The Fried Food Blog

Deep fried food has been around for a long time. Deep frying is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot oil or fat. Foods, especially meats, were fried during the first century A.D. in many cultures around the Mediterranean.

Pan-frying is a dry heat cooking method whereby food is semi-submerged in hot oil in a pan on the stove top.  Two important differences between deep frying and pan frying are that the food is completely submerged into the oil in deep frying while in pan frying it is not more than half way submerged into the oil. The other difference is that in pan frying the food rests on the bottom of the pan while in deep frying it is suspended in the oil.

Technically, deep frying is classified as a dry cooking method because no water is used. Thanks to the high temperature involved and the high heat conduction of oil, it cooks food extremely quickly. If performed properly, deep-frying does not make food excessively greasy, because the moisture in the food repels the oil. Some fried foods are given a coating of batter or breading prior to frying. The effect of these is that the outside of the food becomes crispy and browned, while the inside becomes tender, moist, and steamed. Some foods – such as potatoes or whole, skin-on poultry – have a natural coating and do not require breading or battering. Pan-frying, when done correctly, produces a crisp, tasty, golden-brown crust while maintaining a moist interior.

A lot of people associate fried food with junk food. After all, many fast food chains rely on fried food. But if done correctly, fried food is not fatty. This requires the oil temperature to be right, if the oil temperature is too low, the food does not produce enough steam to keep the oil from entering, and the food becomes greasy. If the oil temperature is too high, too much of the internal moisture of the food is turned into steam and the food becomes overcooked and dry.

In the Americas, the cultures did not know how to extract oil from seeds and therefore fried food was also unknown. Apart from that, many cultures have food made of deep fried dough of one form or another.