Monday 12 September 2011

Olive Oil and Frying

  • Olive Oil and Frying

Olive Oil and Frying Frying is one of the most used cooking techniques in Spain and its advantages are:

    * Short time of preparation.
    * High palatability of food.
    * Low thermal damage in relation to other methods (as proven by Professor G. Varela).

1. To do this properly, we should note:

a) The food that is going to be fried: the best foods for frying are those rich in albumin (egg) and those containing starch (potatoes, cereal flours), therefore, for those foods not containing these (for example vegetables and fish) it is recommendable to coat them, after drying, with flour or a frying dough (egg, flour, breadcrumbs) before frying.

b) The kind of fat used: in relation with the type of fat used for frying, heating oil can produce a series of changes that will depend on its fatty acids composition. These changes are minimal in fats composed mainly of saturated fatty acids (eg. butter), small and slow in fats rich in monounsaturated fatty acids (olive oil) and fast and significant in those containing high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (seed oils such as sunflower, soybeans, corn, grape etc...).

c) The frying temperature and time: 160º for vegetables; 175º for the rest. The time will depend on oneself, but overall the food should not be stiff or hard.

2. To fry properly with this oil you should take a series of precautions:

a) The oil must be heated on medium heat and not high heat.
b) Never allow the oil to smoke for this means that we have reached its critical temperature and therefore the formation of undesired products easily happens. An easy way to check the oil temperature is adding a small piece of bread:

If the bread sinks to the bottom and does not rise, the temperature would be 150ºC, which is still a low temperature for proper frying.
If the bread sinks and rises slowly to the surface, the temperature is between 160ºC and 165ºC. This is the recommended temperature for frying delicate foods (eg. vegetables).
If it sinks and rises to the surface in a few seconds, its temperature is between 175ºC and 180ºC. This temperature is suitable for frying most foods.
If the bread does not submerge and toasts, the temperature is high (between 180ºC and 185ºC)

c) The oil must be filtered immediately after use to remove the remains of food that may remain that can accelerate its degradation.

d) Olive oil can be used, if you have taken care of all the details, up to a maximum of 5 or 6 times frying, although a smaller number is recommendable.

3. Other considerations of nutrition to be taken into account regarding frying with olive oil:

a) Olive oil, if fried properly, penetrates food very little, therefore its total caloric value does not increase much, which does not happen when using seed oils.

b) The nutritional quality of fried foods does not decrease, not affecting the availability of the different nutrients it contains, as the temperature reached inside the food is not high and the fry time is short, which does not happen either with seed oils.

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