recipes & tips

If you plan to do any deep frying, it’s important to correctly gauge the temperature of your oil. You don’t want it to be too hot, to the point where it burns your food, making it taste bitter, but it should be hot enough to harden and caramelize the exterior so that the interior cooks quickly without absorbing the oil and hence turning your dish soggy. The best way to measure the temperature of hot oil is with a candy thermometer, which measures the higher temperatures needed for melting and hardening in candy recipes. Candy thermometers are available in most cookware and house ware stores and are a good investment if you plan to do any deep­-­frying (or of course if you plan to make candy). If you don’t have one, drop a small piece of bread in the hot oil. If it turns brown quickly, the oil is ready. Alternatively, throw a drop of water in; if it sizzles immediately, you can start ­frying. Although some recipes call for frying foods in oil that has just reached its smoking point, in general if the oil is smoking it’s too hot for proper deep frying. Most foods are deep­-­fried at temperatures in the 350 to 375 F range. The larger the piece of food, the lower the temperature within this range, since the interior of the piece needs more time to become done. If a piece of food sinks right to the bottom of the oil and doesn’t rise, then the oil is definitely not hot enough for frying. (That’s why it’s always important to test first.) If the oil isn’t hot enough, the food will become soggy and drenched with oil; if it is hot enough—and you fry it in a light oil—it will come out surprisingly light and delicate, like classic Japanese tempura.