Frying is a method of cooking in which heat is communicated to the article to be cooked by immersion in quite hot fat - that is, in fat at a temperature between 345° and 400° Fahr. Two important things are to be noted in frying: the article to be cooked is to be immersed in the fat, and the fat is to be quite hot; also the preparation of the articles themselves should receive attention. In order that the articles to be fried may be immersed, use a deep kettle (a round, iron, Scotch bowl is needed), this must be filled with fat to nearly two thirds its height, vegetable oil, cottolene, lard, clarified drippings, or with a mixture of these, according to one's means or taste.

Hot Oil Or Fat For Frying

Cooking fats do not boil, the bubbles rising in a kettle of hot fat and the spluttering noises are caused by water in the fat. If the temperature of spluttering fat be tested, the thermometer would register about 212° Fahr., and as long as any water remains in the fat the temperature cannot be raised above this point; but when the water has evaporated the fat becomes still, and in a short time a faint blue smoke, or, more properly, vapor, becomes visible. This indicates a temperature of about 380° Fahr., and is the proper temperature for frying small articles; those, for instance, that are protected by a covering of egg and bread crumbs, especially if they have been previously cooked, as croquettes. Potatoes sliced thin, or tiny white-bait, the one on account of being cold and containing a large quantity of moisture, the other on account of size, and both because they are to be thoroughly crisped, require fat at a higher temperature, that is, about 400° Fahr. - while doughnuts and fritters are cooked at a temperature of about 345°. Vegetable oils reach the proper temperature for frying before vapor is visible, and, in any case, if one fails to detect vapor, the temperature may be tested by throwing in a piece of bread.

Tests For Hot Oil or Fat

If the fat bubbles vigorously around the crumb, throwing out large bubbles of steam, and the bread browns while one is counting forty or fifty, the cooking point has been reached. If only small bubbles appear around the crumb and it does not brown quickly, the cooking point has not been reached. As articles that are to be cooked in fat contain water, which will be turned, in the hot fat, into steam and cause a "spluttering," it is well to make the surface of these dry before they are lowered into the fat. Sometimes flour, or flour mixed with liquid to form a batter, is used for this purpose, but egg and bread crumbs are used more frequently. When the article inclosed in a coating of egg and crumbs is plunged into the hot fat, the albumen in the egg coagulates at once, forming a fat-proof covering about the article. There is always some moisture, even in dry crumbs, as well as in the object itself; this keeps down the temperature inside the coating; also the coating not only keeps out the fat, but keeps in the flavor and savor in a remarkable manner, and the result is, if the article be but removed from the fat at the proper time, a most juicy and delicious plat.

Utensils For Frying

A deep iron bowl with a bail, known as a Scotch bowl, a wire basket that fits loosely into the bowl, a long-handled fork or spoon, to hold the basket during frying and while the cooked articles are draining, a tin pan to set the basket on, and soft paper in a second.

pan for the final draining are the utensils that render frying a simple process. When a frying-basket is not accessible, a long-handled skimmer will do fairly well.