As a service to our customers we would like to point out some things about deep frying.
Deep frying:
Best deal is a thermostat controlled deep fryer. Set temperature between 180 - 190C, 365 - 375F.
If this is a 3 liter fryer, then best maximize the load to 12 Bitterballs or 4 croquettes or 4 Frikandels.
In a pot; heat the oil till the advised temp. Control this by holding a tooth pick in the oil. Many bubbles around the wood means the temperature is optimal. No bubbles yet, temperature to low. Blue smoke? Way too hot.
Use a timer; for timing see Prepare link.
Put food in the oil and keep heating high for one more minute, then lower heat to 50%.
Frying oils; points of attention:
Thailand has many types of cooking oils. Most are for direct consumption in fried rice and all other meals that are prepared in a wok. These oils are mostly not 'strong' enough for deep frying.
After a couple of frying sessions you will see the oil will deteriorate. There appears foam at the surface and specially when frying frozen french fries, your deep fryer may even overflow.
Second proof of old oil is a dark color.
Third is the strong smell you didn't have when the oil was fresh.
Consequences of old oil are dark brown colored products, no crispy fries and croquettes and last but not least it is bad for your health.
Not suitable for deep frying are all the cheaper oils such as soy and palm. Though some palm oils we tested are quite strong. Very funny, but experience yourself.
Don't use salad oil at all and no olive oil either.
Suitable for deep frying are the more expensive oils like sunflower- corn- and arachid oils.
Price performance, sunflower oil is your best option.
Hydrogenated fat, used in many donut applications in Thailand, is also not suitable because of a funny smell and fatty taste.
Our experience so far:
Not all cooking oils seem what they are. We found out that even a cheap refined palm oil was better than one of the more expensive soy oils. We don't advise the soy oil for deep frying that has an image on the bottle of black eyed soy beans. Though excellent for cooking, the oil in an early stage produces a soapy foam resulting in poor deep frying quality. The oil simply refuses to fry.
For further questions, please use the contact form.
Handmade Dutch Specialties Co., Ltd, is FDA licenced. FDA stands for Food and Drug Administration. In Thailand resorting under the Ministry of Public Health.Though it is possible to sell all your products in the streets and markets in Thailand with hardly any control, companies who produce and sell food to other companies are controlled by the FDA and all those products must bear a special number, a so called OYO. An OYO looks like this:
Without a license number like this a company is not allowed to sell food to supermarkets or produce medicament etc.
Samples of products are tested by the FDA as well as the production facility at unknown intervals.
This is your 'guarantee' for buying safe controlled food.
However, special attention must still be paid when cooking or regenerating food at home.
Always be sure that you heat (frozen) products until the inner temperature is at least 70 C or 160 F or over.
What about 'handmade':
Most factory products are made with extracts, emulsifiers, artificial flavors and more things you are not really waiting for neither do you want to eat them. What is mostly recognized with our handmade products is that they do have an individual taste and smell compared to the dull, uniform and synthetic taste of factory products.
Our handmade products are made with fresh herbs, best spices we can buy and preferably, if available, local and hill tribe foods not (?) treated with chemicals
Though MSG is not (?) really proven to be a health risk, we add no extra MSG to our products as only MSG that is in some condiments we use, such as soy sauces, soup condiments etc.
The use of sugar is reserved for only those recepies that originally require addition of sugar. Chocolate mousse would not even taste without the addition of sugar.
