Deep-Frying with the Senses: Using One’s Eyes

Just as one’s ears are of consummate usefulness in stir-frying, one’s eyes are invaluable when deep-frying. The eyes gauge rightly the heat of the oil before the food goes in—checking for ripples, haze, and smoke. Once a sample of the food to be fried is slipped into the oil, it is again the eyes that judge the oil to be properly hot, monitoring the speed with which the dab or bit of whatever returns to the surface, and checking for bubbles or burning. Most important, it is the eyes that know far better than any stopwatch or written recipe when the food is ready to be taken from the oil—nuts and nut coatings should be light brown, as they will continue to darken after leaving the pot from their own internal heat; sliced things and small items will float perceptibly higher on the surface of the oil, their raw moistness no longer weighing them down; the score marks of a frying fish will reveal the flesh near the bone to be pearly white. All this is perceived by the eyes. Trust them when deep-frying, before anything else.