# Question for food historians re deep-frying **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-food-historians-re-deep-frying/530910 "2010-03-01T20:31:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-food-historians-re-deep-frying/530910/41 "2010-03-09T05:55:06Z")
All I’ll say is that I’ll never think that frying my cheese sammich in an inch of bacon fat sounds like a good idea, ever again. Holy urrrk… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-food-historians-re-deep-frying/530910/42 "2010-03-09T11:15:55Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > On, give me freaking break. to start with, deep frying was probably done with animal fat, not vegetable oil. Oh, really? Cite? It’s not like they didn’t have olive oil, sesame oil, various nut oils…But even so, assuming it was animal fats, how does that preclude deep frying? > [@](#): > > Second, yes, at least one person had 4 gallons of fat & the means to heat it up to 400 degrees or so. It most certainly was not common in an average household. Again, cite? ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-food-historians-re-deep-frying/530910/43 "2010-03-09T12:48:04Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Oh, really? Cite? It’s not like they didn’t have olive oil, sesame oil, various nut oils…But even so, assuming it was animal fats, how does that preclude deep frying? > Again, cite? I’ll tell you what. Since nobody here has actually provided a cite that frying developed in hotter climates as a way to shorten cooking times, it makes citing availability of oils and fats a bit difficult. Why don’t you go ahead and support that assertion first, and maybe tell the rest of us whether or not you’re talking about ancient Rome, 16th Century Amsterdam, or 18th century United States. After that, I’ll follow up on your knee jerk yelping for cites about the availability of such oils. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-food-historians-re-deep-frying/530910/44 "2010-03-09T15:33:19Z")
Good sweet Og, I wasn’t planning on setting off such a sh!tstorm with one offhand comment. Y’all reaaallly need to dial it back a notch. Look, no one made any “assertion,” ferchrissakes, I just said that’s how I’d understood it. Meaning, that’s what I’d been told, or heard somewhere, or read somewhere, and it made sense to me. It was in the context of the Southern U.S., to explain why deep-fried foods make up such a huge percentage of traditional Southern cooking. Remember, lard hogs were very prevalent in the south, and so were peanut crops, so lard and peanut oil for frying were relatively common and cheap compared to other cultures in other lands and other times, where cooking fat might be expensive, rare, or more useful as a fuel. (And I have roasted many a whole chicken in my day, always in a very hot oven - around 425 - and it takes way over an hour, probably more like an hour and 20 minutes, so anyone who says they can roast a whole chicken in the short time frames mentioned is using one helluva tiny bird.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-food-historians-re-deep-frying/530910/45 "2010-03-09T15:38:47Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > (And I have roasted many a whole chicken in my day, always in a very hot oven - around 425 - and it takes way over an hour, probably more like an hour and 20 minutes, so anyone who says they can roast a whole chicken in the short time frames mentioned is using one helluva tiny bird.) I’m not sure whether one hour at 450 for a 3-4 pound bird fits your description of short time frame or “helluva tiny bird”, but I assure you, that’s how long it takes. Every time I roast a chicken, that’s the method I use. [Thomas Keller](http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/My-Favorite-Simple-Roast-Chicken-231348) says 50-60 minutes, but that’s for a 2-3 pound bird. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-food-historians-re-deep-frying/530910/46 "2010-03-09T16:11:31Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Good sweet Og, I wasn’t planning on setting off such a sh!tstorm with one offhand comment. Y’all reaaallly need to dial it back a notch. > > Look, no one made any “assertion,” ferchrissakes, I just said that’s how I’d understood it. Meaning, that’s what I’d been told, or heard somewhere, or read somewhere, and it made sense to me. It was in the context of the Southern U.S., to explain why deep-fried foods make up such a huge percentage of traditional Southern cooking. > > Remember, lard hogs were very prevalent in the south, and so were peanut crops, so lard and peanut oil for frying were relatively common and cheap compared to other cultures in other lands and other times, where cooking fat might be expensive, rare, or more useful as a fuel. > > (And I have roasted many a whole chicken in my day, always in a very hot oven - around 425 - and it takes way over an hour, probably more like an hour and 20 minutes, so anyone who says they can roast a whole chicken in the short time frames mentioned is using one helluva tiny bird.) I really didn’t have much of a problem with what you said. My initial response to you wasn’t heated at all. Also, what pulykamell said. If you’re roasting a bird for “way over an hour” at 425, either your oven thermostat is off, or you are possibly overcooking the bird. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-food-historians-re-deep-frying/530910/47 "2010-03-10T02:22:45Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Good sweet Og, I wasn’t planning on setting off such a sh!tstorm with one offhand comment. Y’all reaaallly need to dial it back a notch. > > (And I have roasted many a whole chicken in my day, always in a very hot oven - around 425 - and it takes way over an hour, probably more like an hour and 20 minutes, so anyone who says they can roast a whole chicken in the short time frames mentioned is using one helluva tiny bird.) Perhaps the misunderstanding or the discrepancy in roasting times has to do with the kind of ovens **Contrapuntal** and **Lab Deceiver** are thinking of? I think you can possibly do a small turkey in a commercial convection oven in around Hour and a Half- Two Hours? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-food-historians-re-deep-frying/530910/48 "2010-03-10T10:50:38Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Why don’t you go ahead and support that assertion first Why should I, I’m not the one that made it, and I’ve given plenty of cites for cold-climate deep frying > [@](#): > > , and maybe tell the rest of us whether or not you’re talking about ancient Rome, 16th Century Amsterdam, or 18th century United States. Variously: 14th C England, Tang-era China and pre-Edo Japan, actually. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-food-historians-re-deep-frying/530910.md?page=2)