Fryers

Getting to Know Your Fryer

Fryers can be gas or electric. Choose a fryer that is built from stainless steel. It is easier to clean and repair.

French fries account for over 50 percent of total fryer usage. Other foods include: chicken, fish, onion rings and donuts.

Types of Fryers

General purpose - In a general purpose fryer, burners running through tubes or underneath the unit heat a vat or multiple vats. Baskets of food are submerged in shortening heated from 300 to 350 degrees F.. Foods are often coated with batter or breaded to lock in moisture.

Pressure fryer - A pressure fryer has an airtight kettle that traps steam from the product and increases the pressure inside the kettle. In an open fryer, food never heats higher than 212 degrees F internally, regardless of shortening temperature. In a pressure fryer, the temperature increases 3 degrees F for each pound of pressure.

These are designed for volume production. Because of the pressure, they can operate at lower temperatures, thereby prolonging shortening life.

Specialty Fryer - such as donut, bakery and chicken or fish fryers. Some fryers offer computerized control devices for temperature and time, automatic basket lifts and optional built-in filter systems.

Maintenance

Extend the life of your fryers and fryer oil by cleaning fryers and filtering oil on a daily basis. Use a test kit to determine when to change your fryer oil. Contract with a rendering vendor to properly dispose of used oil.

1. Remove accumulated crumbs from fryer pot. Remove sediment – Sediment should be filtered from the fryer periodically. When sediment accumulates, the energy efficiency of the fryer is reduced.

2. Clean thoroughly when gummy deposits appear in kettle.

3. Drain daily or more often if necessary; filter fat in commercial filter and reuse.

4. Wash kettle with hot alkaline solution as necessary.

5. Thoroughly rinse with clear water and 1/2 cup vinegar; rinse with clear water.

6. Dry with cloth, not by burner heat.

7. Clean the heating element frequently. Accumulated debris on the element makes it more difficult to heat the fryer and drives up energy costs. Check temperatures – Use a reliable thermometer to check the temperature of the fryer periodically. If the temperature is significantly different from the setting, fixing the thermostat could save you energy and improve the quality of the food.

Limit fryer preheat times – Preheat fryers no longer than the manufacture’s recommendation – usually 7 to 15 minutes. Letting a fryer preheat longer than needed increases energy costs. A high preheat setting will not heat the fryer any faster but it may overheat the fryer leading to wasted energy

Tips:

1. Melt fat completely and bring it to the proper temperature before frying to save gas and achieve better results. (temperatures ranging from 325В° to 335 Degrees F are ideal for most types of fried foods)  

2. Smoking fat usually means the temperature is too high or the fat is broken down.  

3. Filter the fat regularly to avoid transfer of flavors  

4. Remove as much moisture as possible from fresh food products before frying.  

5. Set thermostat at desired temperature and limit preheat time to 5 to 10 minutes.

6. Do not allow the temperature to exceed 375 degrees F.  

7. When using several fryers, turn off those not needed during slack periods.

Safety

Extinguish hot oil or grease fires by sliding a lid over the container.

Do not overfill or pour excessive amounts of frozen fries into deep fat fryer at one time. Overfilling causes excessive splashing and bubbling over of hot oil.

Do not move hot oil containers; wait until the oil is cool!

Do not strain hot oil; wait until the oil is cool!

Keep stove surfaces clean to prevent grease flare-ups.

Install slip-resistant flooring near hot surfaces and cooking appliances.