4 Tips Addressing Reader Question about How to Deep Fry without Food Becoming Soggy

Ask The Chef Question #8 from Reader about How to Deep Fry

The following question was submitted by one of our readers about how to deep fry cauliflower. The Chef answered with tips applicable on a broader scale to deep frying protein and vegetables.

I have a recipe for fried cauliflower which copies a local restaurant in Atlanta famous for this dish. Essentially it is nothing more than self-rising flower, salt, one egg and some beer. After cutting the cauliflower into florets, dropping them into the mix and frying, the fried batter tastes great, but the cauliflower is a little mushy, not crisp as at the restaurant. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.

The Chef’s Answer

I learned in Culinary school that often if you have protein or vegetables that are getting mushy or grease-logged, it is most likely that your grease is too cold. Deep frying is meant to be fast and furious: higher temperature heat, lots of convection in the oil when the product hits and a fast cook time. If the grease is not hot enough to displace all the water or moisture quickly, you can end up with soggy products.

Here are a few tips that should help:

• I would invest in a good oil thermometer. This one on Amazon looks like a good one to consider:

It has strong customer reviews, including this one highly recommending it for cooking purposes:

Amazon Customer Review

• Also, if you are using a skillet to fry in instead of a deep fryer make sure you have good one that retains and displaces heat well and evenly.
• I would also monitor the type of oil you are using. You want one with a higher smoke point (temperature at which the oil starts smoking and or burning). Canola and Peanut oil are the highest on the scale if I remember correctly.
• Also don’t cheat on the temperature. If it calls for the grease to be 350 degrees, wait until the grease is a little above that (360 degrees, maybe?…not much). When the vegetables are submersed in the hot oil, the temperature will drop. If your oil is not hot enough prior to the cooking process, it will never rise to the proper temperature and you will have sub-par results.

Hope this helps.

- The Chef

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About the Author

Raised in eastern North Carolina, The Chef has always most loved southern cuisine. While working for a top resort just after finishing Culinary School at Johnson and Wales University, when they still had a campus located in Charleston, South Carolina, he began learning about Gullah cuisine and enjoys it as well. He's a family man and country boy at heart, loves hunting and is a big fan of the John Boy and Billy Big Show and the Carolina Panthers.

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