Thread: Grease Temperature

I eat fish about 3 times a WEEK!! I'll drop 'em in at about 350 and just wait for them to float. PASS THE KETCHUP!!!!!!

another trick we have in south louisiana is take an onion quarter it up when you put your first batch of fsh in put a quarter of onion in . when fish is done take fish out leave onion in . as the onion darken take out and replace withe another piece this will help keep your oil from burning

Learned something reading this post. Thank you for your input. I need to get one of them probe style thermometers.

When I used my Presto Fry Daddy I found that if I dropped two fillets into the hot oil the oil temp would drop by 10 to 15 deg F. The small fry daddy has the heating element in the bottom on the base and there is only 1200 Watts of power. So the oil temp will drop pretty much when the fillets hit the oil. I start out with the oil heated to 375 and it will at time drop down to 350F. If I were to put in more than a few fillets it would drop even lower. And after the bottom of the fry daddy gets covered with breading it takes even longer to heat the oil back up to 375. After a few batches of fillets there is so much breading covering the bottom that I can't get the oil above 365 deg F. I have to use clean oil of filter the breading out of the oil and start over.

It takes about 15 minutes to heat 4 cups of peanut oil to 375 F. And after I pull some fillets out of the oil it takes another 5 minutes to get the oil back up to 375F.

Now last night I cooked some fillets and used the stove and a frying pan. I didn't measure the temp but it was pretty darn hot. The first batch came out great. I used fresh oil and there was no breading mix on the bottom of the frying pan. So the oil heated up quickly. I use med hi heat setting on the electric burner. I cooked the fillets for three minutes on each side and they were cooked thoroughly. I had enough for two fish sandwitches and ate a few extra fillets on the side. I still had enough fillets left over to heat back up to make two more fish sandwitches for lunch today. I cooked up three batches of fillets last night. The last batch was burned as I think the oil got too hot. Even though I took them out of the hot oil before they cooked for 3 minutes per side they still were not cooked thoroughly. Key to cooking is definately getting the oil temp just right.


I did some research on the Presto GrandPappy and found that it holds more oil and the heating element is rated at 1500 watts. My next door neighbor has the Presto Grand Pappy frier and we have cooked crappie fillets in it and they came out great. Since it holds more oil and has more power it cooks the fillets better. IMHO.

Bottom line is get the oil to 375 deg F and keep it there for the entire 4 to 6 minutes for each batch of fish fillets.

BTW. The candy thermometer is marked for cooking different types of meat. Fish is marked at 375 Deg F. So that is why I used that temp. Also the Presto Fry Daddy automatically maintains the oil at 375 deg F. It won't heat the oil much more than 375 deg F. But like I said after the oil gets filled with breading the oil temp can't heat back up to 375 F.

I like to make sure that I have a lot of breading on my fillets so I get a lot of breading falling off the fillets in the FryDaddy.


Now if you are cooking with gas heat the setup will be much different. I have not cooked fish using gas very much so I don't know how that works.

I agree with Slabinator, I keep all my fillets and whole fish in a bowl of ice water then pull them out, pat em dry and stick them right into the breading mix. They always turn out crispy outside and flaky in the middle.

I HATE to be the ODD ball OUT here Guys BUT I try NEVER to let My Oil get 300 degrees when Frying Fish , before I start the burner up I always strain the bottom as good as i can & Oil last a very long time , seems like when I let the oil get much over 300 for very long , I end up with dark oil & having the throw it away & buying new oil , ,, of course it would not do for every body to do everything the same way in life !!

I do my best to keep it between 250 -300 really 275 works GREAT for me , again, its just the way I do it , not right for everybody !!

One thing I have started using is the longer themometer I got with my turkey fryer. It keeps the dial up higher and doesn't get splattered with grease. The shorter ones tend to get covered up and hard to read.

The key to cooking crappie is to make sure that your temp is at 375' to 400',
if your fish is frozen be sure to thaw in cold water and drain, we use buttermilk self-rising white cornmeal, add about 1 tablespoon of flour to your cornmeal. What ever you do don't salt your fish add the salt to your cornmeal mixture. I use a deep fryer or electric skillet to cook in. Your fish will float if you are using a deep fryer, if you use a electric skillet turn your fish only once, and don't add but 3 large pieces, or 4 small each time you add to oil, I use veg. oil, I have found that wesson oil is the best to fry your fish in. To save your oil let it cool and store in the icebox until your ready to cook fish in it again. All ways cook your fries first. If you like a little kick to your fish add a little hot sauce to the fish while you have it in the water, be sure to drain all the water off your fish before you roll your fish in the cornmeal this is the key to crisp fish.

Hey

We own a small resturant and cook on average 100 pounds of filets a weekend, The temp of 360 or so seems to work well,
But we only use plain corn meal not self rising. It seems to not drop off in your grease as bad. Also we go to great pains to
dry all our fish well as the excess meal seems to make the fish greasy. Always allow your grease to come back up to temp before dropping others. Sometimes you have to turn the temp up a bit if it falls off to much, or add less at a time.

Rod