Cooking method
Deep frying
Cooking by full immersion in hot fat, where the oil is both the heating medium and part of the finished food.
What conditions it creates
-
Deep frying operates in the dry heat via fat regime.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
-
Deep frying has strong dependence on equipment.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 1.1 (fundamental principles), Introduction authoritative
-
Deep frying holds food in oil-immersed conditions.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
How the heat gets in
-
Deep frying transfers heat by natural convection.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
-
Deep frying heats rapidly at the surface.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
-
Deep frying deposits its heat at the surface.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
-
Deep frying produces a steep gradient through the food.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
-
Deep frying transfers heat by conduction.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
Why it works
-
Deep frying is governed by evaporation.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
-
Deep frying is governed by Maillard reaction.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Maillard Reaction: Mechanism, Influencing Parameters, Advantages, Disadvantages, and Food Industrial Applications: A Review (Foods 14(11):1881) 2. The Maillard Reaction Mechanism authoritative
-
Deep frying is governed by fat as a heat-transfer medium.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
-
Deep frying is governed by heat penetration.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
-
Deep frying is governed by surface drying.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
What it does to the food
-
Deep frying increases crispness.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
- Applies
- Effect direction raises
-
Deep frying increases browning colour.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Maillard Reaction: Mechanism, Influencing Parameters, Advantages, Disadvantages, and Food Industrial Applications: A Review (Foods 14(11):1881) 2. The Maillard Reaction Mechanism authoritative
- Applies
- Effect direction raises
What holds it back
-
Deep frying is limited by boundary-layer resistance.
Reasonable evidence
- Evidence type
- textbook statement
- Confidence
- high
- Sources
- Chemical Changes in Deep-Fat Frying: Reaction Mechanisms, Oil Degradation, and Health Implications (Food Science & Nutrition 13(10):e70969) 2.1 Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics authoritative
How it compares with baking
| Compared on | Deep frying | Baking |
|---|---|---|
| Regime | dry heat via fat | dry heat, high surface temperature, evaporative |
| Heat arrives by | conduction, natural convection | conduction, natural convection |
| Heats most at | at the surface | at the surface |
| Moisture | oil-immersed | dry, evaporative |
| Gradient | steep | steep |
| Rate | rapidly at the surface | as the temperature gradient allows |
| Needs equipment | strong | strong |