Fry it

Frying is cooking food over a direct heat in oil or fat. Oil or fat has a much much higher boiling point than water. Cooking at a much higher temperature allows us to make food crisp, not soft. Different fats have different boiling points. Butter has a low one: if you fry in butter alone, it is easy to turn the butter black by having the heat too high (the milk solids have a lower boiling point and can evaporate and burn). Corn oil’s boiling temperature is very high so we can fry very hot and get really crispy food before the oil burns. Olive oil has a much lower boiling point than lard or corn oil. If you have eaten chips in Greece you may notice they taste wonderful, but are quite soft. That is because for the most part they use olive oil for all cooking. Chip shops in the UK use either corn oil or lard for frying because the fat can get very hot and the fish and chips will be crispy. The best way to cook a steak is to wipe it with a little vegetable oil and fry it.