Ina Pinkney Chef/Owner Ina's Chicago brkfstqn@aol.com

FE&S: How has the push for using trans-fat-free oil affected customers’ food choices and their views of fried foods?

IP: The push for trans-fat-free oil has changed the whole notion of what deep-frying is. Frying used to have an emotional charge where everything you cooked was bad for you and overly greasy. But now, because the science behind trans-fat-free oil is so strong in showing that type of oil is health-giving, not health-taking, that customers now seem to think of fried food as less of a guilty pleasure.

We’ve been using a zero-trans-fat cooking oil in the fryer for about two years now. As soon as we discovered a better, healthier product we switched in a minute. Our choice of an omega-9 canola oil has actually benefited our operations a great deal. Because we’ve chosen an oil that is a “heart-healthy” monounsaturated fat, it is naturally stable and provides superior performance no matter what we’re frying. Trans-fat-free oil is becoming very easy to get now.

FE&S: How does trans-fat-free oil affect fryer use and maintenance?

IP: From an operator’s perspective, my goal is to maximize the fry life of the oil because we pay more for the oil initially. We want to demonstrate to the customer that we are using the best oil, not only for their health, but in terms of freshness and quality, and demonstrate that we take care of that oil so what our customers eat is not in any way greasy.

The unique combination of high monounsaturated fat content and natural stability in the omega-9, trans-fat-free oil we use can provide about half as many oil changes per year, therefore resulting in less employee labor to change the oil, and overall less oil waste and removal. In fact, we only change out the oil every five-to-seven days, rather than the two-to-three days as was customary in the past. Despite that some trans-fat-free oil can cost up to 30 percent more than traditional frying oil, these costs are offset by a 75-percent increase in the fry life.

IP: We didn’t have to make any major changes to our daily operation as a result of the oil; however, I had to train my staff in a different way. I needed them to understand that just because the oil appeared darker in color, that didn’t mean it was old or not good anymore. With this oil, you can really tell when the oil has lost its freshness virtually by taste alone. That combined with checking the volume of what we’ve fried each day over several days, and we have a pretty good senseof when we need to change the oil. It all depends on each individual operator’s frying volume.

FE&S: How do you maintain your fryer?

IP: Be sure to turn off or lower the temperature of your fryer during downtimes, yet maintain proper temperatures when you’re busy. Avoid the temptation to turn up the temperature to finish foods faster. This will have an adverse effect on both the fryer and the end product.

We also skim the particulates frequently, which helps us avoid the need to filter out larger amounts later. I would also suggest that operators taste foods frequently. The quality of the end product will be the best indication of whether your fryer is working properly.

And, most importantly, filter. Because we use only one fryer, and it is subjected to a pretty demanding volume, we’ve found filtering to be the single most important component of fryer maintenance. We use a special, cone-shaped filter that we make sure to change while it’s hot so that moisture will not settle to the bottom and create buildup. We filter twice daily. And, we avoid salting our food or frying it for too long of a period, which causes additional moisture to build up in the oil, and over time, wreck a filter.

If an operator uses multiple fryers, in addition to filtering, I would suggest that fryers are dedicated to specific applications.

FE&S: Why is it important to take fryer maintenance seriously?

IP: We’ve found that by maintaining our fryer, the fry life of our cooking oil is actually extended. Through proper maintenance we also experience low taste transfer between products, a lighter golden color of the finished food products, and less greasy taste and texture for our customers. Each of these benefits adds up to either cost savings for our business, or a better product for our customers.