their coating.A
goodruleofthumbistoneveraddmorethanahalfpound
of refrigerator-temperature food per quart of hot oil. So, if
you want to cook that 1-pound batch of fries, you’ve gotta
use a full half-gallon of oil, or go in batches (I suggest
batches). Of course, frozen food should be fried in even