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Frying is the process of cooking food by immersing it in hot olive oil. The temperature should be slightly higher than the boiling point of water, between 130 and 190 °C.
The aim is that, when the food is placed in the hot oil, a crust forms around it, preventing the oil from penetrating the food. The food is then cooked in its own water content. The result should be food that is golden and crispy on the outside and cooked on the inside, without being saturated with oil.
Olive oil should not exceed 200 °C, as at this temperature the fatty acids begin to break down. In other words, the oil starts to smoke and burn.
The temperature of the olive oil should remain steady during frying. It is important to ensure that the temperature does not drop too much when the food is added. For this reason, it is advisable to bring the food to room temperature before slowly placing it in the hot olive oil.
The frying temperature depends on the water content of the food and the size of the pieces. The higher the water content, the longer the food needs to be fried and the lower the temperature should be, allowing enough time for the inside to cook without burning the surface. For example, chips require more cooking time because of their high water content, so it is recommended that they are fried at 130-150 ºC. Fried fish and croquettes require less time and can be fried at 180 ºC.
It is important to add food that is as dry as possible, because water promotes the decomposition and oxidation of the oil, as well as causing splashing. It is therefore important that the olive oil is hot when the food is added, so that the water evaporates quickly. It is also important to fry food without covering the frying pan, so that water vapour does not condense and return to the olive oil.
After using the oil for frying, it is advisable to filter it. The particles left in the olive oil accelerate its decomposition.
You should not mix used oil with new oil. It is also advisable to use one batch of olive oil for frying fish and another for general use.
By following the above recommendations for storing and maintaining the oil, you can use olive oil for 4 or 5 frying cycles, according to the International Olive Council.
You can tell that olive oil has deteriorated when it develops a dark colour, an unpleasant or unusual smell, or begins to produce foam. However, even if none of these signs are present, you should not exceed the number of frying cycles recommended above.
The electric fryer has the great advantage of being very convenient to use, as it has a thermostat that allows you to regulate the frying temperature. From our point of view, however, this is its only real advantage.
With a frying pan, you can use the amount of oil appropriate for the food you are frying. Although it does not have a thermostat, using a frying pan allows you to control the amount of oil more easily.
The main disadvantage of electric fryers is that they require a large quantity of olive oil. In general, they have a capacity of two or three litres or more. If we want to prepare fried food properly, we need to use a large amount of oil, which can then be reused 4 or 5 times. This is why we believe that using an electric fryer is less economical than using a frying pan. In addition, the electric fryer needs to be cleaned every time the oil is changed.
Think of the greasy smell you sometimes notice in establishments with large electric fryers that use sunflower oil, which is generally considered suitable for only 1 or 2 frying cycles because it deteriorates more quickly than olive oil. We think it is very unlikely that this oil is actually changed that frequently, as doing so would be completely uneconomical.