I need to deep fry something--what's best to use?

[miss_thenorth]

I'm making a dutch appetizer in prep for Christmas--they are called bitterballen ( a small croquette), and I need to deep fry them. What is my best option for oil--can I use lard? What should I use?


I know you all will have an answer for me

 

[Ldychef2k]

Well, smoke point is impotrant,a and I know that peanut oil has a pretty high smoke point. (The temperature at which oil burns itself.)

 

[user251]

you know that down here in the dirty south we fry EVERYTHING from a to z and I use peanut oil. lard is good to but it will affect the taste beings it is renderd animal and not vegetable. while youre frying those bitterballen things get you some okra pronounced oak-ree, and cut them into 1/2 inch pieces roll them in corn meal and fry them up, good eats for sure

 

[patandchickens]

Lard is fine if that's what you prefer. Some people (me, me!) like the taste of things fried in good lard, and some (I am agnostic on the subject, myself) will say it is better for you than some or all veg-based oils.

OTOH lard has a lower smoking point than nearly all veg-based cooking oils (the only ones with a comparably low smoking point are olive and toasted sesame oil) which makes it more fragile to fry with - you cannot reuse it as much, and need to take greater care with it. Also some would argue it is not as good for you as some or all veg-based oils (and I will not even open the whole can o worms about modern supermarket lard vs real good old-timey lard )

So if you prefer to use a veg-based oil, that is ok too. Don't use olive oil, but practically anything else is fine. Peanut, safflower, sunflower, and canola oils are probably the best common choices, with plain ol' corn oil or vegetable oil being commonly used too, esp. b/c of their low price.

I think the choice depends a bit too on whether you will fry one batch once or whether you expect to get a fair bit of mileage out of the oil. One batch once means that short lifespan is not such an issue.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat (mmmmmm, deep-frying.... )

 

[me&thegals]

On the rare occasions we deep fry, I use a small saucepan for depth and canola oil for oil. I know that will give some members a heart attack, but it's cheap and I don't want to smoke a bunch of money on expensive oil for 1-2 uses.

Another consideration is flavor. My canola doesn't really have flavor, which is great since I want the flavor of my homegrown onion rings or dandelion blossom fritters to shine through, not the oil flavor.

 

[patandchickens]

The best setup I ever had for deep-frying, alas I no longer have it, was a cast-iron dutch oven. It was heavy enough that (once heated, which took approximately forever) it would hold its temperature reasonably well after putting food in, despite not using an especially large quantity of oil.

The problem with frying in small quantities of oil is that to avoid dropping the temp too much when the food goes in, you end up having to fry only itty bitty quantities of food at a time. I am sure some people have the patience for this, but not me

Pat, now seriously wanting to go deepfry something, but nobly resisting the impulse, at least for now <g>

 

[miss_thenorth]

I rarely deep fry. Not saying I don't love deep fried foods, --I just don't make them here at home. I have alot of these balls to fry, but once they are done, I doubt I'll be deep-frying again for at least a coupla years. What I have in the way of oil in the house is lard, olive oil, and corn oil (and bacon fat and chicken fat). That's it. So obviously olive oil is out of the question (as is bacon and chicken fat). So corn oil can go to a higher temperature?

Thanks all! ,

and --do you really pronounce it okree? I can honestly say I have never had it, and if I were going to the grocery store before doing these balls, I would definitely give it a go.

 

[me&thegals]

Every few months, we have theme dinners with our group of friends. The first one was at our house and was themed "Southern US". First time I had okra, deep fried after being breaded with cornmeal, and it was awesome!

me&thegals, also valiantly resisting going upstairs to deep-fry something, ANYthing, after all this talk about frying

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

lard lard lard!!!

 

[Dace]

You have gotten great advice, but my only bit to offer would be that if these balls are for sharing I would avoid peanut oil as it is a common allergen!