Oil for deep fat frying
Discussion
I always used to use supermarket own brand sunflower oil, but found that it develops a slightly sour/rancid taste very quickly.
Last couple of fills, I've used Mazola instead, which IMO makes the tastiest chips, but seems to be more easily tainted by other flavours than sunflower.
On someone else's recommendation, I'm trying rapeseed oil this time round (advised that it's the most neutral in flavour) and early signs are good (made Heston's triple cooked chips last night
), although experience says that it takes a couple of uses before oil gets to its best.
Thoughts?
Last couple of fills, I've used Mazola instead, which IMO makes the tastiest chips, but seems to be more easily tainted by other flavours than sunflower.
On someone else's recommendation, I'm trying rapeseed oil this time round (advised that it's the most neutral in flavour) and early signs are good (made Heston's triple cooked chips last night
), although experience says that it takes a couple of uses before oil gets to its best.Thoughts?
palmoil will give you a very "chip shop" flavour, whilst retaining some crispiness- duck oil works very well, and lard gives an amazing flavour but no crispiness.
The chip shops i started used a mix of oils- about 40" lard, 40" palm oil and 20" groundnut- produced great flavours and cripsy edges.
Oil in itself starts to go off as soon as you use it- the heat starts to break it down, and even worse the water and the carbon from the food is much worse. The best thing you can do with oil is to filter it every time you use it, and keep the bottom of your pan sparkly. in the shops we would filter the oil 3-4 times a day, and scrub the bottom of the pans clean to keep the carbon off- we would also have hand filter to remove as much as the oil as possible on an on-going basis.
They othe key is the criticality of the spuds you buy- most people buying local spuds from a supermakret don't have a hope in hell of making good chips- too many sugars, and too high a dry mass. Best spuds are from cambridge or Shropshire grown in reasonably sandy soil. Its a bit of an art making good spuds- places like Maccy Ds, Walkers etc will artificially control the level of starches and sugars to ensure a repeatable item. "kettle" chips will often have very variable colour and flavour levels in the spud for just this reason.
The chip shops i started used a mix of oils- about 40" lard, 40" palm oil and 20" groundnut- produced great flavours and cripsy edges.
Oil in itself starts to go off as soon as you use it- the heat starts to break it down, and even worse the water and the carbon from the food is much worse. The best thing you can do with oil is to filter it every time you use it, and keep the bottom of your pan sparkly. in the shops we would filter the oil 3-4 times a day, and scrub the bottom of the pans clean to keep the carbon off- we would also have hand filter to remove as much as the oil as possible on an on-going basis.
They othe key is the criticality of the spuds you buy- most people buying local spuds from a supermakret don't have a hope in hell of making good chips- too many sugars, and too high a dry mass. Best spuds are from cambridge or Shropshire grown in reasonably sandy soil. Its a bit of an art making good spuds- places like Maccy Ds, Walkers etc will artificially control the level of starches and sugars to ensure a repeatable item. "kettle" chips will often have very variable colour and flavour levels in the spud for just this reason.
Gassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff