Deep frying in a pot

corblimey

I want to try some crispy noodles this weekend (from Perfect on UKTV Food) and don't want to go out and buy a fryer especially, so how easy is to deep fry in a normal pot or saucepan? I know you should heat the oil until a piece of bread goes golden, that's the perfect temp, but then I'm thinking, what do you do? Won't the oil just keep getting hotter and hotter - adding the noodles might reduce the temp, and you can control the flame a little, but it still seems to be fairly fraught for doing this sort of thing on a job - at least with a fryer, you can keep the temperature steady.

Is there an obvious solution, or should I buy myself a fryer? (Something like this as I doubt I'll get much use out of it)

ElleEm

I use a pot to make onion bhajia and stuff, and I have never had any issues.
Use a big pot (I actually use a wok type pot). Once the oil appears hot enough, I drop the temp a bit.
You will be able to judge by looking at it.
Keep a damp teatowel beside you to fling over the pot if it goes on fire.

corblimey

ElleEm wrote: »

You will be able to judge by looking at it.

What am I looking for? Bubbling? Shimmering?

ElleEm wrote: »

Keep a damp teatowel beside you to fling over the pot if it goes on fire.

I'm less worried about a massive fire and more worried about burning my food to a crisp by having the oil too hot or ruining it by not having the oil hot enough for the length of the cooking

ElleEm

You don't want it to boil, you'll see the wierd wobbly heat through the oil, check with the bread if it's ready, and if it is, whack in your noodles. At this point, I'd go from full flame to medium flame. The minute you drop your noodles in, the oil will bubble up and go a bit frothy looking- it'll give you a fright! That's why you need a big pot or wok. Leave room in the pot for the oil to bubble an extra 50%. That'll simmer down and you can just look at the noodles til you think they're done.

Haruki

A heavy based pot/pan will work no problem. And as you say flame i presume your using gas, which is good, it will help you regulate the temperature of the oil better than electric(well, that's what i found personally). But as ElleEm says, damp tea towel nearby...just in case. But it will work fine.

Ps..i really want onion bhajis now, DAMN you ElleEm !:D

ElleEm

Haruki wrote: »

Ps..i really want onion bhajis now, DAMN you ElleEm !:D

I had them at the weekend so it was the best example. For the record, they were AMAZING!

CJhaughey

I use a long stem fry thermometer that came with my turkey fry kit, much easier to fry correctly when you have the temp!

frang

i always use a pot, just make sure theres enough room fr the oil to bubble up, you could try a few noodles for a test first theyre not that expensive.

unkel

And be careful folks, more people die in this country from open pan oil fires than are murdered!

reallyrose

unkel wrote: »

And be careful folks, more people die in this country from open pan oil fires than are murdered!

Amen to that.
I was in a a house fire caused by one of those when I was 16. Still have the scars!

OP, please be careful... Even if the oil is clean it can still go on fire quicker than you'd think!

moonflower

Be careful frying those noodles, they puff up like mad when you put them in the oil and the oil froths up a lot. Put them in in tiny amounts, less than a handful at a time.

Minder

Buy a fryer. It will have a thermostat that will prevent the oil getting beyond a dangerous temperature. Once you have a fryer, go and buy a packet of panko breadcrumbs. Once you taste homemade chicken nuggets you will be panko-ing everything.

The Sweeper

+1 to buying a fryer, also I'd never use a heavy pot for deep frying because they retain heat, which you don't want. If I had to fry in a pot I'd use a light aluminium pan or a wok so that as soon as you turn the heat down under the pot, the reduction in heat is conducted to the oil immediately.

Also I wouldn't try putting out a chip pan fire myself. If I could turn the heat off and cover it safely I would, otherwise call the fire brigade. (So many people are horrifically injured every year trying to extinguish chip pan fires that the current advice is just that - get you and yours out of the house and call the fire brigade).

corblimey

Yeah I'm starting to lean towards getting a cheap fryer - would a cheap one suffice for infrequent use, or is it a case of you get what you pay for?

The Sweeper

If you want a fryer for infrequent use I'd recommend buying based on the oil capacity, so how much oil you need to fill it to frying level. I have a good quality fryer, but use it infrequently and mine requires FOUR litres of oil to fill!! So to fry chicken wings I have to spend $10 on oil.

Minder

Also the oil needs to be changed on a regular basis - so it can be an expensive kitchen accessory if it needs a lot of oil. I use the fryer in the garden from time to time to avoid the house filling with fryer steam. A good extractor thats vents outside will do the same.

Darkginger

I own a deep fat fryer (my 2nd) and I hate the bloomin' thing - as others have mentioned, unless you're deep frying on a regular basis, they take shedloads of oil - and it goes off really quickly. I do my deep frying in a wok now - if I fill it to half its depth with oil, it's almost impossible for it to overflow when food is added, because of the shape of the vessel - it gets a lot wider as it goes up. Works just fine, but you need a pair of tongs, or a metal draining spoon, to remove the food when it's cooked.

Over-heated, over-used oil becomes carcinogenic, so you need to be a bit careful with it - don't re-use it over and over again no matter what bit of equipment you're frying in. The fried bread test works - when it crisps up a cube of bread really quickly, that's your moment to start frying - the added food will bring down the temperature if it's bulky, and not if it isn't, like noodles. The oil doesn't really keep getting hotter and hotter when it's being used to cook something - the heat is being transferred into the food - and if you remove the food as soon as it's cooked through, and then turn off the heat, you should be fine.

Instead of investing in a deep fat fryer, invest in a temperature probe so you can check the internal temperature of whatever you're cooking to make sure it's safe to eat.

Unless you're intending to deep fry a least 3 times a week, I wouldn't bother with a fryer.

corblimey

Compelling argument, darkginger. I certainly won't be deep frying that often, my arteries harden at the mere thought of it, and to be honest, I'm not even sure I'll like fried noodles (and right now can't think of anything else I need to deep fry). I've got this in my basket, as I need a proper deep wok, so I'll try your method soon.