The Fat Facts About Frying and Oven Baked
There are basically two camps when it comes to deep-frying. On one side, you have the non-fryers, the folks who regard a vat of 350-degree oil as the doorway to dietary hell, a simmering pot of caloric iniquity that will destroy the arteries and quality of life of any who come near. On the other side, we have the Fry Hard crew, the folks who have never met a food they couldn't batter, and whose favorite green vegetable is something fried to a golden brown.
The non-fryers would have you believe that the fat content of anything you immerse in oil reaches the stratosphere, and the Fry Harders will point to tests of dubious scientific accuracy proving that mere teaspoons of oil are absorbed in any fry session.
They're each just about half right, as you might well expect.
Singapore Polytechnic School of Chemical and Life Sciences did an experiment that, of those I've evaluated, most closely approximates the frying conditions in the average home kitchen, using a retail-purchased countertop deep fryer. They chemically (with a list of processes that made my head swim just reading the names) analyzed the foods before and after frying and determined the increase or decrease in fat content resulting from the cooking.
The results, while not great news for the Fry Hard bunch, are at least not as catastrophic as the food police might have you believe.
Chicken wings, for example, unbreaded, absorbed 2.75 grams of fat per 100 grams of uncooked weight. Breaded wings, like my beloved Hooters wings, sucked up 4.8 grams. Potato chips
absorbed 2.55 grams, and battered fish, as for fish and chips, absorbed 4.33 grams. How these amounts fit in with your own diet are for you to decide. I'm just providing you the information.
From my own kitchen experience, I can tell you that the temperature at which you fry bears a tremendous relation to how much fat you soak up. Put a breaded item in oil that's not yet to optimum frying temperature and it will soak up oil like a sponge. The whole idea is to
"cauterize" your coating and seal it up to prevent oil penetration. This will not only decrease the absorption but give you a better-tasting, higher-quality end product.
As for the types of oil you use, there is endless debate over "healthy" oils. I'm not a doctor, and I'm not about to wade into that deep water. What is plain to anyone who can read, however, is
that canola and peanut are your best bets from a price and durability standpoint. They are both neutral oils, imparting no flavor to the food cooked in them. My one exception is fried chicken, where I use melted vegetable shortening to help give the chicken a light crust.
In short, frying is not a low-fat alternative. However, it is and should be a part of every kitchen cook's repertoire in moderation.
Chef Mark form Hook to Cook has added the following comment:
Many people at our demos ask about deep frying as compared to oven baked. Every one is striving for a light and crispy coating that is not greasy. In order to achieve any type of a crispy coating in the oven you generally will find recipe that contain some type of crumb that is
generally light brown in color and contains fat or is pre fried. Example Progresso Italian Style Bread Crumbs. Progresso Bread Crumbs have 1.5 grams of fat per serving, compared to Hook to Cook Premium Coatings having 0 grams of fat per serving.
The recipe on the back of Progresso Bread Crumbs “ Crispy Baked Chicken” calls for:
1 cup bread crumbs................................................6 g. of fat
2 tablespoons margarine or butter..........................18 g of fat (margarine) or 22 g. (butter)
1 egg......................................................................5 g. of fat
Total 29 g. of fat
29 g. of fat to be used on 6 chicken breast making 6 servings for a total of 4.8 g of fat per serving.
Hook to Cook Recipes recommend always use Pre-Dip instead of egg or egg and milk. Hook to Cook Pre-Dip contains 0 grams of fat. Our Pre-Dip can be used as an egg wash substitute, a tempura batter, or as a flour replacement where recipes call for food to be dusted in flour.
Hook to Cook Pre-Dip when mixed with water as directed makes a superior adhesion batter forming an intermediate binding layer that produces a healthier entrée by preventing oil/fat absorption. Pre-Dip also seals in juices/moisture and nutrients, increases adhesion,
crispness and prevents blow off during frying. Pre-Dip will also help food stay crisp longer when kept warm or on the table, and with its superb blend of flour and spice will enhance the flavors of any additional coatings giving you the results of a professional chef. Pre-Dip is highly recommended to be used with all Hook to Cook Premium Coatings.
Once dip in Pre-Dip your Chicken breast would then be coated in Hook to Cook Premium Poultry Coating as a dry mix and then pan fried or deep fried. (canola oil recommenced) Hook to Cook Premium Coatings contains 0 grams of fat.
Using the scientific results from the Singapore Polytechnic School of Chemical and Life Sciences (shown in the article above) you will learn that unbreaded chicken will absorb 2.75 grams of fat. Breaded Deep fried chicken will absorb 4.8 grams. Comparing these results with
the recipe on the back of Progresso Bread Crumbs for Crispy Baked Chicken you will see that oven baked chicken will have 4.8 grams of fat.
Comparing apples to apples:
Oven baked breaded chicken will have 4.8 grams of fat per serving.
Deep fried or pan fried chicken breaded chicken will have 4.8 grams of fat per serving.
Chicken coated in Hook to Cook Premium products pan fried of deep fried will have less then 4.8 grams of fat per serving.
Note: 4.8 grams of fat is only 7% of the daily value based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
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