Deep fryers

I've not read anything positive about home fryers. They have bad recovery time once you add the food and seem to generally do a poor job.

You might look into buying an induction burner instead. You can set a temperature for the burner and they have pretty good heating ability. And much more versatile and easier to store. Though you do need a compatible pan for the magnetic heating to work.

Stick a magnet to the bottom of your sauce pan. If it sticks well, you're good to go.

Although I seem to be an exception to the rule (i.e., I love my deep fryer) I understand the problems with them.

Let me suggest that if you continue with your pot-of-oil-plus-thermometer system (and there's certainly nothing wrong with such a set up) that stainless is the wrong choice. You wan't something heavier than that, something that retains even heat.

Cast iron is the traditional choice for this. Indeed, before getting my deep fryer I had a cast iron kettle dedicated to frying. Used it for no other purpose, and was very happy with it.

You can use either coated or raw iron. The raw will be considerably cheaper, of course.

Whatever you choose should be at least 20% bigger than you think. One of the problems with deep frying is that people overload them. This results in a dramatic drop in oil temperature, slow recovery time, and greasy food. The greater the bulk of hot oil the less of a problem this becomes.

Cast Iron Dutch Oven with a good lid.

It can be used for so much more than just deep frying and with a good lid, you can lid it and set it back to cool for later storage of the oil. I've had a home fryer and couldn't stand how much trouble it was to keep it clean and the small size.

Nice Lodge Dutch ovens can be found at Walmart at good prices (the best I've seen outside of resale stores).

I agree with the other posts-Overloading of a fryer is the single biggest problem with attaining consistnet, quality end product.

The Single Biggest problem is Recovery of the Oil temp.

It may Very well be 365 when you prepare to load it  with Cold or Frozen product...

But then you load it, and the cold/frozen food product absorbs the heat and immediately drop the temp of the oil.

A 120volt Home Fryer does Not have the power to quickly recover temp.

A commercial fryer is either 208 or 240v (like your Dryer or Home Range)-They have the Power to Rapidaly recover temp.

Your only option in using a home fryer is to Fry in small Batches (Batch cooking).

Or.....settle for Inconsistent result.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceMan 

Nice Lodge Dutch ovens can be found at Walmart at good prices (the best I've seen outside of resale stores).

I don't like the lids that come on the Lodge dutch ovens. They can't be removed with one hand which is a really big deal, if you ask me.

OK? Here's pics of three(3) different sized Lodge ovens:

How can you not lift those lids off w/ one(1) hand? 

I don't like the newer design of Lodge's lids. They have spikes to distribute condensation. Half the fricking point of a dutch oven lid is you can turn it upside down and use it as a pan.

Don't get a home fryer, they make you fat.

I recently bought a  home deep fryer and I have been deep fryin' up a storm!  And just like you said, the thing that got me to finally buy one was the ability to control the temperature.  Such an amazing thing.