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Troubleshooting
- Be confident when you introduce an ingredient to your oil. Always gently place or slide food into simmering oil, using tongs or a fork if you’re worried about burns. People often get scared, which leads to dropping things in the oil, causing splatters and burns—or, worse, spills that can cause a grease fire.
- Keep your splatter guard handy. Even one drop of water or the sweat from your brow can make your oil get wild.
- Line a baking sheet or plate with paper towels to drain and rest your ingredients. This is important (even when you’re adding fried ingredients to a dish such as Bouyon Bred), as it prevents the ingredients from overcooking in hot oil and drains off excess oil so your dish is not too greasy.
- Have a vessel ready to transfer your oil into after you’re done cooking and the oil has fully cooled. Never pour oil down the drain, as it will clog your pipes.
- Fry oil can be reused multiple times. For breaded items and fritters, three or four times is the maximum recommended, as small amounts of sediment can accumulate after multiple uses and may burn. Otherwise, depending on the seasoning used, it’s safe to reuse fry oil eight or nine times. Personally, I let my nose indicate if my fry oil is still good: If it has a funky or rancid smell, don’t use it.
- There’s no real way to fully avoid the lingering smell of fried food in your home. But I recommend closing doors to other rooms, opening windows, and using ceiling and floor fans as well as the exhaust hood above your stove. Typically I also light incense, as I find it blends well with fry smell and makes it more pleasant.
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