On Food and Cooking

surface. In shallow-fat frying, pieces of meat
are cooked in enough melted fat or oil to
bathe the bottom and sides of the meat; in
deep-fat frying, there’s enough oil to immerse
the meat completely. Heat is transferred from
the pan to the meat by way of convection
currents in the fat or oil. These materials are
less efficient than both metal and water at
transferring heat, and yet more than twice as
efficient as an oven. This thermal moderation,
together with the ability to contact the meat
evenly and intimately, makes fat frying an
especially versatile technique. It’s used
primarily for poultry and fish, everything
from thin fillets and chicken breasts to whole
15 lb/7 kg turkeys, which take something over
an hour to cook (compared to two or three
hours in the oven). The usual cooking
temperature ranges between 300 and
350ºF/150 and 175ºC. The oil starts out near
350º, cools when the meat is introduced and
its moisture begins to boil and bubble away,