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Archive for category Deep Fryer

Maintaining your restaurant equipment

Feb 3

Posted by True-Restaurant-Equipment in Deep Fryer, Restaurant Equipment, fryer guidelines | Comments off

We’ve covered quite a few topics regarding deep fryers and how to get the most out of your fryer oil and friend foods, however there is still one area that needs to be covered and is really the foundation of everything we’ve talked about so far. To truly increase the life span of your oil and provide a consistently high quality fried food while maintaining healthy food guidelines, you must know your equipment inside and out. Plus keep a regular schedule of proper maintenance and cleaning.

Thoroughly read any literature from the manufacturer regarding your new piece of restaurant equipment as well as browse the manufactures website for any additional product information that you can find. Knowing how to operate your fryer properly is essential in it being a reliable and long lasting piece of equipment. When your deep fryer does need to be serviced, use only factory-trained and authorized technicians and manufacture approved replacement parts.

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Proper deep fryer techniques

Feb 2

Posted by True-Restaurant-Equipment in Deep Fryer, Food Preparation, Fry Oil, Restaurant Equipment, fryer guidelines | Comments off

As we’ve already touched on, fry oil will change it’s composition as it interacts with food placed in it, the heat from the heating elements, and the oxygen in the air. As a result of this chemical interaction with these elements by-products are created in the oil which changes the overall make-up of the oils characteristics. In addition, food particles, water, and the various starches in the batter start to enter the oil as contaminants and contribute to the breakdown of the oil’s quality.

There are five easy areas to watch out for that can greatly increase the quality and longevity of deep fryer oil. It is important to try and limit the amount of exposure the oil gets to crumbs, air, salt, water, and heat. All of this can be accomplished by using the following good frying practices:

1) Once the baskets are loaded shake them out before moving them into the frying area. This will knock off any of the loose crumbs from the product allowing them to be disposed of easily instead of falling off into the fryer oil.

2) Filter the oil in your deep fryers on a regular basis. Depending on the amount of use your deep fryer sees, this could be nightly or bi-weekly. Filtering frequently will remove the solid particles that have fallen off into the oil during regular operations as well as un-dissolved salts.

3) If the fry oil becomes contaminated by an unexpected substance you should follow the safe handling procedure and dispose of the oil immediately and thoroughly clean the deep fryer before using it again.

4) Read the cleaning instructions of your deep fryer, follow cleaning and oil replacement guidelines set forth by the manufacturer. Proper care and maintenance of your fryer will help ensure a long product life and help avoid any fryer defects that could cut down on the life span of your fry oil or cause inconsistencies in your fried food.

5) Keep your fry oil at it’s optimal temperature at all times. Doing so will help avoid situations where food is cooked at too high of a temperature or much faster than expected, thus allowing for a consistent quality to your fried food. Avoiding fluctuations in temperature will also help increase the life span of your cooking oil. It is unavoidable that cooking oil will fluctuate in temperature while actually cooking but keeping those fluctuations to a minimum will be beneficial. Most oils are recommended for a 330°F to 350°F operating temperature at the start of a cooking cycle with a drop to 330°F for a brief period at the start and then returning to between 330°F to 350°F. However, one should always consult with the manufacture of their cooking oil for specific usage guidelines as many of the trans fat free oils may require different operation temperatures

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Pay attention when purchasing fried food from your vendors

Feb 1

Posted by True-Restaurant-Equipment in Deep Fryer, Food Preparation, Fry Oil | Comments off

So we’ve looked at the different types of fryers and the different types of oils, now it is time for the third factor in finding the right deep-fryer for your restaurant and that is selecting the right type of fried food. When deep frying foods it isn’t just the type of oil that effects how much fat is in the fried food but the content of the food itself plays a large roll in determining house it should be friend for the best and healthiest results. For example, if the food you are deep-frying has been par-fried, as is the case with many pre-prepared frozen foods, the oil that was used will not only effect the food that was fried but the oil in your fryer as well. Lets say that a partially hydrogenated oil was used to par-fry chicken before it reached your restaurant. This pervious oil will leach into your fryers oil as you cook it for serving. So if you are using a trans fat free oil the levels of trans fats will increase over time due to the leaching effect of the previously used oil and will eventually not meet the .5mg or less requirement to be called trans-fat free when served. It holds true for other types of oil as well as there is a leaching effect of the previously used oil into the current oil which can change the taste of your menu as the oil gets longer its life cycle. This leaching can drastically shorten the oils life span as the altered taste of menu items will prompt a changing of oil much earlier in the life cycle than actually needed, thus driving up your oil consumption and costs.

When purchasing foods, it is should be noted or inquired as to the type of oil that was used in the preparing process. Today’s vendors offer trans fat-free foods and have been working on increasing efficiency of their methods for years to help keep cost down. By paying attention to the fry process used in preparation before it gets to your restaurant, frying in healthy oils in your own deep fryer, and by following good frying practices you will not only provide a consistent quality and taste of food to your customers but also take steps to ensure that you get the maximum oil life you can out of your own fryers.

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Deep fry oils and how they effect health and taste

Jan 31

Posted by True-Restaurant-Equipment in Deep Fryer, Fry Oil, Restaurant Equipment | Comments off

After determining what type of deep fryer will work best for your restaurants needs the next step is to find the right type of frying oil to use. Until the last decade greater attention has been given to the different types of oil and what they work best for, up to that point fry oil was fry oil and a restaurant would choose whichever one the chef preferred or based solely on cost. However, in the recent decade a massive amount of research has been done regarding which types of oils work best for different types of applications, things like the composition of the oil and how that effects the fry process, the taste of the food, how oil life is effected and its health benefits.

While there are many different types of oil on the market today, the main types of deep frying oil include vegetable, sunflower, safflower, peanut, grape seed, corn and canola oils. Each of these fry oils has different properties that fit different applications, things like the smoking point, flavor, stability, health concerns & parameters, and nutritional profile. With the countries focus on trans fat, and removing as much of it as possible from our diets, a new type of frying oil has entered the market place boasting increased functionality and stability to meet today’s deep-frying needs in terms of maintaining maximum taste and meeting the governments healthy oil standards because they are trans fat free. This is accomplished by not partially hydrogenating the oil and using state of the art plant breeding technologies along with genetic engineering. This next generation of oils is increasing constantly, but the current leaders in this area are oils like sunflower oils high in healthy monounsaturated fatty acids, high-oleic and mid-oleic sunflower and canola oils. Manufactures of these new cutting edge oils will also create blends of these products which product better tastes and performance characteristics.

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To coldzone or not to coldzone, that is the fryer question

Jan 29

Posted by True-Restaurant-Equipment in Deep Fryer, Restaurant Equipment, Restaurant Management | Comments off

Starting off with the correct deep fryer for your restaurants application is the first step in ensuring that your fried foods deliver the high quality taste that customers demand and meet the health requirements that federal and watchdog agencies are pushing for. Finding out which deep fryer will work best for your restaurant will not only deliver a better quality and healthier fried food but help extend the oil life in your deep fryer. To find the right fryer for your restaurant equipment needs you must evaluate your menu.

There are numerous types of fryers on the market today, so much so that choosing the right one can be an overwhelming task. It is best to start at the most basic level and the your way down to determine what type of fryer you need when looking at restaurant equipment. At the most general level there are two types of deep fryer, those with sediment zones and those with out. Your menu will decide what type of fryer that your restaurant will need. The sediment zone enhances the fry cycle by allowing pieces the pieces of breading on the fried food that separates from the main bulk to drift away from the cooking area into a cold zone. We can break this down again into three basic types of fryer, each with it’s own benefits which are again determined by the type of fried food on your menu.

Open-Pot Fryers have a deep, almost V shaped, sediment zone at the bottom of the fryer with the heating elements located on the outside of the frypot. This type of fryer performs well in a range of applications but are best used for lightly breaded items like prepackaged foods and french fries. A nice side benefit to an Open-Pot fryer is the fact that cleaning is relatively easy as the entire pot is accessible.

Tube-type Fryers have a wide cold zone located all the way across the bottom of the frypot with the heating conductors located above the cold zone but again all the way across the frypot. With such a wide zone to collect sediment, the tube type fryer is a good choice for wet and heavily battered items like fresh fish and onion blossoms.

Flat-bottom Fryers have no sediment collection zones. The frypot sits directly on top of the heating element and any sediment that falls off the food item stays in the fry area. Like the Open-Pot fryer, the Flat bottom fryer is easy to clean and are generally best for cooking items that float on the top of the frying oil during the fry cycle Wet battered fish would be a prime example of an item that this type of fryer would work best for.

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Fried food still remains king and gets healthier

Jan 28

Posted by True-Restaurant-Equipment in Deep Fryer, Food Preparation, Fry Oil, Restaurant Equipment, Restaurant Marketing | Comments off

Despite the large push by consumers, health food watchdogs and Government agencies various surveys report that frying is still the most popular method of food preparation on the menus of restaurants today. With the food service industry making an effort to move to healthy oils and communicate their benefits, patrons are starting to accept the idea that fried foods can still be part of a good diet. As the massive media coverage of trans fats continues, restaurant owners are facing a never ending quest satisfy the customers desire for fried foods that are also healthy.

Alternative fryer oils that are coming to the forefront of the healthy movement are Omega-9 canola oil and low-linolenic soybean oil. These oils are a direct result of genetic engineering and advanced breeding technologies in their respective plant lines. The goal of these oils is to replace partially hydrogenated oils that were previously a staple in the food service industry and high in trans fats. The beauty of these oils, and others like them, is that they can be blended together to create different nutritional profiles and unique tastes.

The restaurant franchise Wendy’s as made it publicly known that they use a blend of soy and corn oil that is trans fat free to cook their french fries and chicken menu selections. With the media coverage focused on trans fat, moves like this not only give patrons the healthy choices that are looking for, but also serves as a marketing angle to attract more market share.

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Five steps for healthy fried foods

Jan 27

Posted by True-Restaurant-Equipment in Deep Fryer, Restaurant Equipment | Comments off

In today’s marketplace it isn’t easy to be the owner of a restaurant. With every turn it seems like there are new regulations, new health suggestions, and a host of other voices telling you the proper way to cook your food. It is getting harder and harder to find the balance between delivering healthy fried foods and delivering maximum taste. Add to it that patrons have made it perfectly clear they are not going to sacrifice taste just because the Government or some health agency is mandating or demanding changes. Look at any menu with healthy choices over a period of time and keep track of the number of items that are removed because they weren’t ordered; customers have signaled that if the item doesn’t taste good they won’t eat it, no matter how healthy it is.

Enter deep fried foods. Even in an increasingly health food conscious society the demand for deep friend foods is sky rocketing with patrons. A global research company, Mintel, shows that chicken nuggets & wings, fried mozzarella & cheddar sticks, and fried onion rings are among the best selling appetizers on the chain franchise menus today. With this hard data it becomes clear that deep frying foods is one of the most popular means of cooking with customers and that provides a challenge for those caught in the middle of meeting customer demands and meeting Government mandates on healthy foods.

While the challenge of deep frying foods seems to be overwhelming, there is actually a very simple methodology that can help you assure your deep frying methods are meeting current health issues such as trans fat, in addition to meeting the customers demands on taste. Plus, any restaurant owner will know that frying oil is skyrocketing in cost. Frymaster LLC, a Manitowoc Foodservice company created a five step method that offers a best practice guide to handling all of these concerns. It consists of five steps a restaurant owner can follow that will create fried foods that are both flavorful and healthy.

Over the next few days we’ll cover these five steps, how they work and what they mean for your business.

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