It is helpful, if not absolutely necessary. to have a pan of very heavy metal for deep frying. The heavy metal helps to hold the fat at a fairly constant temperature. I like to use a wire frying basket to lower the food slowly into the hot fat. Then, if the fat starts to bubble up and threatens to run over onto the stove, the basket can be lifted our for a moment until the bubbling dies down. When the fried food is ready to be removed from the fat, the basket allows most of The surplus far to drain off readily.
A thermometer saves guesswork in judging the temperature of the fat, but a one-inch cube of bread will serve almost as well. For uncooked foods, such as fish-chicken, fritters, and potatoes, the temperature of the fat should be about 370° F. At this temperature a cube of bread will brown in forty-five to fifty seconds. For cooked foods, such as croquettes, the fat should be about 390° F., and at this temperature a cube of bread will brown in twenty-five to thirty seconds.
Properly fried foods come from the kettle golden brown in color, crisp, and tender. There are a few tricks which help to keep them that way. Remove the basket from the fat and shake off as much of the surplus fat as possible. Then spread the food—do not pile it up—on absorbent paper rowels, which will absorb the remaining fat. Fried foods must never be put on a cold serving dish, because hot food on a cold plate becomes damp, and a cold plate will work havoc with the crisp crust of the fritures. At the old Ritz-Carlton we always used a paper doily to protect the crispness, and of course the serving plates were heated, too. The platter must never be covered; a cover would cause the formation of steam and make the food limp and soggy.
But let us go back and begin at the beginning. There are various ways of preparing food for the deep-fat kettle, Some foods can be fried without any sort of amine: potatoes, for example. The trick with potatoes is to wipe them dry. If there is any moisture on the potatoes, the temperature of the fat will drop drastically, and the potatoes will develop a hard, thick crust before they are cooked through.
Most foods should be coated for frying, Three different coatings are ordinarily used: The food may he dipped first into milk and then into flour—this is the method used for small fish, such us smelts. and for vegetables, such as eggplant. Some foods should be coated with flour, egg. and bread crumbs—the coating called à l'aaglaise —to achieve a crumbly, crusty surface on croquettes. fish filets, and many other foods. The third familiar coating is a fritter batter, used to coat fruits and vegetables and to bind chopped mixtures. Corn fritters are made with a fritter baiter. A fourth coating, less known but especially delicious, is pastry. A rich pie dough or puff paste is rolled out and cut into squares. A little of the filling is spooned into the center of the squares, and the pastry is folded over to enclose it. The filled pastries are called rissoles. We shall deal with these last two coatings more specifically in another article.
Simple Coating for Fried Foods
Dry the food to be fried thoroughly. Dip in milk and roll in flour. Shake to remove surplus flour. Only a thin, even coating of flour should remain. Use for smelts, whitebait, small fish filets, onion rings, eggplant cut into strips, and similar foods.
A l'Anglaise Coating
Dry the food to be fried thoroughly. Dip in flour and then into 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon salad oil, and ½ teaspoon salt. Drain well and dip into line bread crumbs. To make the crumbs, trim the crusts from day-old white bread. Crumble the bread finely and rub the crumbs through a coarse sieve. These fresh crumbs are best for fried desserts and delicately flavored foods. For fish, chicken, and less fragile foods, dry bread crumbs are better. These may be grated from hard dry bread, or the day-old crumbs may be allowed to dry. The anglaise coating is used for fish, chicken, croquettes, and vegetables, and for almost all deep frying.
Villeroy Mixture for Coating Fried Foods
Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a heavy saucepan, add 6 tablespoons flour, and took slowly, stirring, until the roux begins to turn golden. Add gradually 4 cups hot white stock, stirring vigorously with a wire whip to keep the sauce smooth. Add 4 white peppercorns, salt as necessary, and 1 cup mushroom peelings or stems, if available. Cook gently, stirring often and skimming from time to time, until the mixture is reduced to 3 cups. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, return to the fire, and reduce to 2 cups. Add a little of the sauce to 2 slightly beaten egg yolks and stir the eggs into the sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture almost reaches the boiling point. Cool to lukewarm before using.
I said earlier that deep-frying fat can be used over and over again, and it can, except that fat used to fry fish cannot be used for any other food. At the Ritz we always had two pans of fat: one for the more delicate foods and the other for fish. After the cooking has been finished, the fat should he boiled, strained through fine cheesecloth, and stored in a cold place. The fat is beyond use and ready to discard when it will no longer produce a fine golden crust.
Most fried foods are sprinkled with salt or sugar after they have been cooked. Neither salt nor sugar can be absorbed by a fried surface, and the grains will remain on the surface, so very finely pulverized seasoning should be used to avoid a gritty sensation in the mouth.
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