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draining fried food

post #1 of 54
2/5/10 at 12:41pm
Thread Starter 
I used to always drain my fried food on paper towels or brown paper bags. Then i got the idea (i don;t remember where) to drain on a rack. (I think i tried it when i had been given a wok with an arc-shaped rack that hooked on the edge, presumably for draining fried stuff.

I think when you have to hold the fried food for a while - like when you have a lot to fry and it sits around for half an hour - it stays crisper when it's drained on a rack.

So how come everyone I ever met drains fried food on paper?

I don;t like to have to wash the rack, so i crumple up some aluminum foil so the food sits on the points that stick up and the oil drips down into the valleys, and it works fine. It just annoys me that I ate all that soggy fried stuff over the years when i could have had it stay crisp!
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post #2 of 54
2/5/10 at 12:47pm
I started using racks about a year ago, and will never go back.

As it was explained to me, if you use paper towels or bags then the food is, in effect, sitting in a puddle of oil. Whether or not that's true, it sure sounds right. And the proof is in the draining: I've never had anything turn soggy since going to the racks.
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post #3 of 54
2/5/10 at 12:54pm
I use a rack too, one that fits in jelly roll pan. Can keep it in the oven as needed to keep the fried food hot and crisp.

Clean up in the dishwasher.
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post #4 of 54
2/5/10 at 12:56pm
Chalk another one up for using a rack for fried foods.


dan
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post #5 of 54
2/5/10 at 2:51pm
definitely on the rack if it's more than just a handful and if it's for more than just a couple minutes. The rack then goes in the dish washer. I might sometimes blot with paper towel too, if I suspect that oil on top of the food won't drip down but just puddle or soak in.
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post #6 of 54
2/6/10 at 1:11pm
Ditto on using a rack. Go to your local fish and chip shop - mesh baskets work the shame as a rack. I picked one up second hard for my oil pot - I don't enjoy chips drained on papter towels - they go soggy.
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post #7 of 54
2/7/10 at 9:17am
Thanks for teaching me something new. I've always drained on paper towels without giving it much thought, I will have to try draining on a cookie rack for sure.

French fries however should be taken out of the fryer and placed directly into a brown paper lunch bag and tossed with salt. :bounce:
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post #8 of 54
2/7/10 at 10:24am
Thread Starter 
What i can't figure out is why i've never come across that in any cookbook - and i do read a lot of them.
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post #9 of 54
2/7/10 at 12:59pm
I still prefer draining my chips in the basket above the hot oil, then they go into a st. steel bowl to be tossed with suitable salt/paprika/white wine vinegar, whatever tickles your fancy. Serve pronto.

The round chip/fries basket is good for a variety of things - obviously, deep frying is one. But its also good for blanching vegetables. Into the boiling water, blanch for required time, then out into suitably sized pot with iced water to shock, and take out to drain and dry. Then do with them what you will. Plus they look good hanging in your kitchen :) (Alongside my silly wire fish bbqing cages....)

Haven't tried it for pasta yet - not sure how well it would work and if the pasta would stick to it, unless it had a spray of Pam etc before starting. Would be good for blanching anything really salty, say olives, if you want to cut down on the salt in a recipe. Another thought - for skinning tomatoes - you can get the whole lot out in one go.
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post #10 of 54
2/7/10 at 1:34pm
I've always drained on paper towels, too. That's how my mother and grandmother did it so that's how I do it. I will have to try the rack the next time I fry something. I have seen racks at Dollar Tree that would probably work pretty well for this purpose. I have one but it's not very big....maybe large enough for a dozen cookies if they aren't too big. lol
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post #11 of 54
2/7/10 at 2:14pm
DC, using the fryer basket amounts to the same thing.

I prefer the racks only because it lets me get the next batch into the fryer a little faster.

One thing I found amusing is one of the celebrity chefs recommending that the rack be put in a sheet pan lined with paper towels to catch the grease. Hmmmph? Did he think that you still wouldn't have to wash the pan afterwards?
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post #12 of 54
2/7/10 at 2:50pm
'Tis the same essentially, good point about using a rack to get the next lot on fast. At home, that hadn't occured to me as it is usually just a single batch.

Hmmm - maybe that celeb. chef *doesn't wash his pan after...nasty. Silly comment #650098 by a celeb chef....
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post #13 of 54
2/7/10 at 3:06pm
I use a rack, too.
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post #14 of 54
2/7/10 at 4:28pm
I'm a paper towel user - or should I say I was a paper towel user. I never thought of using a rack. Good idea.
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post #15 of 54
2/7/10 at 5:46pm

don't know. maybe they thought it was obvious or they were pros and tryng preserve a "secret".
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post #16 of 54
2/7/10 at 6:27pm
A rack sounds good--I'll have to try that. Siduri's aluminum foil idea is a good one :chef:.

As a side note, there was a recent thread about frying bacon in olive oil. I remember reading somewhere that this actually makes it healthier. Here is the logic and it sounds reasonable to me: the bacon comes out covered with grease anyway--and if it's part olive oil and less lard, it's better for you. Plus, more of it will drain off because the olive oil is thinner. (I don't know if this is all true).
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post #17 of 54
2/7/10 at 7:17pm
and tryng preserve a "secret".

Gunner, I don't think that's really it.

Techniques, like everything else in the food world, run in fashions. That is, soon as one or two known chef's start doing something they all do.

This process just happens faster, in today's world of TV celebrity chefs and food blogging.

I suspect using a rack was one of those things. Paper towels have been used, and recommended, ever since they were invented. Fairly recently the rack thing hit the charts. Cookbook authors just haven't caught on to it yet.

Anyway, that's how I read it.
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post #18 of 54
2/8/10 at 4:30am
[QUOTE=Jock;298143]I'm a paper towel user - or should I say I was a paper towel user. I never thought of using a rack. Good idea.[/Q
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post #19 of 54
2/8/10 at 4:33am
Try using an iceing rack on a half sheety pan 1. it holds more product. 2. you already probably have these two items in the kitchen 3. can be used fo other things.
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post #20 of 54
2/8/10 at 1:05pm
I would still rather dry them with the paper towels. It kinda gives the food a different crisp.
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post #21 of 54
2/8/10 at 1:24pm
Don't know I could tell the difference blindfolded, but the rack seems to get more fat off the product. Plus, as an added bonus, if you have to keep it hot in the oven for a little bit (as in oops the veg aren't quite done yet :) ), the rack would be the preferred option.
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post #22 of 54
2/8/10 at 1:41pm
it depends what i'm frying as to what method of 'draining' is to be used.

if im cooking something like prawn crackers or poppadoms i prefer to drain them on paper because the paper makes direct contact with them and absorbs the excess fat

anything else i would use a wire rack under a hot lamp, and as previoulsy mentioned many foods can be drained simply in the frying basket
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post #23 of 54
2/8/10 at 5:28pm
I stopped using paper towels and switched to a rack over a sheet pan after watching an episode of Alton Brown's "Good Eats". Now I skim the food out of the fat, briefly pause with the skimmer (or spatula or tongs) on a paper towel to avoid drips on the draining food, then take the food to the rack. The difference is amazing! No more steam to make the coating soggy.

I'll never go back.
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post #24 of 54
2/8/10 at 7:05pm
I put newspaper on the sheet pan. You still have to wash the rack and the pan, but the paper keeps a substantial amount of grease out of my drains. Grease not in drains can't cause drains to get clogged.
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post #25 of 54
2/8/10 at 10:24pm
That is a very good point.
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post #26 of 54
2/9/10 at 6:03am
I never let grease go down the drain, no matter what the source.

An oil-covered sheet pan can be drained into the appropriate container just as easily as a frypan or deep fryer. To me, lining it with paper of any kind, would just contribute to the mess.
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post #27 of 54
2/9/10 at 8:44am
That's why it should be lined with parchment paper. No mess, no clean up.
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post #28 of 54
2/9/10 at 8:52am
The problem is that by the time you get to cleaning the pan, the oil is cold (and I fry with lard a reasonable amount, so it's solid,too). So you end up with quite a bit that won't drain into the grease jar, at least in the time I'm willing to wait. with a newspaper, you can just pick it up and toss it in the garbage or compost bin. Unless you've been frying a whole lot of stuff, there's not much mess.
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post #29 of 54
2/9/10 at 12:57pm
Racks work amazing for deep fried foods. Also holding or even finishing in the oven does keep it crispy. Paper towels just pool up unless you have 6 layers or more, and frankly thats a lot of paper and money wasted. A rack can be used more than once because the oil just runs off. Pinch pennies when you can.
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post #30 of 54
2/9/10 at 2:09pm
It's amazing, Dscheidt, how much you can move with a spatula, and how quickly.

Even when the oils are liquid I use one to squeege off as much as I can.

But, as the poet said, different strokes for different folks.
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