How to successfully fry anything without a deep fryer – CNET

Alina Bradford

Don’t have a deep fryer? You can still make homemade fries, hash browns and more with the same great taste. All you need is a pan and a stove top. There are several tricks to pan frying success, though. Here is a guide to get you started.

Tools for frying on the stove

Picking the pan or pot

First, you need to pick the right pan or pot. Ideally, it should have a heavy metal bottom to heat oil slowly, preventing scorching and allowing for a steady boil during frying.

Pots or pans should also be at least 5 inches deep. You’ll need at least 3 inches (4 to 6 cups) of oil to deep fry most items, so your pan should be able to accommodate that much oil and have plenty of room for the food you will add without spilling over. Deep 1.5 to 2 gallon (6 to 8 quart) pots or pans are ideal. Cast iron Dutch ovens are a good choice for frying on the stove because they are both heavy and deep.

Getting the heat

Next, you need a way to check the heat. The faster the food cooks, the less oil it absorbs and the speed at which food fries is directly due to temperature. Many deep fryers have thermometers, but since you are using a pan, you’ll need to use a thermometer to check the temperature of the oil before you can start frying. Meat or candy thermometers work great for frying.

Frying with accessories

Finally, you need the right accessories. Many deep fryers come with frying baskets, but you can get the same effect using a simple tool called a spider. Spiders are bamboo sticks with a netted scooping tool at the bottom that looks like a mini colander. Spiders are ideal for scooping up fried foods because the oil can drip though the wire net and can be found at most department stores in the cooking section for just a couple of bucks. Many people use tongs to grab foods from frying grease, but they tend to smash more delicate items. This is where spiders are particularly handy.

You will also need a cooling rack and a cookie sheet. After frying, laying foods on the rack will allow the food to shed any excess oil and the cookie sheet will catch the oil. I like to line my cookie sheet with wax paper for easy clean-up.

Frying step-by-step

Now that you have your tools assembled, you can get down to frying:

Set a cooling rack on top of the cookie sheet beside your frying pot.
Set your burner on medium and let your pan of oil heat for around 5 to 10 minutes.
Put the meat thermometer in the center of the oil to check the temperature. The oil should be between 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celsius) and 440 degrees Fahrenheit (225 Celsius). Thicker foods will need a lower temperature to cook all the way through while thinner items can be cooked at the higher end of the range.
If your oil doesn’t get hot enough after five minutes, raise the burner heat a little and check the temperature until you hit the sweet spot.
Add just enough food to the oil so that the oil level rises only about a ½ inch. You want the food to have plenty of room to float around without getting stuck together.
Leave the food in the oil until it becomes a golden brown.
Scoop the food out with either tongs or a spider and place it on the cooling rack until you are ready to serve.

10 tips for frying foods perfectly every…

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