Why must the temperature be monitored in deep-fat frying?

Answer 1

You don't want the oil to be too hot or too cold.

If too cold:

When the oil is hot enough, it causes the water in the food to start boiling right away. This creates steam pressure which keeps the oil from seeping into the food. Generally, the oil needs to be at least 350 degrees Fahrenheit for this to happen.

When the oil is too cold, therefore, the oil will seep into the food and the food will taste bad and be bad for you.

If too hot:

If the oil is hot enough, the oil will produce a lot of smoke and even explode into flame. This can be very dangerous.

Because of this, people will use different oil to fry with than they might for other cooking. Typically, olive oil starts smoking at a lower temperature than other vegetable oils such as canola. So few people use olive oil for deep-fat frying.

Those vegetable oils start smoking at a lower temperature than peanut oil. Peanut oil is preferred by many people for deep-fat frying because it has the highest smoking point of the common cooking oils. There may be some oil that can take even higher temperatures, but even if so, it probably isn't as commonly available as peanut oil.

Answer 2

The high temperature sears the food very quickly. This seals

the surface of the meat and keeps the oil from

permeating into the meat.

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