How to choose a deep fryer?

An electric deep fryer is a convenient and safe appliance to replace common Karahi in Indian home

Usage

In an Indian Cuisine, common uses fro deep fryer are to make dishes such as Bhatura, Poori, Kachori, Samosa, Pakora, Gulab Jamun, Mathri, Shakarpara. To this list, we must also add American dishes such as French fries, Onion rings, Chicken Strips, battered vegetables, battered fish fry.

Features

Oil well

The oil well should be cylindrical in shape with a diameter of approximately 10" to accommodate making Poori, and Samosa. Rectangular shape long and narrow just don't do the job.

The oil well should be about 6" deep. This will provide for enough oil up to 3" to let the food float, and 3" clearance on the top to collect sputtering of oil. Choose a larger size if possible. A 7 ½ depth will be nice giving 3½ clearance with 4" for the oil.

The removable oil well is nice to clean and store.

Fry Basket

The unit should be operable without the fry basket. The user will most likely use skimmer to make Bhatura, Poori or Kachori. When using food basket, there must be a mechanism provided so that food basket hangs over the oil to let hot oil drip back into the oil well before emptying the basket.

Thermostat

Thermostat should be adjustable from 200 to 375º F. We need about 240º F for Gulab Jamun, while we will need about 365 ºF for Poories. Normally, the fryers run about 10º F cooler for some reason. 375ºF will resolve this issue.

Heating Element

It is understood that the oil temperature will drop when frozen food is introduced. The heating elements should be efficient enough to raise temperature at 30º F per minute. Look at another way, if the room temperature is 70ºF, it should not take more than 10 minutes to reach 370º F

Temperature Indicator lights

Need two temperature indicator lights. One indicator would 'on' when the temperature is below as set by the thermostat, and 'off' when the oil comes to the temperature set at the thermostat.

If for some reason, the temperature goes over the set temperature, this light should come on and the unit shut off for safety.

Timer
A built in timer would be nice to cook most of the frozen foods. Frozen French fries or the Chicken strips require 3 minutes to cook. The timer should not control the heating element. The User should decide for themselves if they need to cook the French fries longer or not.

Filter
The unit should be equipped with easily serviceable filters. The filter is needed to avoid dispersion of cooking fumes and odor.

Google Group | Disclaimer | What do you think!