Gentle frying

Eggs being gently fried

Gentle frying or low-temperature frying is an oil- or fat-based cooking method used for relatively fragile or starchy foods.[1] While gentle frying is most notably used to cook fried eggs, it is also used for delicate fish,[2] tender cuts of meat,[3] sausages,[4] and as a first step in fried potatoes.[5]

Benefits

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Low-temperature frying is useful if the frying fat scorches at higher heat levels (e.g. butter), or if the frying fat has flavor that the cook wants to preserve (e.g. olive oil). Overheated oils can produce unhealthy, even carcinogenic, compounds.[6]

In starchy foods, frying gently gives the starch in the food a chance to migrate and caramelize, producing a sweeter outcome.

In fragile foods such as eggs, gentle frying prevents the food from scorching or falling apart.

Disadvantages

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In deep-fat frying, if done incorrectly, low temperatures may substantially increase oil absorption, leaving the food greasy, soggy, and unappetizing. However, Cook's Illustrated developed a recipe where French Fries are left in cold oil for 25 minutes as the oil is slowly heated to 138 °C (280 °F), and this was found to contain 30% less oil than French Fries cooked by the traditional method with oil between 163 and 177 °C (325 and 351 °F).[7]

Bibliography

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  1. ^ fissler.com Archived April 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ oceannavigator.com
  3. ^ "All British Food". Archived from the original on 2006-08-18. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
  4. ^ Nicholas Clee (2007-09-21). "Blanching sausages". Retrieved 2014-02-19.
  5. ^ "You Want Fries With That? The Science of Crispy Potatoes". Science Buddies. 2014-10-10. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
  6. ^ udri.udayton.edu Archived April 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Oil Absorption" (PDF). Guy Crosby. September 2012. Retrieved 2019-05-26.