Do you fry in summer?

by Nicole Weston, Posted Jul 18th 2006 @ 1:10PM

After making a batch of doughnuts this morning, it struck me that I was getting quite hot as I worked over the stove. Of course, the high humidity played a part, but there was no doubt that much of the heat was radiating out of the 370°F vat of oil. The reason that I took particular notice is that, over the weekend, I had a discussion with a friend who attempted to convince me that frying was a better way [than baking] to cook in the summer, since it didn't heat the house up.

I beg to differ.

The oven has to preheat and bake whatever it is you want to eat, but the oven door is open for very little time during the baking process and releases only a small amount of heat into the room. The oil, on the other hand, is a constant and long-lasting source of heat, not to mention the fact that the cook (me) has to stand over the hot oil and supervise whatever is being cooked.

If you've heard that frying is cooler, do you fry in the summer? Frankly, if I'm worried about heating up the house, I'm more likely to make a salad or a batch of ice cream - neither of which heats up the kitchen in the slightest.

Filed Under: Spirit of Summer, Methods
Tags: baking, cool, fried food, fry, frying, heat, heating up the kitchen, kitchen, stay cool, StayCool, summer

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-18-2006 @1:37PM bbum said... Nothing beats a fish fry in the summer! But I never fry in the kitchen -- not in the winter or summer -- more because of the mess than the heat. Instead, I picked up a Coleman dual fuel camp stove (around $40 at your local Sprawl Mart or equivalent). It has two burners and can burn stove fuel or unleaded gasoline. Has no problem maintaining grease temperature.

http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/06/25/cleaning-a-sunfish/
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7-18-2006 @2:10PM kevin said... Nicole,
It doesn't matter whether the oven door is open or not, the heat still radiates out into the room. However, it radiates more slowly from a closed oven than from a deep-fat fryer and if you're not standing over an open oven door you won't notice the heat so much. But one way or another, that heat you're applying to the oil or the oven (or stove top) ends up in the room.
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7-18-2006 @3:29PM tr said... yeah, heat will always radiate from the source. no matter what you do, bake or fry, the room temperature will increase. i would even think that a heated oven, over time, would radiate more heat than a heated deep fryer, just because there a greater amount of mass that is heated. after baking, you have this big oven, with insulated steel walls and such, that needs to cool down. with a deep fryer, you have a relatively thin-walled vessel, and oil.

but forget all that, what's this nonsense of people frying in the summer because it "heats up the house less"? i thought you fried stuff, because you wanted to fry stuff. and you baked something, because you wanted to bake. so are you telling me there are people who will never make cookies or cakes in the summertime, because it might make the house hotter? that's just weird. i'll bake in the summer, fry in the summer, grill in the winter, make ice cream in the winter...i don't care what season it is, or if it makes my apartment hotter or colder. i'm not going to make a salad, when i really wanted fried chicken, just because it's hot. and just because there's 2 feet of snow outside doesn't mean i won't go out and get an ice cream cone.
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7-19-2006 @1:04PM Myron said... First of all: homemade donuts and you didn't invite us? I'm hurt. But worse than that, I'm hungry for a homemade donut.

I'm for trying this outside. Maybe that once a year turkey fryer could be pressed into donut service.
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7-19-2006 @2:13PM bbum said... Totally! Those turkey fryers are amazing sources of heat for doing crab/lobster boils, cooking corn, or deep frying.

I do suggest that you get yourself a cast iron dutch oven to fry in. All that iron makes for great thermal mass which will keep the grease temperature much more consistent -- very, very important to achieve a quality batter coating.

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