This post is linked up to Tammy’s Recipes: Kitchen Tip Tuesdays
I love fried foods.
I really do.
I don’t eat them all the time, but still. I love them.
One thing that I do that I think is a MUST when deep-frying anything is reusing oil! I strain the oil into the bottle it came from to save it for next time.
Got all the gross stuff out!
All you need to do this is:
- a funnel
- a cloth, or paper towel
- the bottle your oil came from
(How easy is that?)
Not only is this a “green” tip, but it saves you a lot of money if you fry very often.
I’ve wondered about reusing fried oil… great tip! How long do you think the reused oil lasts for?
Good question!
I’m not 100% sure, and it MIGHT depend on what you fry in it. However, I think it keeps longer if it is strained.
Also, as long as you smell the oil before you use it again and it doesn’t smell “rancid,” you should be just fine! You can tell bad oil if you have it.
Thanks for stopping by!
My mom has done this since I was a kid. Useful, but there was always something creepy about the way it say on her counter top. My suggestion: do this – and definitely, definitely strain it – but hide the leftover oil.
haha.
Considering the fact that my counter is very, very, VERY small… nothing stays on it.
One of the few benefits of a tiny counter, then!
Yes! Another benefit is that even if my whole counter is covered in dirty dishes it still only takes about 10 minutes to wash and dry them. haha.
I just moved from a studio to a house with a full kitchen and two walls of counter space – the number of dirty dishes has grown exponentially!
Where do you store the used oil?
I just store the used oil on my shelf with my new oils, but I made sure to mark it “used” so that it only gets used again for frying, not a batch of cookies or something!
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Thought you might like this info Bonnie. Reusing oil is ok but it depends what oil it is. Canola oils and olive oils are not good but for two uses more. Will here is the info you decide. It is all about being healthy with the foods we cook.
From the answerbug.com: Yes, it can be re-used several times, but realize that each time you re-use it two important things happen:
1) You build up food particles and silt than can burn, turn black, and generally make everything taste bad like them. Careful filtration between uses can limit this quite a bit, but few people do it.
2) Every time you use the oil you lower its smoke point – the point at which the molecules break down into a funky stuff called acreolein and spread awful smoke around your kitchen in the process. Most common frying oils and vegetable shortenings start out with a smoke point in the 445F range with some lower (olive oil and lard @ 375F) and some higher (safflower @ 510F), so you have some wiggle room. But after you’ve used it a few times the smoke point starts to drop near your frying temperature, usually around 365F, and smoke begins to rise before you can even get the food in.
So if you want to re-use it’s probably best to:
1) Fry with safflower oil. The high smoke point it starts with gives you more re-uses before it degrades below your frying temperature.
2) If something you’re frying is throwing off a lot of itself into the oil, consider straining it through some cheesecloth between uses. Please wait until it’s cool first. Okay, you’re right, that was patronizing. I apologize.
3) Don’t overload the pan and keep your frying temperature up. Many things fry just fine at around 365F, many people fry lower than that unintentially by stuffing a bunch things into the oil at once. Low frying temperatures let oil into the food and food flavors into the oil.
Read more: Is it safe to reuse vegetable oil when deep-frying? How long can you store it before it deteriorates? | Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/12319#ixzz2MpGnqInT
Hmm… interesting. I always use canola oil and I carefully strain it every time and have used it quite a few times before tossing. I just go by the smell. If it doesn’t smell like something I’d want my food to smell like, I won’t use it again.
I think that straining is the key thing here… I always strain mine.
I do agree though – it probably does smoke/burn more the more times you use the oil… it only makes sense with the oil getting darker.
Thanks for the info!