Sometimes it’s not what you put in the pot that makes a terrific dish. Sometimes, it’s the pot you put the food in that makes all the difference. Cooking oysters, for example.
It’s hard to screw up an oyster. They’re even good if you drop one on the floor and scoop it up quickly and eat it raw. They are not so good, however, if you try to fry them and you put too many in a pan, or if you don’t get the oil hot enough and the oysters are soggy and greasy. They also don’t turn out well if you overheat the oil and cause the oysters to taste like burnt cooking oil.
A few years ago, I asked Santa Claus for a deep fryer – one like you see on cooking shows. Santa came through with flying colors and I opened a Waring Pro 3-Basket deep fryer that morning. This cooking instrument makes deep-frying a snap. All an “oyster fryer” needs to do is set the temperature on 375, dredge the oysters in House Autry Seafood Breader and drop a dozen in the basket when the temperature hits 375. The best part is that the fryer will continue to keep the temperature at exactly the right setting with perfect results every time.
I was in Urbanna at the Oyster Festival last weekend and was twice called on to fry a batch of oysters. The oysters were right out of the bay and they were dynamite. The only variable you will have with a deep fryer is what kind of oil to use. Here are my thoughts.
Cooking oils vary – they can be of a plant, animal or even synthetic derivative. The most common are olive oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, vegetable oil and peanut oil. In my opinion, peanut oil is the best for deep-frying because, first, it has a great flavor and secondly, peanut oil performs better under higher heat than the other oils. Vegetable oil and canola oils are close seconds, and they are slightly less expensive than peanut oil. However, if you filter the used oil well after cooking and store it in a cool place, you can get multiple uses out of peanut oil, making it about the same cost as vegetable or canola oil. As for being healthy, all the oils have similar caloric counts so the secret is to fry the food quickly so it will absorb less oil.
Christmas is coming, fellow chefs. If you don’t have one, put a Waring Pro Deep Fryer on your wish list this year.