How many times could frying oil be re-used/re-heated?

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kenny1999

Senior Cook
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I like deep frying but a lot of times it uses up a lot of oil and oil is not cheap. How many times could oil be re-heated, re-used again ? (Chemistry suggests that repeated heating up of oil could release harmful substances... is that true?)
 
It depends on what kind of oil you use, what you are frying and how well you clean the oil after each use.

You need a high smoke point oil. Corn oil is one example of an inexpensive oil that has a high smoke point.

Frying lots of meats will cause the oil to deteriorate faster than onion rings or french fries. Fish can flavor the oil so it's only good for fish.

After each use, cool the oil then strain it into an opaque container and store it in a cool dark place. I use a clean cotton men's handkerchief in a mesh strainer to catch all the solid matter because cheese cloth is a pain in the butt.

I can't say how many times I reuse the oil. After cooking and cleaning there is less oil than I started with. Next time I fry, I reuse that oil and add some fresh oil to get the amount I want. So Some of the oil has been used several times and some a few times and some is new.

Can't speak to the harmful substances and don't worry about them. After all, I'm eating fried foods.
 
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It depends on what kind of oil you use, what you are frying and how well you clean the oil after each use.

You need a high smoke point oil. Corn oil is one example of an inexpensive oil that has a high smoke point.

Frying lots of meats will cause the oil to deteriorate faster than onion rings or french fries. Fish can flavor the oil so it's only good for fish.

After each use, cool the oil then strain it into an opaque container and store it in a cool dark place. I use a clean cotton men's handkerchief in a mesh strainer to catch all the solid matter because cheese cloth is a pain in the butt.

I can't say how many times I reuse the oil. After cooking and cleaning there is less oil than I started with. Next time I fry, I reuse that oil and add some fresh oil to get the amount I want. So Some of the oil has been used several times and some a few times and some is new.

Can't speak to the harmful substances and don't worry about them. After all, I'm eating fried foods.


I am thinking if I can always use less oil for deep frying but more oil for
pan frying? In that case I don't need to use too
much oil while at the same time it's not just pan fried, but I take longer
to fry the food. Will it be a better "middle" way to take advantage of both cases?
 
I am thinking if I can always use less oil for deep frying but more oil for
pan frying? In that case I don't need to use too
much oil while at the same time it's not just pan fried, but I take longer
to fry the food. Will it be a better "middle" way to take advantage of both cases?


Hi Kenny. I don't deep fry anything mainly because I don't want to deal with the trouble, expense and mess of all that oil. In a skillet, if you add enough oil to come half way up the thickness of the food, you can accomplish the same thing with turning.
 
Nice answer there Kay. I have a Fry Daddy that I only use to cook fish and chips with. I'm trying to learn how to use a skillet and oil rather than my Fry Daddy. Chicken drummets and fish pieces are what I use my Fry Daddy for these days, and fries. That's it. I'm hoping to wean myself off the Fry Daddy and fry up stuff in a skillet now. So far, I've had no luck frying up anything larger than wings in my Fry Daddy (fish and chips come out barely ok). I'm hoping to do the same making fish and chips in a skillet. I'm saying my Fry Daddy is not for thighs and drumsticks. I do better attempting those in my cast iron skillet.

Have I mastered that? Hell no, not yet anyways.
 
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Hi Kenny. I don't deep fry anything mainly because I don't want to deal with the trouble, expense and mess of all that oil. In a skillet, if you add enough oil to come half way up the thickness of the food, you can accomplish the same thing with turning.

Will it be much better to use a Chinese wok (curved shape)
instead of a skillet (flattened shape), and add enough oil
to come half way up the thickness of the food?
In that case I can save up the oil even more?
You know, all oil accumulates in the center of the curved shape wok and that will not need that much oil as a skillet
 
...You know, all oil accumulates in the center of the curved shape wok and that will not need that much oil as a skillet

Yes, but that means you have a smaller deeper pool of oil. If you're frying larger things like fish fillets or chicken cutlets, you need more surface area and less depth.
 
I like deep frying but a lot of times it uses up a lot of oil and oil is not cheap. How many times could oil be re-heated, re-used again ? (Chemistry suggests that repeated heating up of oil could release harmful substances... is that true?)
I know my memory isn't all that good sometimes, but I thought I remembered you asking a similar question not all that long ago. Sure enough, here is your previous thread on this subject:

Should cooking oil be reused after deep frying, any health concern?

There might be additional information in that thread that Andy, Kayelle, and Caslon haven't covered here.
 
I use my Fry Daddy almost every day.
I use it until its gets dirty. Then I strain it and use it again until it gets dirty.
I reuse it a lot.

I keep a spare Fry Daddy on hand and switch when its time to change it.
I don't change it as much as most people would.


Oh...I use soybean oil that I get at Costco.
 
My small fryer is this T-Fal EZ clean
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NQ7QFG...olid=1LCGKHZ7RQH3W&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

They have come down in price enough that they are definitely worth it. I think they have improved the quality as well, they were known to fail electrically for a while

I also have a big electric turkey fryer, but that is a much bigger project to clean. It's good for large batches of smaller parts also and it will also do a low country boil...which I haven't tried yet.

The EZ clean fryer makes it...well...easy!...er. You just flip a switch and the oil drains in to a reservoir through a built in filter screen. You can then either wash the fryer parts, or if in a hurry, you can wipe the sludge in to a trash can, finsh wiping out and its right back in use. Just pour the oil back in from the reservoir and top it off if needed.

I usually go by color. When it gets brown enough, my instinct tells me its time...also odor, if its taken on an odor I dont care for (like with seafood) I change it.

I use pretty much exclusively peanut oil. For the smoke point and flavor, its my opinion that it is the best. It's also very expensive. One of the reasons I've stayed a member of Sam's Club and havent left for Costco is this oil. Costco sells none, and Sam's has a 4.5 gallon for about $35 or about 6¢ an ounce. Nowhere else I found has pricing anywhere near this except Walmart is offering this
https://www.walmart.com/ip/LouAna-Peanut-Oil-3-Gallon/10294990
which is about 8¢ an ounce, not too shabby but only available to me shipped free to my store.
Walmart also offers this https://www.walmart.com/ip/LouAna-Peanut-Oil-128-0-FL-OZ/10293013
but still, it has to be shipped to the store if you want it shipped free...and almost twice the price of the big Sam's club container per ounce.
 
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I use 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 corn oil. I don't keep it for long. I don't heat it to the max, enough to get the cubes of bread I throw in a nice golden colour. I have a large, deep pan, and I only use enough oil to come 1/2 way up. I don't wait until it's turned a darker colour through use. I get rid of it before that happens. I always use my kitchen thermometre. All this seems to work for me.


di reston



Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde
 
I am thinking if I can always use less oil for deep frying but more oil for
pan frying? In that case I don't need to use too
much oil while at the same time it's not just pan fried, but I take longer
to fry the food. Will it be a better "middle" way to take advantage of both cases?
Surely it would be better (and easier) to cut down on fried food generally.
 
It probably would - but not nearly as much fun! It's the 'naughty but nice' factor that's attractive, apart from the taste! You've made me think of Yorkshire Pudding! Naughty but nice. I can now do toad-in-the-hole, now that I've given my butcher the recipe for the sausages. OH is over the moon!!

To our friends in DC, 'Toad in the hole' is Yorkshire Pudding with sausages in it, and baked. Recipe to follow. It's a winter dish. I'll send the lot: the recipe for the sausages, and the recipe for Yorkshire Pudding. If nothing else, you may be interested to read a recipe that goes very well as a during-the-week dish. In the UK, it's a really great favourite. Thank you Mad Cook!


di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde
 
Surely it would be better (and easier) to cut down on fried food generally.

I had a microbiologist customer who explained to me how frying any food, much like charring it, adds carcinogens. So yea, frying may not be the healthiest.

I keep a deep fryer set up in my garage, but its not something I use all the time. And especially after going on a low carb diet, its been a natural reduction in my deep fried food consumption since potato fries and chips are out of the diet and I haven't found a real good replacement for any coatings for vegetables, etc., so I mostly do chicken wings these days...with no coatings.

I do have a pan fried southern chicken coating recipe thats working well for me though.


It probably would - but not nearly as much fun!

Aint that the truth!? Funny how I seldom hear health nuts telling mountain climbers what they do is hazardous to their long term well being! A mountain climber will tell you the risk is worth the joy they get from it, even if they die doing it.

Wouldn't it stink to be the epitome of perfect health and still get hit by that tractor trailer on the highway?
 
I would be interested in seeing your recipe..



Ross




It's actually not an original of my own, its from Buttoni, the lady I tried to lure over here to fire up that new Low Carb section here. I dont think she ever got a reply as to whether she would be allowed to link her own work/blog. Either she never got a reply/ruling on it, or got one that said no, she cant, either way, shes hasn't been back that I can see.
Here's the chicken breader:


https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2018/05/25/southern-fried-chicken-4/


It is remarkably crunchy and in my experience stayed on the chicken really well. It's for cast iron pan frying, I haven't tried deep frying with it yet, except a disaster when I tried to deep fry with zucchini sticks for fries...nope, that did not work out well!


A lot of her recipes are sort of game changers for me. Especially a few of her bread recipes. Her dumplings/pasta dough is about as good as any low carb pasta dough, but I've not found any, including hers to rave about. Other's mileage has varied though and they seem to like the stuff.


All requires some pantry items most folks dont have usually, but once you stock up...you got it.
 
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I reuse the oil in my fry daddy over, over and over again. Then I strain it and do it all over again. I add new to bring the level up.

I do lots of things that are not good for my health. This one is way down on my list.
 
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