Frying with olive oil is one of the tastiest ways to cook there is. Many of our customers, especially those who purchase extra virgin olive oil in 5L bottles , ask us many questions regarding how to use it in the kitchen, especially when frying food.
By following some useful tips, your dishes will have that golden tone and that crunchy, delicious texture that comes with good frying.
The definition of frying tells us that this technique consists of introducing food into hot oil or fat to cook it. The temperature at which this technique must be carried out must be higher than 100º, around 160º.
In my opinion, for frying to turn out great there is nothing like using a good olive oil, since it will provide a unique flavor to the food, and its ability to maintain heat will allow it to cook properly on the inside.
Here are some tips that you should not overlook when frying with olive oil.
IMPORTANT: The advice that I am going to give in this article is purely culinary, that is, only focused on obtaining the best flavor when frying. Most health authorities recommend consuming fried foods only sporadically, so that their regular consumption is not recommended or that they are an important part of our diet.
-Fry with Extra Virgin Olive Oil
If we already know that Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the highest quality, both for its flavor and aroma qualities, as well as for its multiple health benefits, when frying it is also the most suitable type of oil.
When subjected to high temperatures, oils lose much of their properties because they degrade. Here is the main difference that makes Extra Virgin Olive Oil better than other oils, since it is not altered or degraded until it reaches 160º. This is due to its high content of natural antioxidants, which make it much more stable at high temperatures than other vegetable oils.
This stability that extra virgin presents means that it maintains many of its nutritional properties, even when subjected to the high temperatures typical of frying.
We must also take into account that when a food is fried, it absorbs a large part of the oil in which it is fried, but Extra Virgin Olive Oil, as it has a greater density than other oils, such as many seed oils, When frying, less oil penetrates the food.
-Be careful with the smoke point
Many people choose oil for frying believing that using an oil with a higher smoke point is better than another with a lower smoke point. Hence they choose some vegetable oils with smoke points above 200º. From my point of view this is a mistake, and I will try to explain why.
What does smoke point mean?
The smoke point is the temperature at which the oil begins to smoke. When we heat an oil above that temperature it will begin to burn, it will quickly lose its properties and qualities and it can even add an unpleasant flavor to food.
Is it a mistake to take the smoke point into account when choosing an oil for frying?
In my opinion, the smoke point is not a good element to take into account when choosing a type of oil, since the main error when cooking is letting the oil reach that temperature. Just because an oil can reach a temperature of 200º does not mean that it is better for frying.
When our oil reaches the smoking point it means that it is overheated, starting to burn, and it is very likely that the food will not cook correctly or will burn. Furthermore, most oils begin to degrade long before reaching their smoke point, losing much of their qualities.
What are the smoke points of the most used oils?
The best example of what we say can be found if we compare the different smoke points of the most used oils. While Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a lower smoke point than other oils (between 160º and 180º), such as virgin olive oil (216º), olive pomace oil (238º) or sunflower oil (232º). ), however, it is of much higher quality, and maintains its properties for longer even at high temperatures, since it has greater stability and degrades less.
At this point, we must add that the Extra Virgin Olive Oil that we can consider Premium, or of higher quality, usually has a much lower acidity than the rest of the oils. This means that this type of oil has a higher smoke point (207º) than other extra virgin oils of lower quality.
This is another reason why it is a great idea to buy extra virgin olive oil directly from the cooperatives or mills that produce it, since it is the best way to find high quality oils, at a better price per liter, and even in larger formats such as 5-liter bottles or cans.
-Keep the olive oil at a stable temperature during frying.
To achieve good frying, it is important that the oil temperature remains stable. Without being excessively high, since the food will burn, nor too low, since we will not achieve the flavor and texture result expected from good frying, and also the food is not cooked correctly inside.
In essence, you don't have to be monitoring the temperature of the oil with a thermometer. Make sure that the oil is hot enough, without burning, and that when you introduce the food it bubbles constantly, while you make sure that it is properly cooked.
At what temperature should we keep the olive oil while frying?
If we talk about an ideal temperature at which to keep our oil, this would be one that is not going to get close to that smoke point that we have talked about, but that is high enough for the food to cook inside and become slightly crispy on the outside. The ideal is to keep our frying between 130º and 160º.
Obviously you can fry at a higher temperature, but there is something I would like you to keep in mind. Keep in mind that when you put the food you are going to fry into the hot oil, it will quickly reduce the temperature of the oil. For this reason, if your oil is excessively hot, when you add the food it will cook quickly on the outside, but it will be raw or undercooked on the inside.
At what temperature should I fry French fries?
When making French fries you must keep in mind that potatoes have a high water content, so they will need a little more time than other foods to be well fried. My advice is to fry them at a temperature around 140º or 160º.
Other foods, such as fried fish or many battered foods such as croquettes, take less time to make, since they have a lower water content than potatoes.
-Food should be at room temperature and as dry as possible.
At this point, I advise you that the foods you are going to fry are at room temperature at that moment. Take them out of the refrigerator in advance to avoid a very sudden clash between the temperature of the food and that of the oil. This will help you fry correctly and the final result will be much better.
In addition, the food should be as dry as possible, since excess water will affect the degradation and oxidation of the oil, so it will last longer and we will be able to reuse it. You should also not forget that the drier the food is, the less annoying splashes it will cause when frying it.
- What utensil should we use to fry?
If we are going to fry by immersion, that is, completely introducing the food into the hot oil, the ideal is to use a deep container, such as a casserole or a saucepan . In this way, the food will be completely covered when frying and will not touch the bottom. We can also use a frying pan, as long as we first make sure that the food will be covered by the oil.
Whenever we need to cover several centimeters of the container, the ideal is a deep container. If we have to add a smaller amount because we are not going to fry by immersion, the ideal is to use a frying pan. Frying croquettes is not the same as making a fried egg.
-Do not cover the container where you are frying.
You should not cover the container in which you are frying because the water vapor from the food will condense on the lid and return to the oil in the form of water, contaminating it and reducing its temperature.
- Is it better to fry with the deep fryer?
In my opinion, frying with a deep fryer has its advantages, but also its disadvantages.
On the one hand, its thermostat allows us to easily control the temperature at which we fry different types of food, and also the container or basket to introduce them is very comfortable. Another important aspect is that they are very useful when frying a large amount of food, as long as we have a large capacity fryer.
But on the other hand it also has several aspects that work against it, such as the fact that they need a large amount of oil. Most home fryers need about 3 liters of oil. This means that we have to use more oil for several frying operations, without being able to control exactly how much we need each time we use it. In addition, it is considerably more laborious to clean the fryer after each oil change.
I hope these tips for frying with olive oil have been useful to you. If you have any questions or queries you can always write to us at info@virgenextraencasa.com
