On Jan 3, 7:21 pm, "Steve B" > wrote:
> Just cooked some chicken wings, but they don't come out as brown as those at
> restaurants. Battered some, some not. If you cook them for a while, you
> can use them to throw at stray cats in the alley, they are that tough.
>
If I interpret this correctly, your wings were overcooked and yet not
as darkly colored as you'd like. That sounds like too low a temp for
the oil and too long cooking in it. You don't say what temp you
tried, but I'd expect you want the oil to be at least 360F, if not
375F. The most common mistake is to overload the fryer so the oil
temp plunges immediately, even if it was at the right temp when you
put the food in, and then also takes too long to recover. Try cooking
in more, smaller, batches. There should be plenty of room for all the
pieces to move around freely without crowding. Hint: if the food
just fits in the container, you've almost certainly overloaded it.

> What's the secret to good wings, and what's the thing about "if it floats,
> it's done" on other deep fried foods?
>
Ignore 'if it floats.' Although there may be items for which that's
true (at a certain temp) it's not a general rule nor a good guide.
Doneness and color are the product of time and temp. The smart thing
to do is measure them.

> Or should I chuck the Fry Daddy, and use a shallower pan and turn them?
>
You can, but it's a different product. Which do you want? The Fry
Daddy, as I recall, has a thermostat, you have a watch or clock, those
are what you want to gain experience with. -aem