Frying

There are many questions when it comes to the many different fried foods. The first one is which foods are good for frying.

Who doesn't love a crispy piece of chicken or those crunchy French fries? How do they get the food that crunchy and crispy? Is there more than one way to fry? Exactly how unhealthy are fried foods? There are so many questions when it comes to the many different fried foods.

Frying up the possibilities

Let's get going and figure out what to fry and what not to fry.

What to fry, what not to fry that is the question!

A juicy piece of chicken contains a whole lot of fatting ingredients. Mainly it's the grease and oil they are cooked in that leads to these foods being unhealthy. There are different ways to fry foods so that the oil doesn't saturate it but still gives you that crunchy outside. Here are some options when frying:

Stir frying

Stir frying requires the use of a wok or skillet. Pour your choice of oil, such as canola, olive, palm or vegetable oils into the wok and add whatever sauce suits your fancy. The amount of oil is going to determine its healthiness. Now the stir part comes in. Toss and stir your food mixing all the juices and seasonings together to create a tasty meal!

Pan frying

When pan frying, a traditional skillet is used. One of the greatest things about pan frying is it allows you to use a very small amount of oil giving you that fried taste without all the fat. When you use less oil it does take a little longer to cook. It is also a lot harder to keep the oil at a steady temperature.

Shallow frying

This is a happy medium when it comes to the amount of oil being used. Shallow frying means the food is partially submerged in the oil unlike regular frying where everything is "under water." Using less oil does make the food somewhat healthier. Shallow frying is best used when foods are battered.

Deep frying

Ah the traditional deep frying, everybody should be familiar with this method. This is what we do when making those crispy pieces of chicken or French fries. It's probably going to be the unhealthiest way to fry just because everything is submerged in the oil. One downfall of using too much oil is that it is flammable so there is always that risk. Something good about deep frying is it is extremely fast! You can fry about anything in a matter of seconds.

With all of these methods of frying you are bound to run into a cleanup situation. Oil sizzles, bubbles and is just generally messy so be prepared when you pull that fryer out. Just remember that greasy clean up is well worth it when you have a lip smacking meal in you tummy.

So you see frying isn't as bad as it's made out to be. It all just depends on how much oil you use. There are so many options when frying and there are so many choices of food. Just remember when frying, less is healthier.