You know how people come back to certain restaurants for the food because it’s so good? Whether it be the fried chicken or the crispy fries doused in sauce, the recipe might be the secret, but so is the frying. If you want people to enjoy the food while coming back for more, then here is everything you need to know about maintaining your commercial deep fryer. Daily cleaning requires efforts from your staff while maintenance and repairs should be done by commercial appliances repair experts.

Commercial Deep Fryer Care Maintenance Dos And Don’ts

Do Clean The Oil

First of all, you need to clean the oil, as well as the fryer regularly. You might think that it’s impossible, but it’s not that hard. First, you need to remove all sorts of debris and food crumbs from the oil. It should be as clean as possible.

Next, you want to empty the deep fryer and store the oil somewhere else, while you get down to cleaning the walls of the fryer. This will ensure that the food you fry doesn’t have that weird oily taste and smell, which is the indication of an unkempt deep fryer. You want to dry the fryer, and then fill it back up with oil and you’re good to go for the next batch of cooking – or frying rather.

Don’t Deal With Hot Stuff

The next thing you want to take care of, if you don’t want the maintenance of the deep fryer to turn into a disaster, is to wait for the oil as well as the fryer to cool down completely before you go ahead and clean it. There are one too many times when you can be impatient and that doesn’t work at all.

You should leave the fryer to reach room temperature and when it’s cold enough to handle without burning yourself that’s when you want to get into action and clean it, remove the oil, and all that.

Do Consider Boil Outs

This is something that you can do either once a week or even a few times a week, depending on how much frying is done in the deep fryer. A boil out is filling the fryer with water and a cleaning solution and then turning on the fryer for the water to boil.

This is basically a self-cleaning option for the deep fryer, minus the fact that you’re putting things in it. The water will boil and the cleaning solution will clean all of the crevices of the deep fryer and you can drain everything down once the cycle is up. Everything will be clean, free of obstruction, and good to go.

Don’t Put Iced Up Food

Maintaining a commercial deep fryer doesn’t just mean cleaning it when things aren’t popping in the restaurant. It’s also how you cook things in it when you’re knee-deep at work. You don’t want to put super iced-up food in the fryer at once. Not only is it a fire hazard, but it will also affect the deep fryer.

The ice needs to be defrosted for a minute before it can make that plunge in the hot oil. This is something that won’t only lead to good quality and perfectly fried food, but it will also save your deep fryer, which is amazing.

Do Change The Oil

Depending on the load of batches, you will want to change the oil a lot more frequently. You don’t need to change the oil after every batch. That’s just overkill and you’ll be wasting oil too.

Instead, you want to change the oil every other day, if the load of batches is manageable. This will lead to perfectly crispy food without that stale oil smell that no one likes at the end of the day.

Don’t Season Food On Top Of Oil

This is also something you can do to ensure that your oil doesn’t get flavored or contaminated by any other thing. It’s common practice for chefs to season things on top of oil. Either it’s a workstation thing or just a habit at that point. Well, it’s not the best of ideas.

Even if you’re sprinkling salt or a mix of seasonings on the fried food, it is going to impart a certain taste to the oil too, when in reality, it should be neutral in taste. So, this is something you have to take care of so that the taste of your fried food doesn’t get altered.

Do Keep Oil Temperatures In Mind

Next up is the oil temperature and this is the heart and soul of efficient deep frying. You want to familiarize yourself with the different types of oils for deep frying and oil temperatures because it’s going to save your deep fryer in the end. Normal vegetable oil has a smoke point of 400-450 degrees Fahrenheit. Whereas, canola oil has a smoke point of 400 degrees.

These numbers are crucial to keep in mind because they can make or break the frying and if the oil is too hot, you won’t only risk burning food but also affect the deep fryer and its assembly inside.

Don’t Forget To Go Slow

When it comes to firing up the deep fryer, you want to do it slowly. You can’t just crank up the heat to 450 degrees and hope for the best. This will ruin the oil as well as the electrical connections of the deep fryer. You always want to take the heat up slowly.

This is why deep fryers have to be turned on before you start the frying. It gives them ample time to warm up and then you can start by frying up foods in it, without affecting the appliance or the quality of food.

Do Remember To Clean The Outside

You’re so focused on cleaning the inside of the fryer all the way down to the drain valve, but have you considered the outside? It might be greasy and grimy too. It’s a deep fryer, it’s going to be covered in specks of oil and food crumbs and when the oil dries, it becomes all sorts of goopy and just overall yuck.

So, you want to take care of the exterior just as much as the interior. This means cleaning the knobs, getting rid of grease stains, and keeping the appliance spotless from the outside, as well as inside.

Don’t Forget The Baffles

Different deep fryers work differently. Some have baffles in them that help with uniform heat distribution. They are right by the heating element and they circulate warm air to heat up the oil. However, these baffles can weaken over time, hence affecting the performance of the deep fryer.

This is why you should check them from time to time. One of the identifying factors can be the improper, late, or excessive heating of the oil. If that’s the case, then it’s the baffles and they need a look before things take a disastrous turn.

Conclusion

Commercial deep fryers, when maintained well, can elevate the taste of your food, which makes your restaurant famous and keeps people coming back for more. Moreover, to avoid break downs and inefficient performance, hire deep fryer repair Northern VA technicians for maintenance.