frying tip

[basskid]

hey i got a tip i dont know if its been posted but its really helpful. I read about pouring water into oil to check if its hot. Seems kinda dangerous. Instead next time try putting a match into the oil. Just a regular cardboard match. It should sink to the bottom after a while. Once the oil starts to get hot watch the match. After a while (patience!) the match will ignite and the oil will be at the right temp for frying fish. Then just scoop it out and put in the fish. Hope this helps, if it has already been posted then i apologize i should have looked harder.

[Ebiz]

Maybe I'm mistaken, but wouldn't that be a recipe for a grease fire?

[Tom Linderholm]

Certainly in both instances it is dangerous. The water method is simply wetting your hand and shaking it towards the oil so only a little bit goes in the grease. I haven't heard of the match one, but I definitely wouldn't recommend trying it.

[lawdog]

Or at the very least introduce a bunch of sulfur taste to the oil that I don't want???

[Greybeard53]

I did see that done on one of the fishing shows on TV once. Some guide used a match to check his oil when preparing shore lunch. It did work, but definitely NOT a good idea, and I would NEVER try it indoors.

It's way too easy to just drop in a little batter or breading to see if it's hot enough. Why risk a trip to the burn unit?

[swamptiger]

I've heard of it before, but it didn't sound like a good idea to me. If the oil is hot enough to ignite a match, it seems the oil wouldn't be too far from the ignition point either.

Test the oil with some batter or a thermometer.

[Big Julie]

I ALWAYS use a thermometer.

Frying fish is best done between 350 and 375.

A thermometer will show you if you're frying too many fish too fast and your temp goes down, especially if your fish are cold.

You will appreciate the thermometer once you use one.

[reelguy]

The flashpoint of cooking oil is 600 degrees F. In a very quick search I could not find the flashpoint of a common match, but I believe it would be quite a bit lower then 600 degrees. Not saying it is safe, but you can take the info how you want.

[iland99]

This was a reader's tip in Field and Stream a while back, actually a coworker submitted it. You'd think that F&S would test it to be sure it's safe before letting tons of people read it in their magazine. However, I've never tried it myself.

[swamptiger]

I would guess the ignition point of the match is somewhere around 325-350 degrees, which is about the proper temperature to fry fish. Once the match ignites, however, you have an open flame, which is considerably hotter. Seems a little foolish to me - even if it works.

[Whoaru99]

Regardless of the rest, I can't see introducing whatever dump is in a match into my cooking oil.

All the stuff in food these days is bad enough without intentionally adding more of who knows what...

[crewdog]

18 plus years using match trick and had a issue. my .02