Fried food is hard to resist, from chips and doughnuts to chicken, French fries, and onion rings. No other cooking method achieves crisp, delectable coloring while keeping food wet and delicate on the inside, and it's no surprise. However, frying is a difficult skill to master, and it necessitates not only strong technique but also an understanding of the science behind it.
Here's all you need to know about frying properly.
Fried food is anything that has been cooked in hot oil. Whether there's just a little fat in the pan, the fat comes halfway up the sides of the food, or the fat completely envelops the food, the process of heat transference is the same, deep-frying. When food is introduced to boiling oil, it dehydrates the surface. Meanwhile, its sugars and proteins degrade in a succession of Maillard reactions (named after a chemist Louis Camille Maillard), resulting in a complex flavor and golden-brown coloring.
