If you are opening your first restaurant, then you have countless decisions to make when it comes to the design of the space. While you may concentrate on the decor and the basic setup of the kitchen, you will need to eventually choose the basic kitchen appliances as soon after the general layout issues are worked out. The appliances may include your commercial fryer.
There are countless fryer options that may seem highly confusing to you at first. This is more than understandable. When you do go about choosing the fryer through a restaurant equipment company, there are a few tips that can help you choose the right one.
Pick the Basic Type
While you may understand the basics of a fryer and the way oil is used to cook vegetables and meat in a heated vat, you may not know that there are several different types of fryer. Some of the basic designs include open-pot, tube, and flat bottom fryers.
The most common and basic fryer is the open-pot variety. This is the type of fryer that has a large open space where the cooking oil is poured and a wire basket is filled with food and slipped into the space. The open-pot fryers are called open because there is a great deal of space in the fryer itself. This makes the device ideal for cooking large volumes of food in a timely manner. Most of these units have electric heating coils that run along the bottom of the unit to heat the oil. These flat ribbons produce consistent heat and move out of the way when you need to clean the fryer.
Tube style fryers are gas powered units that feature long metal tubes that run across the bottom of the appliance. Heat moves through the tubes and the surrounding oil then becomes hot. The devices work in a similar manner as the open pot fryers, but the vat of oil may not be as deep. However, they can be constructed with wider fryer pots so that large amounts of food can still be cooked.
If you want to cook items without baskets, then a more shallow fryer should be considered. This allows you to drop the food into the oil and collect it once the food item floats to the surface. Flat bottom fryers allow you to do this. The fryers are made with solid solid, flat, wide, and shallow fry pots. The solid bottom of the unit heats the oil when this type of model is used, and you will need to use a mesh scoop to collect your food.
The fryers do work well, especially in smaller kitchen spaces. However, there are no debris collectors attached to them. This means that you will need to fish out the remnants yourself.
Look at the Controls
Once you have decided on the basic type of fryer you desire, you will need to look at the types of controls that the appliance comes equipped with. The controls allow you to cook your food with one or several operators, depending on food volume and cooking needs. The most basic controls feature simple temperature knobs that can be set. The fryer unit then retains the consistent temperature on its own while the fryer is on. The controls are simple and easy to manage, but an operator will need to watch the food closely when cooking.
If you want a step up from the most basic fryers, then look for ones with timers. While the timer does not shut off the unit when the food is done, it does alert the operator so he or she can complete other cooking tasks while the fryer is working.
If you want a more sophisticated kitchen or if you know that the area will be busy with cooks that are constantly completing prep work, then you may want to buy a fryer with automated controls. The controls allow you to set temperatures and cook times for commonly fried foods. When the food is placed into the fryer, the operator chooses the option on a control panel.
The fryer then cooks the items and shuts down when the allotted time is up. Baskets will often lift out of the fryer automatically. The cook can then remove the food when it is time to serve it. These automated fryers are foolproof and cut down on operator time, but they can be quite pricey. You can reduce costs though by making sure the fryer you buy is as energy efficient as possible.
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