Shallow frying

The three fryings, told apart

The depth of the oil decides the technique.

Pan-frying

A film of fat, barely covering the base. One surface at a time, turned as needed. Steaks, fish fillets, eggs.

Shallow frying

Oil halfway up the food. Two surfaces at once, turned once. Schnitzel, fritters, fishcakes, crumbed chicken.

Deep frying

Food fully submerged. All surfaces at once, no turning. Chips, doughnuts, battered fish.

Why it matters

Shallow frying browns a crumb coating evenly on both faces without the volume of oil deep frying needs, and cooks through more gently than a dry pan.

The pan

Wide and heavy with sides high enough to contain spitting. A sauté pan or a deep frying pan.

What it suits

• Anything crumbed — schnitzel, escalopes, breaded chicken, croquettes. The crumb needs oil contact on both faces to colour evenly.
• Fritters and fishcakes, which are too delicate to move about in deep oil and too thick for a dry pan.
• Thick fish fillets with a floured or crumbed surface.
• Halloumi, tofu and paneer, which need enough heat contact to colour without drying.
• Aubergine slices, where the oil is doing structural work as well as heating.
• Not thin things that would overcook — a minute steak or a delicate fillet is better pan-fried.
• Not batter, which needs full submersion to set evenly. Battered food shallow-fried comes out flat-bottomed and pale on top.

Doing it well

1. Choose a wide, heavy pan. A thin one loses heat the moment food goes in and that is what makes fried food greasy.
2. Add oil to a depth of roughly half the thickness of the food.
3. Heat it until it shimmers. A cube of bread should sizzle briskly and brown within about a minute.
4. Dry the food and coat it if the recipe calls for it. Wet food spits and lowers the temperature.
5. Lower the pieces in away from you, and do not crowd the pan. Space between them keeps the oil hot.
6. Leave them alone until the underside is properly coloured, then turn once.
7. Lift onto a rack, not kitchen paper. Paper traps steam underneath and softens the crust you just made.
8. Let the oil come back up to temperature between batches.

Why it goes greasy

Greasy fried food is nearly always cold-oil food.

• The oil was not hot enough, so the surface never sealed and the food absorbed oil instead of repelling it.
• Too much in the pan at once, which drops the temperature sharply.
• A thin pan, which cannot recover its heat.
• Wet food, which cools the oil as the water boils off.
• Drained on paper, which steams the underside. Use a rack.
• Oil reused too many times, which degrades, foams and transfers more readily into food.

Common questions