Have you ever wanted just this perfect piece of fried chicken? So delicate, so juicy, so mouth watering tasty. You look for that crunch, for that solid yet delicate touch of a Krispee skin. You want that flaky batter to just explode with textures and flavours all over your mouth. But instead you got this cooked piece of slobby wet dough just shy of being called anything but fried. If anything drenched in oil describes it better.
You have come to the right PLACE. I'm going to teach you the secrets of why your deliciously fried chicken, chip or even nugget just ain't that crispy. It is all down to 1 major problem.
YOUR OIL IS NOT HOT ENOUGH!!!
So first we got to ask ourselves
HOW DOES FRYING WORK?
People usually fry their foods at 180°C frying foods at this temperature causes the outer layer of whatever you are frying to dehydrate and crisp up. Oh as well as the lovely mailliard reactions, those lovely golden brown chemical formations of proteins and sugars breaking down into little tiny flavor bombs.
Once the outer layer forms constant heat from the oil heats up the thing your frying causing it to evaporate the water molecules within your ingredient causing it to cook to a tender perfection. This is why you get all those little bubbles when you are frying, it is the steam escaping from the piece of chicken, fry, or whatever you are frying.
WHY NOT COLD OIL?
So why must the oil be hot enough? If not you will end up with this huge ball of greasy mess? Now with cold oil, pretty obvious the oil is not hot enough. When something isn't hot enough the thing your cooking won't cook as fast.
Just like a piece of steak or meat when you are grilling. You want it to be blistering hot so it leaves a nice char on it and keep its juices and flavors locked in. Same case applies here with the oil being not hot enough the crust just does not form. All that nasty oil gets absorbed by the coating you worked so hard on and just pulls the coating away from the thing you wanted to deep fry. This leaves you with nothing but a huge soggy mess in the fryer for you to clean up.
SO HOW DO YOU KNOW IF THE OIL IS READY?
Most shops and restaurants and even serious fryers would have a thermometer or like some sort of fancy gadget to measure the heat of the oil so they know when it is right. Or they sacrifice a little piece of whatever to test if the oil is ready.
BUTTT if you are like me and don't want to waste your precious little foods all you need is a WOODEN CHOP STICK. Yes all you need is a little wooden chop stick and you got yourself a super super cheap thermometer. No more soggy greasy foods for you, only golden brown KRISPEE babies.
So all you got to do is stick your chop stick into the oil. If bubbles start to rapidly form at the base of the chop stick then you are good to go. Don't USE PLASTIC, this is like one of the worst ways to die and you will probably end up eating plastic in your foods too.
So remember. CHOP STICK, BUBBLES, FRY, HAPPY.
If you remember these 4 words you will never have sad soggy greasy foods ever again, provided you cooked them yourself.
Till Next Time,
Happy Cooking
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