Oil Thermometers

Appears in
top 1000The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking: Techniques & Recipes
The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking

By Barbara Tropp

Published 1982

  • About
Chinese cooks do not use oil thermometers. Deep fryers of long experience, they rely on experience to gauge the heat of the oil, typically putting a corner or piece of whatever they’re deep frying into the oil to test its heat, or sometimes using a favored divining tool—a scallion nugget, a piece of steamed bread, or a wooden chopstick, all of which will sizzle in hot oil owing to the moisture trapped within.

I use an oil thermometer because it is easy and reliable and makes me feel secure. The one I favor is the Taylor-made dial-type deep-fry thermometer with a kettle clamp attached to its 5½-inch long metal spike, which I can clamp to the side of the wok and forget about. I don’t need to hold it and it will sit there unbudging and register the oil temperature throughout the frying process, requiring nothing of me but a watchful eye when I deign to cast it one (which is often). My only gripe is that this particular model registers only to 400°, but that is enough to make it an extremely useful helpmate.