I'm looking at buying a deep fat fryer for general healthy eating. Plus I'm watching man vs food so I'm also going to be making a
smoker ...... any advice pointers or is it a case of big is beautiful on the fryer?
Cheers
John
[Edited on 7/8/11 by focijohn]
eh? deep fat frier for general healthy eating? really?
broccoli etc.
lol yeah, ok, i'll let you have that
We bought one for safer cooking, rather than healthy eating - a chip pan half-full of oil at the proper cooking temperature on a gas hob scared me too
much.
We used to have one with a filter in the lid but that was just too messy at clean-up time. Now we've got an open one - a bit of a cheffy one -
but it's great to be able to set very high temperatures (e.g. 190C) without worry.
quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
We bought one for safer cooking, rather than healthy eating - a chip pan half-full of oil at the proper cooking temperature on a gas hob scared me too much.
I think it's Tefal do the Actifry. A "deep" fat fryer that's low on fat 
Yes it is, linky. Rather expensive for a fryer but, well it uses a teaspoon of fat!
there is a fryer on the market that fries a portion of chips with 1 tablespoon of oil Tefal active fry I think
I got rid of my chip pan 12 years ago.
They are too much of a fire hazard, let alone a health hazard. Plus they create a mess in the cupboard where you store them. Deep fat fryer's
are fine when they are new. However, they soon get caked up with burnt on fat. Unless you want to drain, filter, and thoroughly clean them every time
you use it. (Its just tooo much hassle)
We just cut up potatoes into wedges (keep the skin on) and then Nuke in the Microwave for a couple of minutes to get them started, then transfer to
the oven on a flat tray, with a very very light brushing of oil.
Healthier for you, and safer for the house (and probably you as well!)
Dont get a chip pan / deep fat fryer.
Other good thing we got recently was a slow cooker. Cheap cuts of meat, cut up some veg, a little water and a stock cube. Bubble away for several
hours (Ours is only 100watts) and they stews are amazing. Even the cheapest meat is tender, and the gravy is great.
Two pointers.... DONT put in peppers (red / green / yellow) as they have a strong taste if cooked for that long.
Stick the bisto (or whatever) in for the last 5 mins just to thicken up the gravy before serving.
A slice of nice brown granary bread finishes the meal off, cos you want something to wipe all that lovely gravy up off the plate
We've got an actifry and its one of the best things we've ever bought, couldnt without it for most stuff, no good for onion bhaji's
though 
Cheers
Rich
We bought the one Aldi do in their offers and have had it about 4 years now. It strips down easily for cleaning and oil changes and works perfectly.
Heat the oil for 7 minutes or till the light goes green then fry the chips for 8 minutes. It has lower settings for other stuff but who cooks that
anyway?
I think deep-fat frying is best left to the professionals. My local chip shop and chinky does quite well of my 'safe cooking' policy.
I am now deeply fat.
quote:
Originally posted by wilkingj
Deep fat fryer's are fine when they are new. However, they soon get caked up with burnt on fat. Unless you want to drain, filter, and thoroughly clean them every time you use it. (Its just tooo much hassle)
This is the type we have but it's dirt cheap
here It comes
apart easily for cleaning and if you don't overfill the oil it is perfectly safe.
Yeah - we've got one of those too, just put it on the hob under the extractor when we use it, perfectly safe and makes superb chips etc.... about £20 from Argos I think....
One word of caution - Before you get the tefal actifry thing .... read the web reviews. They seem to have a problem with the lid breaking. We came close to getting one and decided not to due to it.