Correct Temperature for Frying

[Spydaman]

I bought myself an infra red thermometer to balance the CH radiators. I've been pointing it at everything.since and was wondering if I can use it in the kitchen. Clearly water boils at 100degC but what about the correct temperature for stir frying, shallow frying, sauteing, deep frying etc? As I understand it different oils have a different smoke temperature so guess it has something to with that.

[Lynchie999]

won't work with liquids... IR thermometers need to be zapped onto a surface ...

[jet_noise]

Also for any accuracy the surface emissivity should be known.

[Jambo85]

For deep frying you're probably better off with a probe type thermometer and there are optimal temperatures for that which you can look up.

Chart here of smoke points - source is hardly unbiased but it looks about right:

https://www.canolainfo.org/recipes/cooking-with-ca...

[FurtiveFreddy]

Lynchie999 said:

won't work with liquids... IR thermometers need to be zapped onto a surface ...

Depends what the liquid is and how accurate you need the reading to be. I usually use one when making caramel and it's quite handy for that.

[cbmotorsport]

When it comes to frying, the only thing you really need to be reasonably sure of the temperature about is deep frying. Everything else you should be able to accomplish perfectly without a thermometer.

[Spydaman]

I appreciate it will come up to temperature if too cool or sizzle a bit if too hot. I'm just interested to know what smoking hot is or the optimum temperature for frying an egg or whatever.

[tdm34]

For deep frying I use a technique that my grandmother always swore by, simply take a small cube of bread and drop it into the oil
if it floats and sizzles that's the perfect temperature.

[thebraketester]

~180oC usually for deep frying.

[barleyskillet]

IR thermometer for grilling/bbq yes but not for frying. Depending on the amount of oil used or what I'm frying, I was taught to use the wooden chopstick/spoon, rice grain, panko breadcrumbs, batter, hand test ie over the pan and by sight looking for the shimmer. Fine mesh skimmer and a regular one will be handy too for deep frying.

[krallicious]

Completely depends on waht you are frying.

Temperatures can vary from around 120 to 300 C

[Jambo85]

krallicious said:

300 C

Are you sure about this? That's well in excess of the smoke point and approaching the flash point of most, if not all, cooking oils.

[krallicious]

Jambo85 said:

Are you sure about this? That's well in excess of the smoke point and approaching the flash point of most, if not all, cooking oils.

I did say around. Fryers in commercial kitchens have a highest setting of 290 C give or take. A (very) highly refined oil will have a smoke point of around 280 to 300 but these are very expensive.

[cbmotorsport]

krallicious said:

I did say around. Fryers in commercial kitchens have a highest setting of 290 C give or take. A (very) highly refined oil will have a smoke point of around 280 to 300 but these are very expensive.

Lol. I've spent a lot of time in commercial kitchens, and seen quite a few. Never seen one go that hot. I'd be interested in a link to one for sale. :-)