[Stewey]

OK...So I have never heard this before, but apparently it is common to recycle your frying oil??? Is that right? How many times can you use the fry oil after you used it for fried chicken for example? Just strain it through a coffee filter, right?

There's gotta be a limit to how many times you can strain and reuse and/or how long you can keep it after its initial use? What is the limit? What about care once its filtered? Just keep it in a cool place like your other oils?

Anyone know anything about this?

[boar_d_laze]

There is a limit on how often you can reuse cooking oil. Like most things in this racket, what that is "all depends." It depends mostly on the type of oil, how high it was heated, and for how long. The purpose of filtering is to get rid of any leftover bits of whatever you cooked, so they don't affect the next batch of food, or burn when reheated. Filtering has it's limits though. It won't make oil not taste like fish. After cooking something with a strong taste or aroma, it's useful to fry-off a couple of pieces of white bread before reusing to purify taste and aroma before cooking anything else. Potato also works, but not as well.

When oil is overused, the water and the fats begin to separate. The color darkens, it develops a stale odor and taste which attach to the product. Product stays greasy even when well drained. If you notice any of these things, discard the oil immediately. Immediately as in right now, not as in just one more batch. Next, the smoke point drops radically, and the oil produces some very unhealthy compounds at normal cooking temperatures that attach to the food and enter the air.

BDL

[phatch]

There are other ways to re-use the oil too depending what you fried in it. Last week I fried a LOT of sliced shallots in about 1 1/2 cups of peanut oil. The shallots cooked up well browned and crispy for some South East Asian dishes I was cooking.

I then used the shallot flavored oil again for the stir frying. And then again throughout this past week for some other cooking: potatoes, eggs, a steak, some fried rice from left overs and so on.

Phil

[foodnfoto]

Could the originator be thinking of how some people are using spent frying oil as a bio-fuel?
There is a fellow here in town who has modified his truck engine to burn filtered frying oil. He says he hasn't bought gas in three years. All he does is go around to the local restos and picks up the dirty oil. He must have some kind of cleaning contraption at his house. Then he pumps the stuff into his truck.
It's funny, because his exhaust smells like french fries. I've found myself following him before and I always get a strong whiff of fries or fried chicken.

[RAS1187]

Even after you filter the stuff out of it (every place I've worked at filters every night), the oil itself is going to still get darker as you use it. We do not fry alot of dirty stuff, so we average about 1-2 oil rotations per week (this is going to vary on the place as well as what you cook in the fryer). If you fry stuff that has alot of flour, bread crumbs, or other "stuff" that will fall off the fried item and clump or float around the fryer, your oil is going to get darker faster.

Ex. If I had two fryers, one for french fries, and the other for fried chicken, I would be changing the fried chicken fryer more frequently then the french fry one.

[Bazza]

There is a fellow here in town who has modified his truck engine to burn filtered frying oil.

I used to pay to have my spent oil collected but about a year ago discovered a company who recycle and will collect for free provided I have at least 200 litres to make it worthwhile. Sooo I store it out the back of the restaurant and it keeps going missing, I don't mind, it saves me getting rid of it. Anyhow I arrive early one morning to find a young lad pouring it into his car through a funnel....no filter. It seems that it will only work in diesel engines though LOL

[DC Sunshine]

Originally Posted by Bazza

I used to pay to have my spent oil collected but about a year ago discovered a company who recycle and will collect for free provided I have at least 200 litres to make it worthwhile. Sooo I store it out the back of the restaurant and it keeps going missing, I don't mind, it saves me getting rid of it. Anyhow I arrive early one morning to find a young lad pouring it into his car through a funnel....no filter. It seems that it will only work in diesel engines though LOL

Oh good grief LOL it needs to be treated first! And yeah its for diesel only. Guess the lad won't be back, or maybe he will, but on a push bike

BTW, I like using used oil. Fresh first use oil doesn't seem to get that nice golden brown look on the product - why is this so?

[Mapiva]

I use Bertolli extra light olive oil to fry french friends and I keep it around for a while. It never seems to go bad. I find that some other oils like canola or vegetable tend to get bitter after a few uses.