Reusing and storing used cooking oil?

[AwesomeOpossum74]

Tell me some about this? When I worked at Burger King so many years ago, every day we replaced the Crisco shortening oil, after cooking many many vats of fries, chicken and fish, and the oil was dark.

At home, I'm interested in the possibilities of (for instance) making fries one day, and fried chicken the next, using the same oil. I know there can be flavor bleed-over, and particulates, but does it beat tossing/wasting good oil?

How long could used oil be stored? I assume it would go rancid over time, but would there be dangers of food poisoning from microbiologicals, since they'd be killed next time you fry up?

 

[karadekoolaid]

I regularly deep-fry at home. Filter the oil when it´s cool, put it in a jar and then re-use it everal times. Can´t say exactly how many times, but let´s say half a dozen is fine, at least by me. You can smell the oil if it´s rancid, and that´s when I chuck it out.
I don´t think you´ll be in danger of anything biological in used oil, or food poisoning, for that matter.

 

[dragnlaw]

Plus you only really get other flavours when it's been really strong - such as fish. But even well-battered fish doesn't carry over too much. Think Fish and Chips.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

After going through seveal different deep fryers with limited success, I finally broke down and bought the T-Fal Easy to Clean Deep Fryer. It fries wonderfully and cleanup is supposed to be easy, but the first time I flipped the switch to empty it into the reservoir, oil ended up all over the place. I will investigate further to ascertain the problem, but all in all it's a great deep fryer. and it will be an even better one if I can keep it from pissing oil all over my counter.

 

[AwesomeOpossum74]

After going through seveal different deep fryers with limited success, I finally broke down and bought the T-Fal Easy to Clean Deep Fryer. It fries wonderfully and cleanup is supposed to be easy, but the first time I flipped the switch to empty it into the reservoir, oil ended up all over the place. I will investigate further to ascertain the problem, but all in all it's a great deep fryer. and it will be an even better one if I can keep it from pissing oil all over my counter.

We had some sort of electric deep fryer 15 years ago. Same issue, where when we tried to empty using the spout, it would just clog with bits and be really annoying. I guess we got rid of it, because I haven't seen it around. These days, frying is just in a skillet.

 

[WhateverYouWant]

These days, frying is just in a skillet.

Same here. While I have a couple of Le Creuset Dutch ovens I used to use for deep frying, can’t remember when the last time I used them for that. Now a days I just shallow fry in a Lodge CI skillet. Results are great, and much less oil.

 

[Andy M.]

Every time you reuse the oil, the smoke point drops. Eventually the oil will start smoking at cooking temps. As others have said as long as you’re not cooking strong flavored foods it shouldn’t be an issue from a flavor standpoint.

 

[dragnlaw]

Every time you reuse the oil, the smoke point drops. Eventually the oil will start smoking at cooking temps. ....

Never thought of that Andy, good point, thanks.

 

[Roll_Bones]

I have two Fry Daddy's. One is always at the ready. I use one several times over.
When it gets darker with particles, if its fairly clean I strain into the second Fry Daddy and top with fresh oil if required.
Once its cool, I put the plastic top on it for the next use.
I guess the temperature is cool enough for me not to notice any smoke.
Frozen fries, chicken nuggets, and all sorts of foods are fried in it with no regard to previous use.

 

[pepperhead212]

Something that you might want to look out for, if you are buying large quantities of oil, for frying - chemical additives. TBHQ is an additive that is sometimes added to help the oil last longer, when frying. There is also an anti-foaming agent - dimethylpolysiloxane - that is often used in restaurant oil. A few years ago, some fast food restaurants stopped using oil with TBHQ, but the anti-foaming agent is still used by many of them. The only time I've ever seen this was in large containers of oil in Sam's and BJ's - never in any smaller containers of oil I have bought.

Are these safe? The jury is still out, but these, and other additives are things to look out for...and think about, when eating fried foods in restaurants.