Deep Fat Fryer

[Andrew[MG]]

I just bought one of these from Amazon to do chips in now and again but have never used one before. What oil am I best getting and what else should I be cooking in it? I'm in Scotland so we'll already be doing Mars Bars....

[scottri]

Depends what your cooking. Heston says groundnut oil for chips.

I've done onion rings and battered prawns, onion bhajis before. All in groundnut oil.

[Shaw Tarse]

Beef dripping

[soad]

Onion rings, scotch eggs, fish cakes.

[soad]

Shaw Tarse said:

Beef dripping

Will make a truly special fish & chips.

[Andrew[MG]]

Beef dripping sounds good but that's taking an unhealthy method of cooking and multiplying it by ten!

Planning to do some proper fried chicken at some point too.

[GreenDog]

I had chips done in beef dripping from Beamish Museum a month or 2 back - nothing special to be honest, although I remember them being cooked in lard at home when I was younger and they were delicious.

[21TonyK]

I just use the cheapest of the cheap vegetable (rapeseed) oil, normally <£1 a litre stuff own brand supermarket.

That way if you change the oil every few times its no big deal and you dont end up with curry flavoured fish and chips!

[Andrew[MG]]

I'll hit Aldi tomorrow morning and then see what I can get fried up tomorrow night. Going to install an outside socket tomorrow as I don't want to cook in the house and stink the place out!

[mattdaniels]

soad said:

scotch eggs

Specifically Tom Kerridge's venison and quails egg ones.
PITA peeling the quails eggs but totally worth it.

Venison Scotch Egg by Matt_Daniels, on Flickr

[AlexC1981]

I use the cheap Aldi vegetable (rapeseed) oil too. After use and when it's cooled, pour it through a sieve, then back into the bottle and put it in the fridge so you can use it again.

Sweet potato chips and KFC style battered chicken wraps is a favourite of mine. I make the batter for the chicken with flour, water, bicarbonate of soda, garlic salt, hot paprika and pepper.

I then water down the batter that's left and give the chips a very light batter coating before frying. This gives them a nice crunch.

Battered Snickers with vanilla ice cream for dessert if I'm feeling truly greedy!

[mattdaniels]

Andrew[MG] said:

I'll hit Aldi tomorrow morning and then see what I can get fried up tomorrow night. Going to install an outside socket tomorrow as I don't want to cook in the house and stink the place out!

I do my frying in the garage. Hot fat balanced on a Workmate? What could possibly go wrong?