How To Fry Foods Without Wasting Your Money, According To A Chef

While you might be a fan of frying food, your pocketbook is probably not. If your preferred cooking oil is pricey, you might smell money burning every time you use your pan. Perhaps you wonder how to make quality fried food recipes that bring comfort to the kitchen while saving a few cents in the process. To get an expert's perspective, Tasting Table reached out to Dan Kluger of Greywind American Restaurant in Hudson Yard and Loring Place in New York City. He is also one of OXO's chefs in residence. The OXO residence program involves working with chefs to increase the accessibility of various recipes and cooking techniques for folks at home. As for making fried food less expensive at home, Kluger shared with us that it's all about how you select your oil.

The chef recommends skipping the extra virgin olive oil when you are doing a shallow fry. According to Kluger, options like avocado and olive oil are delicious but tend to be pricey, particularly if you only make fried foods occasionally. He's more inclined to reserve expensive olive oil for when he is "doing a vegetable that was just getting a squeeze of lemon." So, what should a home cook use instead? Kluger recommends a neutral oil like canola or sunflower, both of which have a higher smoking point than olive oil and are relatively cheaper.

Chef Dan Kluger says you should be saving your used canola and sunflower oil for future frying. This reduces both food and financial waste. So, after you've made glazed donuts, pan-fried, chili-garlic fish, or shoestring garlic parmesan fries, don't toss the frying oil. Kluger says, "I filter it out through a coffee filter and keep it in the fridge for months." Just let the oil cool before you strain it. You may also want to label it with what you fried in it and when you last used it. This is important because whatever you fry in your oil will impart its flavor to it and no one wants to eat fish-flavored glazed donuts.

How many times can you reuse your frying oil?  Klug says, "Depends on what you're putting in it and really it's a matter of how dark is it getting and how cloudy? If it's not getting cloudy, if it's clear, I keep using it." Additionally, you want to take a whiff of it before each use. If the smell is off, it's time to pitch it — just not down the drain unless you like hanging out with your plumber. Seal it up in a container and throw it in the trash.