The Method of Cookery

from the notes of Chef G

Frying

“This cooking in fat, either shallow or deep.”

Shallow Frying

“Shallow frying is cooking in a shallow fat in a frying or sauté pan or on a griddle pan. any fats or oil may be used as a general rule the presentation side should always be fried first.“

Deep Frying

“This is cooking in deep clarified fat. It is important that the fat selected can be raised to a high temperature without burning. Olive Oil is the best, but because of its high price it is uneconomical, a good quality vegetable oil (eg cotton seed, palm oil, etc., or a first class dripping or vegetable fat) is generally used.”

General Points

• not more than 1/2 or 3/4 full
• fat should not be allowed to smoke, as this is a sign of burning
• the normal frying temperature is between 175C to 195C (350F to 380F) temperature is indicated by a slight haze rising from the fat.
• do not fry to much food at one time.
• allow the fat to recover its heat before adding the next batch of food.
• a frying basket of spider must always be at hand as a safety precaution
• any wet food for example … Potatoes, should always be well dried before being fried.
• fat should always be strained after use.

Meat and Poultry

“This is usually applied to made up dishes. For example rissoles, cromesquis, chicken cutlets, which are coated either with pastry , batter or egg and crumbed.”

Fish

“Fish may be deep fried either whole (sole, whiting) filleted (plaice and haddock) , in pieces usually indicated ” engoujon” (sole and turbot) and made up dish (fish cakes) . Fish should always be coated before being deep fried, so as o protect fish from burning and to prevent the fish from absorbing fat of oil in which it is being fried. It also prevents moisture from the fish going into the fat and spluttering.“

Vegetables

“Potatoes are fried in numerous ways. For example fried potatoes (Pommes Frites) croquette potatoes, aubergine and cauliflower are sometimes deep fried.“

Fruits

“Apples, bananas, pineapples for example are coated in batter, deep fried and brown as fritters (beignets). There are also cheese fritters, which are usually made from choux paste combined with cheese.“