what do people do with the used leftover oil? Can it be composted?

My spouse wants sushi from our local place and I’m not going to be able to cook sushi as assumed. So my “no restaurants” goal is amended in that I won’t be suggesting or initiating restaurants but will still order & eat the carry out.

Thus one sushi supper will cost about 3 days worth of groceries (amortizing the infrastructure groceries like oil / baking / butter / etc) ... hopefully it won’t be a weekly thing.

Buying it from a small company in Southwestern Ontario.

http://www.thegarlicbox.com/products...G-%252d-Retail

This.
I just use a pan.

A deep fryer is a pain, because you have to deal with the used oil and the space the machine takes up.

If you must have something, look at an air fryer or if you have an Instant Pot, you can buy an air fryer lid.

Run it through a strainer, store it, and re-use it for frying. You will need to throw it out eventually, or I should say that I do that at least. I don't bother when using smaller amounts of oil, but when I'm filling the dutch oven for french fries, or fish & chips, those are pretty expensive fries if I don't re-use the oil. Even your favorite fast food restaurants probably only change their fryer oil once a week...and imagine how often it's used.

I've had different outcomes in terms of smell. Often I can't detect any, but maybe that's when it's potatoes or other neutral foods. I have a hypothesis that if my oil is the right temperature the food will not be oily and the oil will not be food-y. That's based on no science at all, just my uneducated brain that's been helping me cook meals since I was 8 years old. It may be that I believe it because I want to :).

I don't think you should use the oil more than 3 times total. I think that it degrades each time and the smoke point gets lower. I don't know the details but I would look into that.
Regardless, you are still stuck with storing a large amount of oil and unless you are planning on using it in a timely fashion it could get rancid.

Still less $$ than your fancy freezer and now potential deep fryer. :p
Sushi is something that you are not likely to make on your own so take out is the smart way to do it.
Looks good...thanks!

You made me curious so I did a little research. The USDA recommends:

"If you are planning to reuse the oil, strain it through a cheese cloth or sieve. Store the used oil in a sealed and light-proof container for up to 3 months. For best quality, refrigerate used frying oil that you want to use again."

Which is only partially helpful...my guess is that 3 months doesn't assume multiple uses during that time, and that reusing probably does cause it to turn rancid more rapidly. For the average home fry-chef, your 3 use guideline seems smart. Since I don't deep fry that often, I'd guess that's roughly about the average number of uses for me.

Wow--3 months seems longer than I would have thought although refrigerating it is the key I suppose. I can't imagine devoting that much refrigerator space to oil that I would rarely use but maybe for someone who fries a lot it isn't an issue. I think exposure to heat and light is what causes the rancidity...almost any oil will turn rancid if not refrigerated or kept in a cool dark place or used in a timely fashion.
I haven't tried them but I am sure that there are some decent frozen fries out there that you can just pop in the oven. The idea of hot oil and the smell and splattering and then the straining etc is just not worth it to me. I would rather go to McDonalds and get fries.

Yeah - it's kind of a pain if you're just doing a few fries. BUT - on your point about the frozen fries, many of them are good, but they're much better if you deep fry them rather than baking. Think of it as the classic double-fry method -- they're basically given a light fry and then frozen in most cases. So they get nice and crispy when you re-fry rather than bake. You can do it in a shallow pan as long as you keep them in a single layer. And a splatter guard will help control the mess.

Try frying the frozen ones in shallow oil and see what you think. You'll use less oil, but may have to do a couple batches. Same for frozen tater tots but you will need deeper oil.

On the other hand, I had McDonald's fries just yesterday and they're still delicious too :).

I know MCD is really inexpensive; I’m going to just try oven fries tonight. I have a russet and a sweet purple potato so I’ll slice them and bake at 450 or so. Hopefully that crisps them. I bought 3 bags of Deep River chips as backup.

I appreciate the tips about straining and then reusing frying oil. I have pint jars that I can use. I would only deep fry French fries.

after the 3rd use or 3 months of use, how would I dispose of the final oil?

We might have done fries once or twice when we first got it. We like onion rings and tater tots more. I spritz them with oil, and then flip them over halfway through cooking, to make sure they’re crispy. I don’t find that beer batter onion rings turn out well, but panko breaded or similar onion rings, do.

Costco has a nice air fryer, that is similar to the one we bought on Black Friday 18 months ago. $60 or do for a fairly big size.

I have to say that I’m tempted!

We've got a good cooking thread going in the Japan forum.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japa...rt-thread.html

I've been making a ton of Japanese/Korean food along with a big batch of smashburgers every Friday night.

Really good for the taquitos and mini tacos that Costco sells, too.

thank you! I’m checking out the thread in a separate window.

Personally I don't deep fly very much, and when I do (chicken wing craving, much better than any restaurant makes them) I throw away the oil after. It's such a pain to store in the fridge and usually has a bit of a smell to it. Not sure I want that around for three weeks or so.

I think rules for doing that vary locally. You might try a local city/county/state search. Whatever you do, don't dump it down your sink. Either it goes in the garbage (I just save an old jar or two and pour it in there to dispose), or there may be a drop off location for oils in your city -- I think that's usually if you're near a drinking water supply, but not sure what the rules are.

My wing cravings are cured by the grill. I was planning on doing some tonight but now see Chicago is expecting big storms. If you have a grill, give it a try. High heat grill, season the wings well (for me it's salt, pepper, cayenne, and garlic powder), and grill them for about 25 minutes. The skin will get crispy like a deep fryer but they'll also pick up a deeper flavor than you get from the fryer. Then remove them from the grill into a big bowl and toss with your favorite sauce. Overall, a little less crispy but more flavorful. I prefer them over restaurant wings but you have to set aside 45 minutes or so to make them, not nearly as quick as the fryer.

To add to the conversation a bit more, air fryers are a bit of a scam in my opinion.

They're just gussied up convection ovens with a slightly more powerful fan and less capacity. I've used all three versions of convection cookers and the air fryer is clearly the least of them. The actual appliance version is superior but vastly more expensive. The tabletop convections are better than an air fryer and exactly the same cost.

I usually soak my wings in seasoned buttermilk (salt, pepper, garlic power) for a few hours, then toss them in a mixture similar to yours, but including flour, and then letting them rest for 30 minutes before frying. Do you leave out the flour?

Those sound very good.

Yes, I prefer non-breaded/floured wings. Even if deep frying, I would just season and drop into the oil without flour. And of course no flour if you grill them. So it's a different type of wing than you usually make. Yours would turn out more like southern fried chicken, and almost certainly juicier than mine. The "crispy" part of mine comes from crisping the skin rather than the flour. I love fried chicken, but my favorite wings aren't breaded. Some day we'll have to have a taste-off! Hopefully those days are allowed again soon.

By the way, Hooters makes the breaded wing, other places like Buffalo Wild Wings either use no flour, at least as far as I can tell since they are similar in texture to mine.

They are!

I did forget one important tip. Take the wings out of the refrigerator, separate and season them, as you're heating the grill. 20 minutes or so will get them up to room temperature, so the inside cooks more evenly and prevents burning the skins.

I'd love for a few people to try it and let me know how they turn out. I just figured out how to do it on my own, which is pretty much how I do all my cooking. Perhaps someone could improve on it and share back. Good wings should be shared with the world :).

I'll have to try it!

I'll give yours try one of these days. They sound good. The reason I use the flour is more as a way of getting the salt to draw out some of the moisture in the skin so they crisp up more. I shake it off and allow it to rest so that when they go into the pot of oil they are not white anymore but mostly back to their original colour.

As to bar wings, I've really gone off those. In many places (and I'm not a frequent visitor to dive-bars) I can taste inferior quality chicken (or it's been defrosted and hanging around a fridge for a while) and they are usually covered in far too much sauce, so you lose the crisp of the skin.

Makes sense, so they're not really of the fried chicken (Hooters) variety. I hadn't thought of doing that when frying, but may have to give it a try.

Do you grill yours on direct or indirect heat?

I made a London broil last night. It was wonderful. I found a great cut of top round at the Fresh Market.

I marinated it overnight in soy sauce and a sweet spicy chili sauce and some Worcestershire sauce.

I broiled it for about 20 minutes until it got to about 140 to 145. I turned it once. I had the top rack about 4 inches from the broiler.

it was medium to medium rare on the inside and almost caramelized on the outside. I sliced it width wise. It was delicious.

From a desktop browser (or a mobile browser in desktop mode) do a google search for the recipe. Click the small down arrow to the right of the URL of the result to view the google cached version.

I've had a lot of success buying high quality frozen french fries (usually Alexia brand) and baking them on a rack instead of directly on a pan. It makes them very crispy.

Thanks!

Isolation has driven me to improve the variety of my cooking. Previously, we rotated through a lot of the same dishes throughout the week. Now, though, we're trying to get good Instagram food shots to share with friends, and thus don't want to repeat.

I'm also using the extensive cookbook library we have at home a lot more than I used to, for the same reasons. I've always used the cookbooks for inspiration, but now since we're planning grocery trips days in advance instead of just going out to grab something we may have forgotten, we review and select several possible recipes we want to try out and use those to drive our lists (we still improvise a lot, but it helps to have a better idea of the general range of ingredients needed).

I didn't know that about sugar either. But I did know that fat does the same thing.

Sweet potatoes won't crisp much if at all. You need the starches as found in russet for that. 450 is probably too hot...you might burn the potatoes before they are fully cooked inside. I do it as follows:

• Oven at 400
• Cut potatoes relatively thinly, either medallions or wedges like steak fries
• Toss in a little oil and whatever seasonings you like...I like either Lawry's salt or garlic salt and some pepper
• Spread in a single layer and bake for about 20-30 mins depending on thickness then take them out, flip 'em all with a spatula, and put back in for another 20-25 min
• The side of the potato touching the baking sheet will be what gets brown and crispy...that's why you need to flip them

25 minutes on direct heat would ensure a nice char! :D

When I do wings I put the charcoal baskets in the centre of the kettle and lay the wings in a circle around it. Works a treat.

I've never had a problem taking potatoes up to 250c/480f and holding them there for an hour or so. They turn out soooo crispy and perfect in the middle. Actually amazes me how much heat you can hit a potato with and it doesn't burn while it cooks. I struggle to get the same result in an oven. Maybe it's the fan that burns the outside before the inside is cooked. I'll try and take a pic next time I do potatoes.

i can only get sweet potato to crisp by slicing them super thin...shoestring...and heating the sheet pan to pretty hot before throwing them on there. I remember seeing a recipe where you put a coating on them to get them crisp...probably flour, then egg white , then panko...before baking. Probably baking on a rack would help too.

I had success with water roux for the Japanese fluffy pancakes.

I’ve further adjusted the chocolate chip banana bread recipe; changed 1/2 cup of brown sugar to 1/4 cup and then the water roux for the remaining 1/4 cup. Just hope I did it correctly (1/4 cup flour and 1-1/2 cup water). It looks good.
yes, I baked chocolate chip banana bread at 9:45p because I’m already doing a load of towels and I had some dishes to wash from supper.

My Monday attempt at fries was so bad because I didn’t read the comments in time and of course the Russet potatoes got burnt. I never ended up doing the sweet potato. The cheeseburgers were fine and the added condiments were bonus. Sadly my family still wants carry out from a burger place for the fries and milkshakes, so that’ll be a $75-ish supper just to get the fries. Sigh. I love the brioche slider buns from Safeway. The whole brioche bun thing is lovely.