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Posts Tagged fried food

Pay attention when purchasing fried food from your vendors

Mar 8

Posted by True-Restaurant-Equipment in Deep Fryer, Food Preparation, Fry Oil | No Comments

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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Fried food still remains king and gets healthier

Mar 4

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

Mar 3

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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