Reducing Fat by Using a Deep Fryer???
It's true, believe it or not. I actually reduced the amount of added fat in a dish by deep frying it.
I don't know how anybody else makes it but the first step in making pot roast at my house is to brown the roast. My mother did this with a nice glop of shortening heated in a big iron skillet; I'd say probably 1/3 to a half of a cup worth. This was probably an improvement over Granny's method which I'm pretty sure involved lard. When I moved out and started cooking for myself I made the recipe healthier still by replacing the shortening with a couple of spoonfuls of olive oil.
I recently got a Fry Daddy deep fryer and it was sitting on the counter filled with vegetable oil flavored by the sausage links I had cooked for breakfast and as I thought about dipping out a few spoonfuls of that for the added flavor it occured to me that my little roast would fit in the fryer. Hmmm.
So I heated it up and dropped the still frozen roast in while I sliced onions and when the outside was nice and brown I scooped it out, let it drain for a minute and then put it in my crock pot on high with the onion, water, about a tablespoon of adobo, and some black pepper for about 6 hours. I added potatoes and carrots towards the end.
Not only was the roast cut-with-a-fork tender but when I refridgerated the leftovers the very small amount of grease that congealed on top of the liquid proved that by deep frying I had reduced the amount of added fat by at least 75%.
I'm guessing that's because the roast was frozen so it couldn't absorb very much and because I drained it before cooking instead of just pouring water over it and cooking it in the same pot it was browned in.
The reason for leaving the fat in I was told is because it helps form the basis of the gravy at the end. Since I don't make gravy for my pot roast, I just cook the liquid down a bit for a sort of au jos instead in order to cut calories, I don't need it. And my waistline REALLY can do without it.
I don't know how anybody else makes it but the first step in making pot roast at my house is to brown the roast. My mother did this with a nice glop of shortening heated in a big iron skillet; I'd say probably 1/3 to a half of a cup worth. This was probably an improvement over Granny's method which I'm pretty sure involved lard. When I moved out and started cooking for myself I made the recipe healthier still by replacing the shortening with a couple of spoonfuls of olive oil.
I recently got a Fry Daddy deep fryer and it was sitting on the counter filled with vegetable oil flavored by the sausage links I had cooked for breakfast and as I thought about dipping out a few spoonfuls of that for the added flavor it occured to me that my little roast would fit in the fryer. Hmmm.
So I heated it up and dropped the still frozen roast in while I sliced onions and when the outside was nice and brown I scooped it out, let it drain for a minute and then put it in my crock pot on high with the onion, water, about a tablespoon of adobo, and some black pepper for about 6 hours. I added potatoes and carrots towards the end.
Not only was the roast cut-with-a-fork tender but when I refridgerated the leftovers the very small amount of grease that congealed on top of the liquid proved that by deep frying I had reduced the amount of added fat by at least 75%.
I'm guessing that's because the roast was frozen so it couldn't absorb very much and because I drained it before cooking instead of just pouring water over it and cooking it in the same pot it was browned in.
The reason for leaving the fat in I was told is because it helps form the basis of the gravy at the end. Since I don't make gravy for my pot roast, I just cook the liquid down a bit for a sort of au jos instead in order to cut calories, I don't need it. And my waistline REALLY can do without it.
posted by Ranuel | 4:02 PM
3 Comments:
Mighty cool, R, honey!
I've heard this is true about deep frying turkeys in peanut oil. We do that on Thanksgiving and it's is not the same as say deep fried green tomatoes.
My cousin did a deep fried turkey a couple of years ago. It was okay but it wasn't as good as one that had been slow roasted and basted with butter.
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