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[timferius]

This is an awesome thread. I've taken over full on cooking duties in the house, in exchange for kitchen cleaning duties. I enjoy cooking, my wife hates it, I hate cleaning the kitchen, my wife doesn't mind. Problem solved. I'm hoping to really ramp up my cooking skills now.

I made Sloppy Joe Nachos last night. I've perfected the preparation of them so it doesn't take twice the time it should now. My kids ate all the Sloppy Joe part (gave them the chips and meat separately, to dip). Every time my kids eat what I made, it's like winning one of those food challenge shows.

Note: Sloppy Joe Nachos are the same as Sloppy Joes but on tortilla chips instead of a bun, that's all. And no, I don't use the canned stuff.

[Playergamer]

Shrimp. I like shrimp. Shrimp is good.

[Knit tie]

I really do wonder: how do you deep fry things?

[Playergamer]

Very carefully.

[TheDarkStar]

I really do wonder: how do you deep fry things?

Cook it in oil.

[Knit tie]

How much oil at what temperature?

[kisame12794]

Usually enough to submerge the item you are cooking, and how hot depends on what you're cooking. If your oil catches fire, you're doing it right wrong.

[Bauglir]

IIRC, about 400 degrees is pretty typical. You want it hot, that much is certain, since the force of evaporating water is what keeps it from soaking up too much oil (and instead soaking up just the right amount). Although, to be fair, I wager you have to do things a bit differently if you're cooking something large, like an entire turkey - I'd expect the typical methods to burn the exterior while leaving the interior raw. In any case, you need to make sure your cooking vessel is much larger than the volume of oil, because if that fucker overflows, you are well and truly fucked. Especially if you were cooking it over a flame. A few people regularly kill themselves each year doing that, and a lot more burn their houses down, as if with the lemons.

[Sheb]

As many Belgian household, we actually have a dedicated deep fryer, looking a bit like that.



It's mostly used for french fries and croquettes, but it can fry anything. Usually we operate at about 180 °C for french fries and the like. Purist will tell you they actually need two cooking: first five minutes at 160°C and then a quick dip at 180°C to caramelize the outside. (A fist fip in hot water to soften them up is optional)

The fat is also important. You need to avoids oils that burn at those high temperature. Peanut oil works great for most use, olive oil is good too, but has more taste so doesn't work well with every preparation. The gold standard is actually beef fat. Delicious. Or if you want something even more fancy, geese or duck fat give amazing results, giving your fries that delicate taste.

tl;dr In Belgium, frying stuff is SERIOUS BUSINESS.

[Arx]

I would imagine any supermarket would carry all of those things. They're pretty normal, standard veggies. Good luck!

#thirdworldproblems

I actually don't know what to blame (i.e. I'm not actually in an entirely third world country), but I've never seen zucchini or eggplant for sale fresh. It sucks.

[Helgoland]

400 degrees

If that's not Fahrenheit, I tip my hat to you.

[Arx]

400 degrees

If that's not Fahrenheit, I tip my hat to you.

And this, ladies and gents, is where Bauglir cooks chips over the fires of Hell. The souls of the damned enhance the flavour, and the intense heat ensure a rapid seal of the outer layers, for maximum crispiness and minimum grease.

[Helgoland]

Either that, or it's Kelvin and warm outside.

[MaximumZero]

For perfect fries, you want to cut the potatoes, shock them in cold water, blanch them for 1 1/2 minutes at 350f, shock them in cold water again, and store them. You can refrigerate for up to a week before you actually cook them. When it's time to cook them, they go in for 3 minutes at 350 again, 4 minutes for extra crisp. Then season. Cajun seasoning on fries is magical.

That's how we did it at a large chain of sports bars, anyway. Damn good fries. They over seasoned them, though.

[Bauglir]

400 degrees

If that's not Fahrenheit, I tip my hat to you.

And this, ladies and gents, is where Bauglir cooks chips over the fires of Hell. The souls of the damned enhance the flavour, and the intense heat ensure a rapid seal of the outer layers, for maximum crispiness and minimum grease.

Sadly, it was Fahrenheit. I forgot to specify, for I forgot that we have people on this forum who use a sensible temperature scale, unlike myself. I'd be surprised if there were an edible oil of any kind that wouldn't burn at that temperature in Celsius.