kiddos have decided they like homemade french fries. We need a small fryer that the kids can use, the oil stays in between batches, and it can be put away or off to the corner on the counter when not in use. And it’s a gadget so don’t want to break the bank but needs to be a decent price/functionality trade off.
Any recommendations for brand and model? Thanks in advance
I’ve used the basic Presto Fry Daddy and had no complaints. You can generally buy one for between twenty and thirty dollars.
I have one like this:
The drawback to these:
Small batches
Your whole house stinks of oil for quite a while after you use it. Any deep fryer has to let steam escape, these small ones have a cover with an opening with some sort of meager filter which really doesn’t do the job as far as the smell.
You’ve got 2 quarts of increasingly dirty oil sitting in it between uses. I don’t have a ton of counter space, and it took up too much.
I used mine maybe 5 or 6 times in the first year I had it, then shelved it a long time ago. I bought it mainly to make wings, fries and onion rings, but there’s satisfactory alternative methods to getting stuff like that close to deep fried, especially french fries (there’s plenty of good frozen ones) and wings (broiler).
I’ve used a Fry Daddy in the past and they work fine for small batches. But there are drawbacks to any home fryer as DonLogan pointed out. The oil should be refrigerated between uses as there will be suspended bits of food.
I had one like this which I loved. The reason I liked it so much was because you could raise and lower the basked with the lid totally closed and the lid sealed shut. There was never any splatter anywhere.
We used it (back in college) at least once a day and probably changed the oil once a week. That’s about when the oil would start to smell and the food would start tasting kinda burny.
Also, it would make the house smell for at least 24 hours after using it. Something I learned well after college was to use it outside…don’t leave it outside (then moisture get’s into it, that gets messy), just use it outside, then bring it back in.
My recommendation is to not get one. The food you make with it will be unhealthy and, as Don mentioned, there are other ways to prepare most “fried” foods that don’t require the mess or result in unnecessarily fatty food.
FTR, many years ago some friends gave me a Fry Daddy. They work great. I made fries a few times, made onion rings, made corn fritters once and even fried zucchini. Then I didn’t use it for a few months. Net time I went to use it, it had to be cleaned and I had to add a new jug of oil. I made french fries one time, then never used it again. Baking them in the oven is easier, healthier and tastes better.
BTW Don: you’re looking real good for a guy buried beneath a pool in Spain; grats on that!
+1 for the Fry Daddy/Granpappy
I have one and it works great. I’d also recommend one of ] for making French fries. Simply put the potato in, press down, and you have some nice fries of a uniform thickness.
Oh, and for a very simple and delightful treat, get those biscuits in a can (cheap store brand works just as well). Make a hole in the middle of each one, deep fry, and presto! You have doughnuts. Coat them with confectionery sugar, or make your own glaze if you want (I used confectionery sugar, milk, and a little vanilla, if I recall correctly). It’s not quite Krispy Kreme, but Krispy Creme isn’t a buck for 8 or 10 of them, either.
Oh, and then you’ll have to make these. Truly delicious with butter or syrup!
Looks like it’s time to get my Fry Granpappy out. I’m making myself hungry.
We bought a cuisinart fryer and like it. Mostly for fries and occasionally chicken tenders. We buy the boneless breast, cut into strips, batter and fry.
If you get a fryer, be careful. In Newfoundland, a Friday night piss-up is often ended with a fish and chip fry-up, with such calamitous results the province launched a “Don’t Drink and Fry” campaign some years ago.
If you don’t want to spend a bunch of money, just go with a FryDaddy. They’re simple, decently sturdy, and work fine.
My experience with middle tier fryers was they they cost more but didn’t impress me with sturdiness or results, but the ~$50 models from Cuisinart and TFal seem niver than the ones I checked out years ago.
