Deep fat fryer

I don't have a deep fat fryer - I'm not mad for chips.
I've been thinking maybe I'm missing out on something - I do like vegetable pakora, fruit fritters, fish goujons etc.

Any of you folks got a fryer you would like to recommend and what you like to use it for.

 

Sorry Alice, can't help you there, I don't even like chips cooked in a deep fryer as they aren't crispy.

Val

 

I had a fat fryer for a while, Alice, but in the end it hit the bin. I bought a small one but even so the amount of oil it required was a bit gross and then you have the problem of what to do with all that used oil. Also, I found it difficult to keep clean. The fat gets everywhere. I did enjoy making onion bhaji - yum - but I dread to think what the calorie count was.

 

That was about what I thought Clara Lou and why I don't have one. I just got to wondering if things had improved and if I was missing out on something.

 

Yep you missing out, but then I only use it for chips, frozen ones at that.

I'm sure they have lots of other uses but the oil would get tainted, which means you next meal tastes of whatever your last was.

Who cares about calories, it does make good chips, cant stand oven ones.

 

I don't like oven chips either Pete. Not mad about chips at all. We didn't have them in our house when I was a child - my mother was very against it.

I don't want to usurp my own thread but you might laugh at this
I had asked for a bike and been told we couldn't afford it
I said that wasn't fair as so and so was getting a bike
Got told they could afford it because they had chips for tea (I think it meant chips only)
Thought that was really unfair as she was getting chips and a bike !

 

I never got a bike, but we always had chips.

And I thought I was deprived.:D

 

You thought you were deprived Pete I didn't get the bike or the chips :cry:

 

We've a Tefal Actifry, had one for two or three years. It has a slow revolving paddle in a teflon coated pan. It heats by means of a hot air blower.
It will cook enough chips for two or more people, with just a tablespoonful of olive oil. It'll cook pretty much, anything.... sausages, chicken etc., it's brilliant.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbdnvbvOocw"]YouTube - Tefal Actifry Fryer[/nomedia]

Now a bit of downside.
On the first one, a catch broke after about nine months and Amazon replaced it.
The second one about three months ago "exploded and went up in flames" according to my wife, what actually happened was it over-heated because the fan stopped working, the heating elements shorted with a bang and it blew a fuse.
This was a year and a half old and Amazon replaced that one too. There were several incidents of this happening, it happened to the one a friend bought on our recommendation! However, they've sold hundreds of thousands and the replacements have had a modification.

The new one, now described by my wife as a; "Wifeyfry" has sat on the carousel in the corner cupboard of the kitchen since it arrived and hasn't been used yet. Although to be fair, the others weren't used that often. I think my wife is a bit frightened of it, but won't admit it.

I took a brand new deep fat fryer to the charity shop (you can't give 'em away on eBay) when we bought the first Actifry. It had been bought to replace an older one, but then the Actifry came out so it didn't get used.
We've a few appliances that get little use. We've a Kitchen Aid blender, that I think has been used a couple of times in two years (still it matches the other small appliances and looks nice on the worktop). She prefers her small "Magic Bullet" mixer and a couple of others that are similar.

We've also had one of these for three years which hasn't been used yet.

http://www.appliancist.com/nu-wave-oven-pro-black-digital-countertop-infrared-oven.jpg

I don't have to "get involved" in the catering in this house, so I don't criticise her choice of appliances. I know when I'm well off.

If a cookery programme appears on the TV, I'll switch to another channel.

 

Just looked at the price DH, you cannot be serious mate.:D

 

I agree here .... :hehe:

I gave my 'plastic one' of years away to charity earlier this year (having spent hours cleaning it) and bought a stainless steel one (from Lidl or Aldi I think for â?¬35) and what a joy it is to clean ... if there is such a thing of a 'joy' from cleaning such ... it's just simple to clean. Spray de-greasing spray on, leave for a bit and away it all goes with hot saopy water.

So, Alice, my advice would be to buy a stainless steel one (you can get quite small ones now) but I don't 'taint' my oil either ... it was bought for the one purpose only ... chips! Ready in minutes .... (oh, I do hash browns and onion rings in there too) .... :yho:

 

Victoria, I was thinking onion rings but I didn't want my next lot of chips to taste of onions.

Do they not taint the oil?

 

What's wrong with chips tasting of onions?

We only had a chip pan when I was growing up. The same oil was used time and time and time again.

 

Well nothing, but I do have them with most things, egg and chips with oniony chips is not good.

I'm being classy now.:D

 

No, Pete. I do the chips, put it on the drain hook for a few minutes and then fling a few onion rings on top of them and 'second cook' the chips as the onion rings cook so quickly (McCain's which I can get here) .. home-made ones would be a mess and a half ...

Aaron, all the chip-pan makers say you can use the oil over many times ... as long as you don't do 'smelly' stuff in it (fish etc) .. just stick to potatoes .. and onion rings ... I'm still alive after 15 years of having such ... :yho: