Deep frying Chicken

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Kooken

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Not sure I'm in the right forum but move it if I'm not.
The Wife and I haven't really been into deep frying until recently.
We just purchased a Globe Commercial fryer after trying many cheap deep fryers over the years.
We've always used the cast iron pots to fry with but we got sick of the mess and the huge drop in temps when you dropped in your items to be fried.
The new Globe is much better when it comes to temp drop and recovery.
Our problem is after a few attempts is things seem to burn or over cook. Fish cooks so fast the dredge doesnt have time to brown properly.
Calamari is done in a minute rather than 2.5 minutes. Shrimp is done in 1 minute and 15 seconds. Thats not the problem we're having,adjusting the time is easy enough.
Our problem is fried chicken which is one of the reasons we bought the Globe is getting the temp right in the chicken without making the crust to dark is our issue.
In essence our issue is the dredge ingredients are over done to the point of being inedible by the time the chicken reaches the proper temps.

Any suggestions would be welcome.
 
Welcome from North Texas.

Some questions. What oil are you using? What temperature are you setting the oil to? What are you using for your dredge? (batter, flour, flour and bread crumbs?)

I use peanut oil set to 350F to 375F depending on what I am frying. Peanut oil has a high smoke point, which might help with your chicken cook inside before the coating gets too dark.

BTW, for fried fish (mostly catfish), I use Louisiana brand Fish Fry for my coating. It works every time. Any grocery store in Texas should have it.

CD
 
caseydog said:
Welcome from North Texas.

Some questions. What oil are you using? What temperature are you setting the oil to? What are you using for your dredge? (batter, flour, flour and bread crumbs?)

I use peanut oil set to 350F to 375F depending on what I am frying. Peanut oil has a high smoke point, which might help with your chicken cook inside before the coating gets too dark.

BTW, for fried fish (mostly catfish), I use Louisiana brand Fish Fry for my coating. It works every time. Any grocery store in Texas should have it.

CD
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We're using peanut oil.
And the standard temp of 350.
Our dredge is pretty standard as well,3/4 flour and 1/4 corn starch.
We dont have a problem with seafood so much as we have a problem with fried chicken.
We use a lot of Louisiana fish fry as well,although this time around we went with Joe's gourmet fish fry when we did seafood.
Dont have any complaints with Joe's.
The thing that kills me is we've never had to much of a problem frying with the cast iron pot.
The only big difference has been the Globes temp. It holds temp way better and it recoups temps way faster than the cast iron.
We're gonna try going strictly with time next time around. Jabbing it with the Thermo probe seems to make the chicken dry which makes sense.
 
medtran49 said:
I would get a reliable thermometer and make sure that your oil is really at 350 because the issues you described are indicative of a too high oil temp.
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I only use Thermoworks stuff that I used when I BBQed competitively so it's not that.
Also have the Thermoworks instant read thermo.
And the Globe fryer is commercial grade that cost $600 bucks so it's a good quality fryer.
It has me stumped for sure. I'm going to try some different dredge mixtures and see if thats the problem.
The thing thats really driving me nuts is the time and internal temp of the chicken.
If I go buy time the internal temp of the chicken is far to low,by the time I get the internal temp right the outside is way over done.
The fryer does hold and return to temp far better and faster than my cast iron pot.
I'd lower the oil temp but 350 is the standard on commercial fryers or a cast iron pot.

90570
 
i suck at deep frying chicken. same reasons. the crust gets too dark.

i did it once super successfully by frying and then finishing the cooking in a hot oven.

my friend has great chicken. he will fry smaller pieces. and he puts slits in everything, like the thighs and drums.
 
bburned said:
i suck at deep frying chicken. same reasons. the crust gets too dark.

i did it once super successfully by frying and then finishing the cooking in a hot oven.

my friend has great chicken. he will fry smaller pieces. and he puts slits in everything, like the thighs and drums.
Click to expand...

Of course I've watched a bunch of youtube vids and today I came across one from Rachel cooks with love.
We've used several of her recipes over the years and they're usually pretty good.
She fried her chicken at 325 and the lowered it to 300. This is the first recipe that I found where the temp is below 350.
She fried them for 25 minutes which is far longer than what I've found so far,in fact it's double the time.
Her chicken came out perfect.
 
Kooken said:
She fried them for 25 minutes which is far longer than what I've found so far,in fact it's double the time.
Her chicken came out perfect.
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That's about how long I fry chicken, 20-25 minutes. I don't use a thermometer, just look at the oil, plus I've done it enough that I know what burner setting I need to use. My farmwife grandmother taught my mother how to fry chicken, then my mother taught me. They didn't use thermometers, just eyeballed it and adjusted the heat as needed.
 
medtran49 said:
That's about how long I fry chicken, 20-25 minutes. I don't use a thermometer, just look at the oil, plus I've done it enough that I know what burner setting I need to use. My farmwife grandmother taught my mother how to fry chicken, then my mother taught me. They didn't use thermometers, just eyeballed it and adjusted the heat as needed.
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I'm not there yet...:D
 
Have you tried lowering the temperature of the oil? I fry in a pot at 350 or so, but that means the actual temp of the oil will drop to 300 when I put the chicken in. Since yours will hold the temp, maybe try at 300 or 325.
 
MaximumSam said:
Have you tried lowering the temperature of the oil? I fry in a pot at 350 or so, but that means the actual temp of the oil will drop to 300 when I put the chicken in. Since yours will hold the temp, maybe try at 300 or 325.
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I touched on that in post #7
Rachel cooks with love talked about using the same temps so I'm definitely going to try that.

I'm really trying to stay away from the finish in the oven method because I know dang good and well it doesn't have to be done that way.
To me thats like finishing a brisket in the oven...it's Sacrilege I tell ya!!!
 
Kooken said:
I touched on that in post #7
Rachel cooks with love talked about using the same temps so I'm definitely going to try that.

I'm really trying to stay away from the finish in the oven method because I know dang good and well it doesn't have to be done that way.
To me thats like finishing a brisket in the oven...it's Sacrilege I tell ya!!!
Click to expand...
Lol well as one who always finishes brisket in the oven just call me a blasphemer. But if you have an expensive and nice fryer it seems like a pain to have to use the oven too.
 
MaximumSam said:
Lol well as one who always finishes brisket in the oven just call me a blasphemer. But if you have an expensive and nice fryer it seems like a pain to have to use the oven too.
Click to expand...

I've been BBQing for over 30 years and I BBQed in competitions for four years so I'm kind of a purist.
It's just my nature,I try and stay true in everything I cook.
Used to have a large Pitts and Spitts smoker but it's just too big for what I do these days and it was a wood hog.

Sold it and got a Lang reverse flow. It uses way less wood and is much easier to control temps.
I heard a lot about reverse flow pits and what they say is true,it almost totally eliminates hot spots.
90623


90624
 
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