Then I wrote:

"Since you were thinking of buying one like the Presto Kitchen Kettle I
bought I thought you might be interested in our experience with it.
FWIW, I wrote an E-Mail to Presto this morning and asked them a few
questions.

I decided to try it on some 21-25 shrimp we had bought at CostCo. My
wife asked if we could have Hush Puppies, too. I checked and we still
had some in the freezer. I defrosted the shrimp, fixed an egg wash, and
breaded them in Panko. and put them in the refrigerator to set the
coating. I filled the kettle up to the frying fill line with Canola
oil, and turned the control to where I thought 365° was. The control
had 350° and 400°, so I estimated. Since this was our first use with
it, I clipped a dial type analog thermometer in to monitor the
temperature of the oil. It heated relatively quickly. However, it
seemed to slow down around 300° (approximately) and I turned the control
up some more. I finally ended up with the control sitting on 400° and
the temperature on the thermometer showed about 345°. I tried the old
Chinese method of checking the temperature, i.e., I put a little of the
breading in and it bubbled quite nicely so I put the shrimp in, all
seven (three for my wife and four for me). I was surprised at how
quickly they cooked. The top of the oil was covered with bubbling and
the thermometer showed a drop in temperature of about 20°. I am not
real experienced in deep frying. The recipe I used was from the book
"Fearless Frying" and called for only a minute or two. They looked to
me like they were done in about 1 1/2 minutes so I pulled them out. I
did not use the basket, but used a spider to retrieve them. I then put
in the Hush Puppies which were fresh from our freezer. They, too ,
cooked quickly. The package calls for about two minutes.

The shrimp were a tad overdone, in my opinion, but my wife liked them.
The hush puppies were crisp on the outside.

What I asked Presto was basically this: Do I need to wait longer for
the oil to heat up to temperature or did I rush it? I have heard some
say to allow about 20 minutes for oil to heat.

On the whole, I can't complain. However, I think I'll put fewer shrimp
in next time instead of trying to cook that many at once. I think the
temperature won't drop as much and they'll be easier to monitor. Since
we're only talking less than a minute and half to cook them, I don't
think that should be a problem.

The filtering of the oil worked well and it looks the same color as it
started.

On the whole, I think I'll keep it. I'm going to check the calibration
on my thermometers today to see how accurate they are.

Now, what shall I fix next? <G>

Abe wrote:

>
> How do you filter the oil?

I bought a large funnel (1 QT capacity) and I have some large industrial
size coffee filters. The funnel has a built in screen and the coffee
filter does most of the work...

Regards...

Tom

tom spillman wrote:
>
> Abe wrote:
>
> > How do you filter the oil?
>
> I bought a large funnel (1 QT capacity) and I have some large industrial
> size coffee filters. The funnel has a built in screen and the coffee
> filter does most of the work...

I wonder if there would be a market for
a tabletop centrifuge to filter cooking
oil? It might also be useful for coffee,
and there was a coffeemaker years ago
that used the centrifuge principal to
separate the grounds from the coffee,
but it had problems.

Mark Thorson wrote:

> I wonder if there would be a market for
> a tabletop centrifuge to filter cooking
> oil? It might also be useful for coffee,
> and there was a coffeemaker years ago
> that used the centrifuge principal to
> separate the grounds from the coffee,
> but it had problems.

I think the cost would be more than what most people would be willing to
pay. It'll have to operate at a fairly high speed to separate them and
that's going to run up the cost.

Out of curiosity, I just googled it and saw nothing that looked
appropriate for home use...

Regards...

Tom

Abe wrote:
>
> I tried using a coffee filter also, but it was so slow as to be
> totally frustrating. How long does it take you to filter a batch of
> oil? Any tips?
>

It took about five or six minutes (I didn't time it). It is pretty
slow, but the oil is nice and clean.

> Also, a pic/link to the funnel and filters you use might be helpful
> for me.

Here's a link to the funnel. Mine is the 1 QT rather than the 2 Qt but
it looks the same. It cost less than $4. See:

http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/html/product73094.htm

Here's a link to the filters I use:
http://www.bunnomatic.com/pages/comm...r_filters.html

I bought a box of these at CostCo a few years ago for a few dollars. I
bought them to hold pie weights for blind baking pie and tart crusts. I
still use them for that purpose but I cheat more often and use the
Pillsbury crusts. See:

http://www.pillsbury.com/view/desserts/piecrust.aspx

As to using the crust, I bought a book some years ago (that's one of my
faults -- I buy lots of books! -- I have several hundred cook books in
five languages!). The book was "Spur of the Moment Cook" by Perla
Meyers. She recommended using the Pillsbury crusts and I tried it and
decided that I was much more likely to make a tart or pie with those
than without them. See:

http://tinyurl.com/3djunu

I hope this helps...

Regards...

Tom

In article >,
Abe > wrote:

> >"Since you were thinking of buying one like the Presto Kitchen Kettle I
> >bought I thought you might be interested in our experience with it.
>
> >snip<
>
> >The filtering of the oil worked well and it looks the same color as it
> >started.
>
> How do you filter the oil?

I personally use one of those re-usable fine mesh coffee filters.
It's a little faster than using a paper one and I get the oil very clear
with it. Easy enough to wash too with a little dish soap.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson