Why batter food

If the temperature drops too low, the crust forms slowly, allowing the food to absorb more fat and become greasy. If the oil gets too hot, the food burns on the surface before it cooks through. What is the best fat for frying?

It depends whether you care most about flavor or health or using a long-lasting frying oil. Different fats deliver better results in each instance. Highly saturated fats, such as lard and shortening, are solid at room temperature, while polyunsaturated fats, like vegetable and canola oils, remain liquid at room temperature. Food fried in highly saturated fat has a more pleasant, less-oily-tasting surface than food fried in unsaturated fat, because the saturated fat re-solidifies as it cools.

Plus, many saturated fats, like duck and beef fat, are more flavorful than refined liquid oils. So from a flavor and texture standpoint, solid fats make a great choice for frying. However, saturated fats are considered less healthful than liquid polyunsaturated fats because they may be associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. Also, saturation causes these fats to degrade sooner during frying. Once the fat has reached this smoke point, it will create off-flavors and noxious aromas.

What creates a crisp crust on fried food? When food is plunged into hot oil, the water in the food starts to boil and percolate toward the surface. In order for a crisp, dry crust to develop, there must be a barrier between the hot oil and the migrating water. This barrier is typically something starchy. As the starch fries in the hot oil, it dries into a pleasantly crisp shell and protects the moisture beneath. The food inside steams while the coating browns and crisps.

After frying, the food will continue to steam, but as long as you can see steam rising from the surface of your fried chicken or tempura, the moisture is escaping and the coating will stay crisp. As soon as the food cools and the steam stops, any remaining moisture in the interior is absorbed into the coating, making it soggy; this is why fried foods are best eaten soon after frying. Starch is naturally present in certain foods, like potatoes and fritters, but for frying some things, especially meats and fish, a starchy coating like batter or breadcrumbs needs to be added.

Both create crisp crusts during frying, and there are pros and cons to each. Batters form a more solid surface than breadcrumbs do.

This makes them better for frying delicate ingredients like fish fillets, which tend to fall apart during cooking. For an even crisper crust, use corn flour finely ground cornmeal or gluten-free rice flour. Breadcrumb coatings stay crisp longer than batter coatings, but the process of breading can be more involved: Typically, the food needs to be dusted with flour to dry its surface, and then dipped in egg to help the crumbs adhere and form a crust.

For the crispest breaded crust, use panko breadcrumbs. Shaped in long slivers rather than rounded bits, these crumbs have more surface area exposed to the hot oil, so they crisp more thoroughly.

Instead, let it cool, pour it into a biodegradable container, such as a paper milk carton, and throw it out with your regular trash. Some cities also have collection centers for recycling used cooking oil. Batter Fish. About Batter Fish Recipe: The perfect winter appetizer, batter fish is a quick and easy fish recipe to prepare at home. Battered with maida and parsley and seasoned with just salt and pepper, here's our Batter Fry Prawns.

Prawns dipped in batter, rolled in bread crumbs and deep fried. Beer Battered Mushrooms. A smooth batter with an unexpected addition: Beer. Mushrooms stuffed with a flavorful mixture of onions and garlic, coated with a beer based batter and deep fried till crisp and golden. Put beer into a batter mix, and when the batter hits the hot oil, the solubility of the CO 2 plummets, and bubbles froth up, expanding the batter mix and lending it a lacy, crisp texture.

Instead beer forms a head when poured because it contains foaming agents. Some of these agents are proteins that occur naturally in the beer, and some are ingredients that brewers add to produce a creamy, long-lasting head. These compounds form thin films that surround the bubbles and slow the rate at which they burst. Foams also make good thermal insulators. When you dunk a piece of beer-battered fish into a deep fryer, most of the heat goes into the batter rather than into the delicate food it encloses.

The bubbly batter can heat up to well over degrees Fahrenheit—the point at which so-called Maillard reactions create golden-brown colors and yummy fried flavors—while the fish gently simmers inside. The alcohol in the beer also plays an important role in moderating the internal temperature and crisping the crust. The faster the batter dries, the lower the risk of overcooking the food.