One safety tip that was missed, and people should know: KEEP A LID NEARBY. And know how to properly handle an oil fire. Burner off, lid on, and do not use water.
@@a.h.tvideomapping4293 yes, it will just explode if you splash it in due to the water rapidly vaporizing and thereby expanding its volume under the surface of the oil.
If these two gentlemen weren't intellectual and mature... this would've been messy. Love the academic disagreements between these two. Ethan, you just earned another subscriber
Both are correct. When I watched Adam's video, recently at the time I just started to deep fry (chicken wings) for the the first time, I experienced everything he talked about and felt the same way. I shy'd away from deep frying for awhile because: it was too much of a hassle, too much clean up work, too time consuming when cooking large quantities due to cooking in batches and then have the issue of prior batches losing quality due to sitting out waiting to finish the later batches... But now I also can identify with Ethan's train of thought. Have a game plan, know what your cooking and all it's variables, and just execute. In the kitchen one of the most important thing to do is clean as you go, and once you have strategically planned your mise and procedures, it makes things much more manageable. Face it, you're a cooking geek if you're watching channels like both of yours. Which means more cooking techniques, more tools, more theory in the name of efficiency the better. So I'd personally buy a tool just to less the contraint of time. All so I can impressively, single handedly serve a large group of people resturamt quality food lol. It's such a badass and manly thing to do lol
if you're keen on getting a tool that helps, a small counter fryer is the way to go! from temp control mess control and just overall ease it's a game changer. Also I now use it on my grill's side shelf and that takes both the heat and smell out of the kitchen from frying. I think from both having used a small fry daddy of a roommates in college and seeing how top chef contestants never pan fry it was a cheap and way more efficient answer.
If u have no extractor hood and/or poor ventilation you are 100% fucked when deepfrying. preiod. oil gets on every surface of your room and leaves a smell of it too.
As someone who has done their own home frying, I have to agree with Adam on most of his points. It's not that you can't fry at home, but the results aren't worth the time and effort put in. The cost is a huge factor in this. Oil can be expensive, so you need to reuse it to get the most out of it, but cleaning the oil adds a whole bunch of waiting and extra work to the process. That extra time and effort spent will be there no matter how many batches you need to cook (and 4 minutes a batch adds up real quick when you need to make 4-5 batches, 16-20 minutes spent frying is not a small amount of time). Crucially, time waiting for oil to cool is time until you can clean up. As someone who often has to go to work the graveyard shift, I don't have an extra hour to wait to get everything cleaned up. I also can't afford to just throw the oil away because I can't wait. Maybe this would be different if I had a countertop deep fryer, but all I have is an enameled dutch oven (which in my opinion is better than the wok as the extra room for oil and thicker cast iron has more thermal mass to maintain temperature). If I had an outdoor wok burner like Kenji, then I'd be all over wok frying (since outdoors also means no smell or heat in the house). As a home cook, I want to focus on best results for effort spent. If I feel like I barely beat KFC, my kitchen is a disaster, and I spent more money then I don't feel like it was worth the effort. If I compare this to Adam's oven fries, I feel like I beat the fast foods and supermarket and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg in money and stress.
get a small counter top fryer when it's on sale. 20 to 40 bucks. Less mess less work, you can wait till tomorrow to strain the oil if you are tired. Also I use mine on my grill's side shelf so all the smell is outside.
Personally I find frying my own food is leagues better than any fast food place. The flavor cost per serving is just so much better. I save it for weekends or special occasions though
@@a.h.tvideomapping4293 Honestly, I just wanted to observe the well-mannered discourse between these two gentlemen, but the sheer vitriol that was dripping from the fans on either side just made it difficult to enjoy. It fascinates me that even culinary youtubers like these face the same problems with "stans" that you see in the gaming community. It's unfortunate to see that this applies to TH-cam as a whole.
@Minwon Jang ...ballistic in a good way? I dunno, I never really paid attention to the video very much (I mean the comments section) because I know I’m never going to make this.
Yeah, to the original comment: I actually lost any respect I had left for Adam after reading his "reply" comment. Far from being respectful, he was sarcastic in an obviously caustic and demeaning way to Ethan, purposely misrepresented the points Ethan made and then straight up lied about what he himself said in his video. The guy didn't give Ethan an ounce of credit. He's not "nice", he's a d ick.
Although I must say I don't think you'd enjoy deep frying if you lived in a tiny apartment and/or had a couple of kids. It's a lot more work to keep it clean. And it's inevitable: small droplets of oil get in the air even before it breaks down. If your ventilation is less than incredible, the place does smell.
That's my situation. I've tried the whole "strain the oil while you're cooking" technique - another added task to accomplish while deep frying, I might add - and it still doesn't work. The place stinks afterwards, and there's a fine layer of grease everywhere. Also, YOU stink after frying. And here's the other thing - fried food doesn't keep. It's not particularly good the next day, unlike a lot of other leftovers. I've never really been into cold fried chicken, and that's one of the better leftover fried foods. I like to be more economical and make dishes that are as good as or better when reheated. I will say, Asian fried chicken recipes tend to reheat better than other fried foods. But you need to reheat in the oven, not in a microwave, which makes dining on leftovers less convienent.
Idk man. I'm from an Indian household. It does not make a mess when done properly. Plus, after you fry large batches. A simple wet cloth wipe down is more than enough. That to just around the stove. India kitchens is like a small room. It does not open into the living room. You don't need a exhaust. Just crack open a window.
@@sunspot42 how do you get grease every where. I've been frying a lot of stuff for a lot of years. You have incorrect sized pan or wok. Or you are just overheating the oil.
Dhruv Pandya The problem is, the instructions given in this video specify you should overheat the oil at the start to prevent the temperature from crashing when you add the food into it. I don’t disagree with this advice by the way - it does make the food fry better - but it also always leads to splattering and grease going everywhere. And even if you contain the splattering with a splatterguard, the oil evaporates as you fry and coats every surface it comes into contact with. Including you.
@@sunspot42 I understand. I believe American frying pans generally are too wide. Tip: It is a lot better to cook in small batches multiple times in a taller pan with a small diameter. It will use less oil and you can just throw it out. Plus I realized something. This is not really a thing in American kitchens. I have a long platform with the stove and sink on it. We just wash down the platform with water. I feel it has something to do with it. Plus the stove traditionally even in tiny apartments in India is next to a window. In so many SoCal apartments I used to live, the stove faced towards the living room opposite of the window/ sometimes no windows. Which I found idiotic. Plus, they don't plan for natural cross ventilation. It definitely causes staleness and bad odours.
I think this comes down to different audiences mostly. Adam's video seems to be aimed at the "everyman" who is considering deep frying. Someone who doesn't dedicate much time and intensity into cooking and is more concerned about safety and functionality. Your videos seem to be targeting those who already have a grasp on cooking, but want to take things to the next level. Your points are both valid and suit their respective audiences well
Jeffery Thompson I feel like this is fair, but even people who love cooking can acknowledge when the payoff to effort ratio of something seems off. Both useful videos, though
I was really hoping he'd prove adam wrong on this one, but I essentially have to buy a whole bunch if special equipment and preboil my fries in vinegar? I'll just stick with baking
@@cjlooklin1914 a lot of cuisines deep fry a lot and never had issues (except maybe health) including... you know, Southern States of the US like Georgia, and Souther Italian sea cities like Bari, where his Italian side comes from.
Yep, hit the nail on the head. I definitely have to side with Ethan too on this. I don't need someone to tell me how to cook like an average Joe. I want the cool, neat techniques. Also I have found Adam to be pretty full of himself lately. His Q+As are horrendous, very cringe to watch himself so eagerly talk about himself as he sips his wine. Just my two cents.
@@KyrieFortune exactly. I am Indian, and though we don't have many deep fried entrees, majority of our snacks are deep fried. My grandmom would find it unbelievable that someone actually feels deep frying at home isn't practical. I have been making deep fried potato fries, chillis, and pakoras ever since I was 14-15.
Great comparison, as I fry all the time at home. Pro tip: If making fries at home, boil double what you need and freeze half of them. Fry them from frozen when you want some.
Boil with a touch of vinegar, let rest, pat dry as much as you can, fry at a lower temp like 250, freeze, and fry again at 350 when you're ready to eat fries. You can take it a step further and fry and freeze it twice, before you fry for eating, but that's too much work for me.
I love the pinned comment response by Adam because Ethan and Adam have a civilized discussion about their videos, then the peanut gallery comes in with either "ADAM IS PRETENTIOUS!!!" or "ETHAN ONLY CALLED ADAM OUT FOR VIEWS!!!"
Funny how the creators can have a friendly debate- no, a discussion with constructive criticism (notice Adam complimenting his ideas and giving them praise/Ethan taking his points into account and pointing out what he would do instead) but the “fans” of both can’t. In fact they see it as an insult war. I’m not going to even say any examples for how stupid and unbased they are.
@@asimhussain8716 i watched a few of Adams videos and collabs and feel the same. my guess is it's just the constant lack of humility, maybe with some narcissistic traits. "you don't need to do x because I don't do x" approach is not very helpful for most people...
@@gabrielwood3016 I didn't watch much of Adam's channel (just occasionally clicked on a video when it popped up in recommends), but the "why I NEVER brown sugar" video sealed my "why I NEVER watch Adam" decision. Just too much silly drama creation.
@@gabrielwood3016 I feel like that’s only one side of his content. He makes half of his content as good and easy recipes, and then in the other half he starts to give his opinion. And every time he does this he always lays out a base, before giving out what HE thinks
This is not a bad counterargument. Personally I'm not a fan of the extra work and equipment required to properly deep-fry and avoid the issues. But it's good to know the possibility exists for something like a special occasion. Adam's safety reservations may stem from him having kids. Not sure if you do.
Kids need to learn about the hazards of the kitchen. The only way a child understands hot for instance is if they touch something hot. Kids learn by experience. There is no reason to not deep fry in any house or apt, just do it safely.
I absolutely agree here, I have a small toddler and while he's not allowed in the kitchen, there are times he makes it past the gate. I avoid frying for now partly because of that and also partly because I agree when Adam here. It's usually a huge pain to deal with everything frying related and it needs to be babysat the whole time, which is something I'm already doing with a toddler. Also, there is an oil smell and it lasts for days and I hate it
Honestly if you wanna cook for fun you're going to learn to love the smell of all cooking. If you dont have the passion then you dont and theres nothing wrong with that. But that's on you.
It's not very bad though, and it's definitely manageable. Personally the only time I've ever had problems with the smell of grease was when I worked at McDonalds, but there was 4 deep driers going at all times so yeah
If you live in a very tiny enclosed studio apartment (as I do), deep frying and cooking fish both are like living in a garbage can. The smell gets into everything. It feels yucky and smoky and unhealthy.
I think both arguments are valid. There are still safety concerns with deep frying with hot oil, especially cooking multiple things at home while using hot oil. Used oil is also a factor because it will eventually go bad even when clean, and most people would likely go long periods without wanting something fried or to eat it from a restaurant. Deep frying is also at least somewhat inconvenient compared to other cooking styles, such as making oils and batters ext. But there's many benefits too like controlling variables and making much better quality fried food you would be normally limited to in choices of options. Also would seem like a good option for cooking for guests. Best option, watch both videos, try it and decide for yourself.
Agreed. It's all about time management/investment, organization and logistics, and dedication/intent. For me that's the "should I deep fry or not" triangle matrix thing from which I'd decide whether to deep fry or not -- or anything else for that matter.
Ethan was right in regards to deep frying techniques and equipment, adam was right about cooking with what u have. Deep frying is easy peasy with the right equipment, but its a real pain if u arent well prepared for it. In my humble opinion, if any of these are missing from your kitchen, good ventilation, gas stove, chinesse style wok, fine mesh strainer, spider/long chopsticks, wire rack and fume/cooker hood, i would rather not deep fry. I will go the Adam's way and take what ever hit on my meal. But if all that equipment is available, hell yea deep fried food for me it is.
@@krisnadiimam4556 If all you are looking to do is fry you can buy a deep fryer that solves most of the equipment issues and possibly the ventilation ones aswell if you are able to do it outside I suppose.
@@krisnadiimam4556 exactly, and most apartments are not well-ventilated and don’t have outside spaces to cook. I wouldn’t dream of trying to fry anything in my one-room apartment.
Honestly Ethen, I'm so glad I discovered yours and Adam's channel, I think the service both of you provide in educating and empowering people to cook at home (which a lot of people are afraid of doing or don't know basic techniques) is honestly priceless.
I agree with Adam in that I've tried to deep-fry on a gas stove-top and found it impossible to regulate the temperature of the oil or prevent oil from splashing all over the stove-top. I recently decided to buy a good quality deep-fryer, and chose the Tefal Oleoclean, partly because it has an oil filtration and storage system. It cost me US$100 but now I have a dedicated deep-fryer that frees up my stove-top, and is cleaner and more efficient. I'm also less likely to burn myself or set fire to the kitchen. The unit is also guaranteed for 10 years so it's basic cost is only $10 p.a. I'm going to deep-fry EVERYTHING! 🤣🤣🤣
@@18matts What would you know? My old stove-top's dials are barely adjustable and pretty much only work on the highest setting. The deep-fryer has enabled me to produce better fried chicken than I can buy from any take-away.
@@andrewstrongman305 I agree with the small fryer, makes it so much easier on so many levels. But sounds like you need to invest in a new stove next! Also I have made one more improvement. I fry on my grill's side shelf outside. so the smell in my kitchen is zero. Happy Frying! BTW wings at 1/4 th cost of wing joints and 10x better at home only took a few trys!
@@andrewstrongman305 In that case it sounds like your inability to regulate oil temp is because of your broken stove, not any inborn flaw of frying as a cooking method. The point of Adam's video, which he says was intended to be more satirical anyway, was that deep front at home is a bad idea, in general, for a variety of reasons. In your case, deep drying at home is a bad idea, for you, because your stove doesn't work properly. That's not a critique of frying, that's a critique of, I guess whoever manufactured your stove, or whoever convinced you to buy it, or your landlord who hasn't fixed/replaced it yet... The point is the problem isn't your coming method, the problem is that your stove is broken. It sounds like if you had a working stove you could use these methods to solve those other problems. Did you try contacting a repair guy (not sure what title you'd use for someone who works on gas stoves, but I guess the gas version of an electrician?) to see how much it or cost to have them fix the stove? It might've been comparable to buying the deep fryer.
As a fan of now both channels, I find it funny that anyone sees this as needing to defend their point of whatever. Adam and Ethan show pros and cons of deep frying with a disagreement here and there . Take what works for you, bashing deep frying as utterly useless technique is dumb.
I’m trying to defend Adam from ridiculous accusations no one will counter. Using Ethans and Adams knowledge I’ve become way more confident with deep frying. Even though bigots will sadly be apart of every popular video most people including Adam and Ethan see this as FARRRRRRRR from beef. They are just pointing out facts that will precaution and push you to the magical world of deep frying. I’m perfectly fine on anyone having a normal opinion on deep frying, what I DON’T like is the stupid people who watched approximately 0 of Adams normal videos and take him soooooooooooo out of context and people are falling for that. I’m not going to be some “hero protecting Adam” I’m just trying to provide context when the stupid people add false stuff and remove real stuff like saying the videos “toxic” or its “clearly saying that you shouldn’t deep fry” I hate those people so much. Both Adam and Ethan had great points and videos respectively.
@@SimonWoodburyForget I'm inclined to believe this is indeed more about your kitchen because even if you end up burning something it isn't supposed to smell for literal days.
@@SimonWoodburyForget "If you don't dirty your house, you don't need to clean your house" you're one if those that only cleans stuff when Spring comes around aren't you?
Even when using clean oil, the smell will still be very noticeable to most. Small particles of oil are vaporized at high temperatures allowing them to get airborne for a while before sticking to something porous like fabrics. There is no way to avoid the smell except frying outside, which is my preferred method
The arguments are coming from two very different households. One has a family with small children and the other is a single bachelor in his apartment with more time and freedom to cook food how he wants. Kids and a family just don’t give most people the ability to freely cook masterful dinners and Adam’s suggestions on his videos just work better for my household.
Lol I grew up in a house with fried food along with the rest of my family. No one I know has ever been harmed by deep frying. It has nothing to do with households, it has to do with parenting! All cooking is dangerous, do we just stop cooking when we have kids or do we PARENT? I have five kids. None of them ever harmed by hot oil! People like you are what is wrong with this overly sensitive generation we live in today!
To each their own I guess. Deep frying doesn’t work for him so he doesn’t do it. Adam doesn’t tell you how to live your life, you do you. Thanks for being so kind bruh.
@@Himdownstairs86 how is this sensitive? You are just insane. What’s wrong that they don’t want to take the risk of hurting their kids? Just because no one in your family has been shit doesn’t mean you’re going to leave it out on the table, even if it is a bit away from the reach of kids, are you?
I agree. The thing as small as "my mom can't bear the smell of frying" changes a lot, as well as the differences in kitchen layout, the presence of ventilation (smoke collector?) etc
I stopped deep frying years ago precisely for the reasons that Adam mentioned, the I recently got a wok, and tried deep frying. OMG, it’s no longer a messy wasteful nightmare. I’m glad I found this video since it verifies what I knew all along.
This comment section is saltier than the delicious fried food shown in this video. Adam’a point was that oil can be a lot of messy work, and Ethan’s point is that it doesn’t have to be as messy or impractical as perhaps it might look. These two are clearly in charge when in the kitchen, and while we might stake our passions on the things we create and how we create them, these two are respectful of one another’s different opinions. As for Ethan, this is my first time seeing your channel and I‘m only disappointed youtube didn’t recommend me your videos sooner. Keep up the good work.
I'd say this a case where they're both mostly right. A lot of the issues with deep frying can be negated with a little bit of time, it's just a matter of how much time and effort you want to invest. Even recipe has it's pros and cons factory in convenience, quality, and even health. Adam's fries negate a deep fryer, but having your oven on for almost an hour and a half is also really inconvenient. It's expensive, and on a warm summer day, it can make your home unbearably hot. It also requires an oven (obviously), so if you're in a student dorm with only a hot plate, deep frying is the clear winner. It's all about your given situation. For me personally, it's easier to just pan fry everything. I can make decent versions of falafels, nuggets, and even spring rolls, so I don't really miss it. Fries aren't really the same in the oven, unless you use Adam's method, but I probably shouldn't be making fries a dietary staple anyway. Also, as a aside, rinsing fries and coating them in flour is probably has the best quality to effort of any home cooked fry that I've found. They're not on par with restaurant fries, but they crisp up well, and at 435f can be prepped in 5 minutes, and cooked in 20.
It is in fact, and that's why my mom and dad and basically nobody I knows makes deep fried food at home. It's not really convenient, I never perceived Adam's video as confrontational towards people that deep fry, it's just acknowledging the "status quo", basically remembering the majority of people that don't deep fry at home and might now desire it more because of airfrying and other trends the reasons for wich they didn't do it and even laying out what they could do to begin deepfrying at home comfortably/safely
@@businessoffice4964 Not really, most fried chicken joints will take it. They get paid for their used oil. also some municipalities have cooking oil recycling too. you just have to research where you can take it.
And that is why I disagree with Ethan. He has a big kitchen and made a tiny amount of fries (7:45) It is completely different if you have a medum sized Kitchen and try to serve food for 4-6 people. Deep fying sucks in that regard and you will stand in the Kitchen cooking and managing the frying for like 30 minutes while 2 of those 6 people are eating, the rest waits for the next batch while you will never see any of your guests or your family. Alternatively you put the finished fries into the oven to keep them warm which will produce one big serving in the end but gives only mediocre fries.
look at his physique and his portions make sence. The guy loves to deep fry and he has a nice body. So it is evident that he consumes less food than us more ascended fat fuckers.
A few more things to consider: 1a. If you have to cook for more people, more so in cases when more than one type of food will get deep fried that will require several batches of each (ex chicken for chicken sandwich and fries, or fish n chips), use your oven as a warmer. Set oven to ~150C top element only while warming the oil with the wire rack over a cookie sheet on the lowest rack position, then when the oil is ready, drop the oven temp to 100C. Voila, you have a warmer. 1b. Sequence including taking into account how much time it will take in the oven matter too. If you're doing chicken with a dredge or just bare skin OG fried chicken, do the chicken first, and depending on how many batches there'd be like a whole chicken, do the thighs and legs first but a little under, then the breasts, and lastly the wings. If you're doing fish n chips I've found that batter doesn't do to well, so do the fries first and use a finer mesh to keep the fries/chips in the oven in one layer. If you have convection, use that setting. "Why not just use the oven to do all the cooking?" Because it doesn't work with a batter that needs to get more of a "shock" effect from the hot oil to solidify, and second, having to do proteins then starch is more complicated jockeying in the oven. If you just want to use the oven to fully cook one of these, I'd go with broasted chicken and deep frying the fries. 2. If your household (or your group of friends you might perpetually cook for) tends to be large enough then your cookware must be also large to match. So whether you use a wok or a Dutch oven or pan frying in a braiser, if the household has four people or you expect more friends to be coming, you really should have a larger wok to stir fry in for all of them same way your Dutch oven needs to fit enough ragu or your braiser to fit enough short ribs to include leftovers. In short...cooking for many people in batches wouldn't result in that many batches if you're prepared for however many people you'd cook for. For example I can do over 250g of fries in one batch on a 350cm wok with oil halfway up, and if we're only doing chicken thighs meaning I'm not sequencing them for how long each chicken part takes to cook through (or nearly cook through, because oven), I can do four large thighs with lots of room to spare (wouldn't bother with a fifth though). On other days I can do 500g of egg noodles or yakisoba noodles (yes I know this cooks on a griddle, but who has one larger than the Lodge one at home?) with all their toppings in one go, or about 500g of 2in long sections of pork ribs plus the vegetables and the seasoned oil. 3. Wok vs Dutch oven : a. Dutch oven has more thermal mass along with the oil, but you still need to crank up the heat just before adding each batch, and then lower it. Woks I find will heat up too quickly so you add each batch first, then crank it up a bit. b. Which one you get depends on what else you do but I have both. I bake in the bare Dutch oven, I cook acidic stews in the enameled Dutch oven, and obviously I stir fry in the wok. On most days, for deep frying I tend to favor the wok because the wider opening allows for more evaporation. However on some days I may need the wok for something else and I only have the one carbon steel wok, so it's useful to have more than one. For example: Korean chicken or Chinese spare ribs with a glaze. Dutch oven to deep fry, have the wok ready for the oil or glaze. Or what if I'm already baking something in the oven? No biggie, I can do fries in the wok and deep fry chicken or fish in the Dutch oven. Sure that's a lot of oil but... 4. If most of your cookware is carbon steel and cast iron with some stainless or enameled iron for anything acidic/takes a long time/has a lot of liquid that needs to come out really clear (like stock), then you have more uses for the used oil than just filtering it and frying with it later or slowly cooking other things with it bit by bit: seasoning. Come on, do you always only use flaxseed oil. Add cast iron grates on your grill and there's one thing that needs a fair bit to get baked on it and rubbed on before use considering it's sitting outside. ------ If anything, the most confusing bit about deep frying are those dedicated fryers. I can't even fit a pork trotter in there (like... the whole foreleg...including the hooves). And even for people who live alone and only need one chicken thigh and one batch of fries at a time considering it's a unitasker that will just sit there you might as well have a wok, a pot, and pan and either deep fry with two of those or pan fry or sear with the pan and deep fry with the wok. Heck at least air fryers can sort of sub for an oven for people who live in really tiny flats. I won't buy that either but ya know...at least you can roast a couple chicken thighs in there. Or pork belly, without needing to boil the pork belly first (then again you can confit this and then only need to pan fry).
This is truly an incredible resource. I've always been terrified of frying, as it's always been such a messy, stressful ordeal for me. But you touched on all the points I was doing wrong, and now I feel far more confident! I will absolutely be making those glorious chicken nuggets. Thank you forever, Ethan!
Deep-frying is fine as long as you are interested enough in cooking to do all the work associated with it (e.g. recovering oil), don't have any kids that could knock the pot over, etc. I don't know if it was quite Adam's point, but I would consider deep-frying to be a higher stress cooking technique in the home environment for anyone who isn't a cooking enthusiast, which therefore doesn't encourage home cooking. The best cooking techniques for home are those that give great results with quick prep, fewer and more lenient points of failure, and minimal clean-up.
I feel like he shouldn't have said just shallow fry instead when it has all the same problems except the oil recovery. Oh and wayyyy more splattering. Coming from a guy who shallow fries a lot and only deep fries when I have more oil than I know what to do with. And that's what Ethan said too, if you're going to fry stuff, you're going to run into these problems. The solution isn't don't deep fry, it's don't fry your food if you don't want these problems lol
@@jvallas Adam is making videos for people who want to make decent food at home even if they find cooking a chore. Essentially as lazy as possible, but no lazier.
I like deep frying at home but here are some negatives that I haven't seen in the video (I admit some of them might be by my incompetence) -I fry with a "mixed" oil (don't know how it's marketed in english) but as I understand it's part soy oil and so cheaper, it doesn't matter how clean it is when you heat it up it smells like grass lol, I like this but there's still an oil smell -deep frying is FREAKING HOT, I have a small kitchen (Around half of the size of yours I think lol) and a gas burner, even if it's the middle of summer it will be super hot, now I know this is a general in cooking but it's more notable when frying -I don't have the problem of burnt oil but when making Fritters (Buñuelos) the kitchen stinks to frying for DAYS even after cleaning
Apparently it's mostly due to the type of oil used, so doing some research on which oils smell bad and which oils don't might benefit you as far as the last issue listed goes, though I'm not one to deep fry stuff so it's mostly what I've heard.
I like to squeeze some lemon juice in a pan with water, throw the lemon in the water and boil for a while, makes the impregnated smell go alway like 70-80%
Palm oil. In south east asia Use palm oil, palm oil no smell, high smoke point,cheap. all food taste great with palm oil. Sorry about propaganda about palm oil u hear. That only economy southeast Asia have. If u see map, compare palm plantation and your country vage plantation or corn plantation. It all propaganda by western, why use "corn starch" to make food crispy? Use rice flour to great crispy. Sorry donno write english.
Nailed it. Frying foods can be a part of someone's culture and upbringing, all of these tips to make it easier are just second nature for me after growing up watching my Mom and Grandma fry foods.
Bruh, don't even bring in abuelas: the guy's Italian side is from Bari, where deep fried calzones and deep fried seafood are some of the most common food around town. His own nonna would be ashamed.
Yeah everyone is like “it’s so professional” but I would simply not make a 13 minute TH-cam video which probably took dozens of hours of labor just to nitpick another video, but that’s just me and also he 100% did it for views, so.
10:00 - This was for me the most important part. As someone coming from a country where deep-frying isn't particulary common I always had the question on what to do with the leftover oil and thus stayed away from deep frying more often than not. Thank you for picking this up and I wouldn't mind going even morein depth about it.
Reused frying oil is also a carcinogen. Even if it's "clean". Considering how cheap oil is, just chuck it out. It doesn't add any joy to your life to reuse that oil, it's a completely pointless health hazard.
With Ragusea as my personal favourite cooking channel, I never agreed with his attempts to eradicate difficulty from certain meals, this was an excellent counter argument, people should be encouraged to try!
Agreed! Overall I like Adam’s approach, but there are some things I disagree with or feel are over exaggerated and generalized to help make a point. That’s why I like to show how to do it well, and then once someone tries they can decide if it’s for them or not.
I like most of his educational videos but some of his advice is awful. Like sharpening knives or chopping food up. I learnt how to cut up food safey with a claw grip and it only took a few days to always have my fingers curled up out of the way of the knife. I also know how to sharpen knives and it's not a particularly hard skill to get a ok edge on any knife it's just difficult to master. Not even trying is some of the worst advice for anyone trying to teach people to cook.
generally agree, but the more things I have to do in my life, the more I think about minimizing difficulty along with maximizing tastiness/health/portion size per effort/etc. It's interesting, as someone who has deep fried a lot at home, I thought Adam's video offered a pretty nice perspective that you might not see from a typical cooking show. I think this video was useful, too, but for me, it was kind of strange; it came off as much more of a "takedown" style video than I think it was intended to be
don't forget an entire video dedicated to how it isn't worth his time to learn the claw grip when using a knife because he doesn't need to rush *rolls eyes*
@@suivzmoi Don't phrase this stuff to make it seem like he's an asshole. He thinks that saving him maybe a couple of seconds on each vegetable with a grip that he finds uncomfortable isn't worth it. His goals are to make dinner without getting hurt, and to make dinner taste good, and he thinks that the claw grip is unnecessary to those goals. He also talks about how professional chefs require lots of speed, so the grip might be worth it for them. Only one part of the video was dedicated to why he doesn't use the claw grip, he talks about why people use it and how to help protect against knife injuries. He emphasizes that he is a home cook, not an expert, and he doesn't really find going slower to be a big deal when there's only maybe three things to cut. If you want to phrase it that way then you can say he doesn't think it's worth his time, yeah. But he doesn't need to rush, as you said yourself. So who cares?
I love Adam's channel. His video on deepfrying caught me by surprise because of his reputation for having unconventional pro-tips in the kitchen. I thought it would've been more like him to have a better way to deepfry instead of steering away from it altogether. We deepfry stuff a lot at our house but never tried the wok. We will have to try that next time.
Adam didn't say that it's impossible to deep fry at home. He said that it's not worth the effort and i feel like we can all agree that deep frying is a high effort cooking method when compared to some other techniques more suitable to be used at home. His whole channel is often about minimizing effort in the kitchen and optimizing the cooking process at home - less dishes, less time and less cleanup and knowing that i don't think that points made by him, altought hyperbolic, are that unreasonable. I have a high optimization sense and i live in a tiny apartment and his side just hits closer by me :P
@@evbunke2 They are cheap to buy. You should try one. Even in India, where there is a lot of poverty, pressure cooking is common. Not only are modern pressure cookers safe, quick but they excel at stews and soup which are economical too.
@@evbunke2 Instant Pot and pressure cooker is cheaper in the long run especially when compared to the utility bill Mr. Ragusea must be paying for simmering something for hours.
My mom got me a small fryer for Christmas. Used it to make fried chicken and hot dang it worked like a charm! Easy to use and chicken came out great. Forget the pan, buy a mini fryer, much safer, especially if you have kiddos and it's convenient.
I use an induction cooker with a taller pot with a glass lid. This is also nice to take outside in the summer. I keep it in my shop which is cold in the winter. Just a matter of turning it on and setting a timer, then a short fry time. This allows me to keep the container closed and out of the way after using. No mess in the kitchen or wasting expensive oil or the handling and storage of hot oil. I use Coconut oil, but recently bought Tallow, for use after the Coconut oil is used up. I quit taking Statin's 5 years ago and only use Saturated fats. Mostly Avocado, butter and some Olive oil. Fries from scratch are still a problem because frozen fries are already contaminated with seed oils. I find sugar easier to avoid than the seed oils. I also avoid low fat foods. I am 73. 5" 8" and weigh 170lb, and exercise very little, and will probably get more walking in now that it has warmed up.
After watching both videos and then reading the back and forth on this... TH-cam is a scary place. Both videos made excellent points and context for your arguments, (even if one was hyperbole) is important. I too personally disagreed with Adams video as I'm a regular deep fryer myself; so had a bias not to like it. However, I understand that he's a father and having cooked for younger family members, I gotta say my attitude around cooking when those tyrants are involved changes drastically. But anyway, tangents aside, I feel like both videos can exist at the same time. Adam's content feels like it is about how /he/ cooks in his life, but he shares what he makes along the way. I can't be discouraged by his messaging because he isn't cooking for me - I am. Meanwhile, this channel is more about teaching people /what/ to cook. If you made this message I would feel pretty bummed because I would come here looking to be encouraged. (I guess that's why you felt motivated to make this video in the first place, huh?) tl;dr: both videos can co-exist because both videos are right in their context and messaging.
My parents have been frying (edit: I should say deepfrying, but lazy) since I was a kid... The cleaning oil technique is easily the most important part of this video. As a kid, I didn't even know a house *should* smell for hours or even days after frying up until the day my aunt was in for a visit for a few days and decided that she would help out with the schnitzels and good lord, she just left the burnt bits linger around in the pot (with schnitzels you have to skim what you can between the batches otherwise that burnt bread will stick to the next batch etc.). Kitchen smelled like shite for the rest of her visit. The oil conserving advice is also great, just strain it so its clean and good oil can probably last a very long time no matter if you fry every day or once every few weeks.
@@roostertailspice2482 Asia is huge and there’s big differences in not only the countries but provinces/prefectures. Also, rice is not just rice. Rice can be long grain, short grain, jasmine, glutinous etc.
I agree with Adam too. The points he makes are 100% valid. But the way he delivers them and the title and thumbnail of the video scares and discourages people from trying deep frying at home. Sure, it's not convenient, but it's not impossible to manage, as shown in this video. It's a great method of cooking for many foods and people should try it for themselves before they decide.
Lol how though? Just get a random pot put some vegetable oil in and go to town. Once the stuff floats to the top take it out. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to fry food.
@@RossLemon the point isnt how hard it is, it's how the oil is difficult to discard, it takes too much time, you can't cook another part of the meal during, and it's better to leave to professionals. Watch Adams video, he gives literal points.
Anyone who can afford to deep fry can also afford to buy a heat proof jar to store their oil. It's not extremely convenient but it's not that hard and there's absolutely no need to discourage it.
My favorite thing that you said in this video is that you actually test your recipes at home before you post the video. As a huge fan of America's Test Kitchen and food science in general I found this video relaxing to watch and gave me hope for the future of culinary innovation. Thank you! You just gained another subscriber.
I think Adam’s main point was that deep frying is a pain in the ass and there is absolutely no need for deep frying just to make good food. That’s a point you can’t refute. Most people just want food that tastes good, and they want to achieve it with the simplest means. That’s why Adam blew up.
@@sliferx0 lol yes. As if it isn't more effort to drape pizza dough on an oven rack. Which is a way higher chance of getting burned or just dirtying the shit out of your oven
@@dontakeshit it's just making simple things complex for no reason, i don't use a pizza stone but if i wanted to, i would probably put a baking sheet in the oven and let it get hot and throw the pizza un there. Same as deep frying, talking about how complex it is when the only thing to do is throw some chicken nuggets and wait lol.
I don't deep fry often at all, but one of my favorite things about frying oil....... is that I can still just use that oil for what I ilkely bought it for anyway, which is seasoning my cast iron and carbon steel cookware.
I know this video is a year old but I have to say I love both Adam's and Ethan's videos. Both of these fellas have inspired me to cook way more and taught me a lot. I appreciate these gentlemen and their civil discussion.
This is super informative and hits on a difficult topic for a home cook. With so many good recipes that require deep frying, I'm eager to try the technique out but didn't really know how to go about it until now.
I think both of them agree that people should think about the pros and cons and decide for themselves whether it's worth it. But for Adam, it isn't. He was just explaining why. Ethan told people to at least try it and gave them good advice as to how to avoid some of the things that usually steers people away from deep frying at home. Overall this video was very educational and was a lot more optimistic than Adam's, but Adam made some excellent points as to why deep frying is a bit much for him and other home cooks
@@collier1621 I think Adam just wanted something controversial to make a video about. I guarantee he deep fries a hell of a lot more than you think. But that wouldn't have made as good of content 😂
I grew up in a family who were all very confident in the kitchen and deep fried at least once a month so i’ve never been intimidated by frying just carful taking safety precautions. if you get good at it it can go incredibly smooth and quick. honestly ive come home after a 12 hour stressful work day and cut my self some french fry’s for comfort food. it can 100% become an easy kitchen skill.
I just want to say that Ethan’s video inspired me to fry something indoors, at home, and with a wok! Result? My house still smelled like oil afterwards, and yes, it was clean grease, no burnt debris, and no splash or mess left lingering. Back to outdoor frying if at all.
@@vanc.miscaccount2748 i would highly recommend trying sunflower oil or peanut oil for deep frying if you are concerned about the smell - i personally never use canola oil or vegetable oil for deep frying as i also find them to smell strong
Looking at this entire discussion feels weird as a Belgian, with how domestic deepfryers are so widespread and easy to use, it's hard to imagine it being complicated for people now. They have a temperature gauge, the oil/grease has its max temp listed on the container/package, etc. Maybe it's just that frying is very prevalent in our culture.
It baffles me that these people just don't buy a deep fryer and put it in their garage or something. Here in the netherlands you could get a decent one for 50 euros max. It would negate almost all the problems Adam Ragusea has.
@@ryanlam5237 This, unless you plan to deep fry on a regular basis, it's a waste of space. For the regular home cook that deep frys 4 times a year, this ain't it.
I usually love watching for his more against-the-grain takes, because they usually simplify and make cooking a bit more accessible. But you totally beat him at his own game here, you made deep frying seem super accessible! By the way, your videos have gotten really refined recently. Seeing you improve makes me want to try some of my own creative pursuits, so thanks :)
I think Adam is a response to the popular youtube cooking channels that are a little overly elaborate or expensive. I love Binging with Babish and others but there is definitely a market for people who want to cook stuff without making a trip to bed bath and beyond on top of the grocery store. And I’m saying this as someone who owns and regularly uses a sous vide machine, so I like all these guys.
Late to the video but I am surprised people are overlooking this factor. The probably with having to cook multiple batches and safety concerns make a lot more sense when you consider that Adam has kids. Ethan in the video says how a batch can feed one or two people which is fine if cooking for yourself but if you have kids you need all of the food ready at the same time. And having a big pot of boiling oil is a bigger concern if you have a small child that could pull in onto themselves.
Deep frying: 1) Time consuming (mostly the cleanup afterwards) 2) Dangerous (worst kitchen accidents I know in family were from hot oil) 3) Unhealthy (you eat fried stuff out, do yourself a favor with a healthier alternative) 4) I find it gross to keep that jar full of preheated oil 5) You can get that friend food for cheap from a takeaway I would rather do the oven crispy fries 1000 times comparing to deep frying them. Saving time, calories, money and avoid oil wastage. BTW wiping the kitchen with a wet sponge wont clean the oil. You need to get some soap there and cover all the surface the droplets spread to keep your kitchen properly clean.
Adam Ragusea and Ethan Chlebowski are two of the most informative and insightful cooking channels on the internet, and both of their infinite respects towards Kenji just kinda show that they’re both doing what they love in the way they love it. They have two very different philosophies of cooking, one as a father and journalist and the other as an auteur and artisan, and their dialogue has been so incredibly insightful to watch and listen. Both of them deserve their sub counts and more and both are so entertaining to watch. I’m glad both of them are here and on the platform and it was genuinely quite incredible to read both their responses. They’re great.
Yeah the thing I like about all three of them is that they are smart and experienced enough to not get precious about things that aren't that important. I have heard each one of them say "If you don't have (such and such) then use what you have". The techniques are the focus.
As a home cook learning to cook in the lockdown, I wanted to share a few things here. While frying is a really great cooking technique, it is also deceptively complicated. I've messed up so many times with burnt bits of food ruining batches, oil temperature heating up greatly between batches when my attention was diverted, wasted oil because the burnt bits didn't leave it smelling good - and severe burns as well. I'll admit, I could've avoided most of this stuff (especially the burns) with better technique, but all I'm saying is, frying is really more complicated than just dunking food in hot oil. That said, I'm going to wrap up my burnt thumb and keep trying till I perfect it. Will buy a proper heat résistant strainer and thermometer as well. Thanks for the video Ethan and Adam - you guys are more helpful than you realize.
Adam is right in that deep frying often just isnt a great idea for health or work. If you're keeping oil around, it's a pain in the butt unless you're into that stuff. It's not like it's impossible, but it is a lot harder than his ideas for crispy potatoes imo.
I suppose a lot of people don’t like the smell of fried foods?... when I get home from work and I smell the house is filled with the scent of fries from my dad heating up some fresh fries for my dinner, I feel so cozy. My dad is amazing for doing that shit btw. But he has an actual deep fryer pot that has a temp dial attached to it. It’s no McDonald’s fryer, but it’s a badass fryer for sure. If you like frying shit, invest in that. And make sure to reuse the oil, it enhances richness and flavor.
Hello. Yes many people dont like the smell of fried food. I personally hate it. My Mother makes some doughnut type fried pasrty once a year and thats the only time we deep fry at home.
I like the smell of fried food in my kitchen, but I don't like the smell of fried food on my clothes, on my sofa in the whole house, because frying food can make everything smell.
I hate it, it stinks up your clothes and your hair and permeates everything. I guess the difference is that we almost never had any fried food done in my house, so I never got to associate that smell with something pleasant.
Why dont any of these guys have a Frypapy? Like seriously, i make a lot of fried food at home and i use a dedicated appliance for it. It costs like $60 and makes everything 100x easier than anything they have said
I have one tip for beginners: if you can, do your first steps with deep frying outside. every possible beginners' error is less severe there. I did my first deep frying steps while doing 80 "Kirtanudeln" for a family party, and I did it in a non-inflammable empty garage built from concrete. And I'm glad I did, less stress, and frying is fun! Second tip: have a fitting pan lid and/or a fire blanket at hand. Just in case - it's like an umbrella: if you have one, you'll probably not need it.
Girl not everyone has a rich family. Cool that your family bought you a house (and paid someone to build a garage just so you could deep fry damn) immediately after you moved out - 90% of people do not have that experience.
Great video. This is taking cooking to a whole new level. People may get upset about disagreements between their favorite channels, but in any serious field, criticism and disagreement of this caliber are key to making progress both as individuals and a community. Everyone benefits.
Here in the Netherlands almost everyone just have an electrical frying pan. It's has a container of at least 3 liters worth of oil while still having enough headroom for spattering, oil displacement or the formation of foam (very rare, change oil regularly to avoid). It has a metal wired basket to put your food in and lower it into the oil. Underneath the basket is the heating element which has a thermostat (the thermostat is crucial for keeping temperature consistent). Underneath the heating element there is the "cold zone". The cold zone traps a bit of oil with tiny food bits in it so it doesn't get burned or ruin your oil after just one usage. I really don't understand why these things are almost never shown in American/Canadian cooking videos.
@@omaralleyne8987 man they're amazing. If you just want some fries or some fried snack you plug it in, set your temperature and within 5 to 10 minutes you're ready to go. Good ventilation _is_ recommended though, but that's always the case with frying food. We actually have a whole fried snack culture going on here! Fries, bitterballs, kaassoufflés (packages of cheese folded into puff pastry with a breaded exterior), croquettes, frikandellen (spiced meatball sticks) and many more, which are just available in the freezer of every supermarket. We also have snackbars (small fast-food restaurants) where you can buy all this stuff and they make it for you. Like a burger king or mcdonalds but at a way smaller scale. You'd like it here!
Just get an electric deep fryer. Those things come with a thermostat and a lid. So after frying you let it cool down, close the lid and store it in a cupboard. No need to pour the oil in container and clean the fryer. Also use oil made especially made for frying, those tend to smell much less.
The really great thing about this video is probably the fact that I don’t entirely agree with every argument you made, and that’s probably true for a lot of other people. The fact that this video now exists alongside Adam’s video would be great for helping people truly assess whether deep frying is a good idea for them or not
You can re-use the oil for other uses. You don't have to use it for deep frying again. When I deep fried chicken, I strained the oil, transferred it into an old Sriracha bottle and I use that as general cooking oil. So even if you only deep fry at home once in your life, doesn't mean the oil will be wasted.
For stir frying go for thin lightweight Aluminium woks. Easy to toss the ingredients while frying. For deep frying go for thick iron ones. The thicker the better. Personally for deep frying I like a thick stainless steel wok that's cylindrical (like a Dutch oven) that's small . That way I have to use less oil to get a good height of oil. What I've learnt in the last 1 year is that if you use a high height of oil ( the stuff you're frying should float instead of settling at the bottom) the food is crispier. It feels less oily and doesn't make you feel sick if you eat a lot unlike less oil frying. When food settles at the bottom it soaks up more oil. Also flattens the food at the base that's in contact. Also if you're using a large quantity of oil while deep frying, you shouldn't touch the food while frying. No need to turn over. Also always follow Ethan's way of storing oil. I simply strained it using a strainer , not a kitchen towel. It's the bits that ruin the oil and the towel prevents that.
To clarify, do you mean putting the fries in the oil and then turning on the stove/heat and letting the oil rise with the fries already in it? What benefit does it hold over heating the oil and then putting in the fries? Genuinely curious as I’m learning more about cooking and techniques.
@@BillPhilliams Hi there. You see, when you heat up oil to a specific temperature that you want, 325° Fahrenheit, or 160° Celcius, and you add food in, the oil temperature tends to dip quite a bit, as you know, things gain/lose heat from it's surroundings, and therefore, when the fries gain heat (to be fried, ofc) and the oil temperature dips, the food tends to take longer to cook, and might turn soggy. Turns a big no-no. Starting from cold pan to hot pan allows the temperature of the oil and food to be almost the same at all times, ensuring that no temperature fluctuations will happen, and food won't turn soggy. Hope this helps!
I tend to be sensitive to smells. I find an air purifier works great. So if it doesn't smell to you, that's great. If it does use an air purifier. For safety I make sure to have a large lid nearby. That will cover what you are frying in. (Someone already mentioned.) Plus I have 2 b, c, kitchen extinguishers. B is rated for grease fires. C is rated for electrical fires. Generally a kitchen extinguisher costs around $20. I love the Levoit Vital 100. It's around $100.
Tasty fact: potatoes aren't the only veggies you can fry. If you for example have leftover broccoli stems you can chop those in large chunks, dunk them in some batter and fry them up like nuggets. Due to the leftover-y nature of fried broccoli stems, I usually fry at very small batches to make a little side dish (or netflix snacks) so I've been doing fine with a small-ish pot so far, but after watching this video I'm tempted to invest in a new wok for deep frying. The wok I already have is a cheap IKEA thing with non-stick surface, not sure if the non-stick will interfere with the deep frying or come off if I have to clean it too aggressively, but it certainly would make it harder to see when I have to clean out the oil.
Hi, Ethan! You did a good job of respectfully rebutting Adam's arguments. He was coming from a different place at the time, before his kitchen remodel and while he was still teaching, so his air flow patterns in the kitchen were probably more stagnant and he didn't have good ventilation. It will be curious to see if and how he responds, but his favorite phrase is, "Hey, you do you." You demonstrated good techniques for dealing with the issues he raised. BTW, Kenji was born James Kenji Alt, and when he married their names became Lopez-Alt. Also, the way you do your two-fingered Peace means "F U", the equivalent of a single middle digit.
I’m really glad you decided to chime in on this subject. I’ve got lots of respect for Adam and really enjoy and benefit from his videos. Even though I already deep fry occasionally, and didn’t really agree with his opinions, his video kind of got in my head and made me wonder if I was a chump for making the effort. It tainted my experience. I really appreciate you showing how easy, efficient, and comfortable a process it can be if one is willing to practice it.
I came here because of the Air Fryer Video where you said you discussed Deep Frying and YES I did feel discouraged by Adam's video, what a coincidence. I own neither an air fryer nor a convection oven and I'd like the option to have crispy home cooked food yet an hour of old-fashioned oven baking does not give the same results. Thanks for this video. It gives lots of tips, concerns, counters, and suggestions that no one has mentioned to be before. Much appreciated.
Deep frying food is one of my favorite things to do when friends come over, and we have some drinks. Wheather its fried pickles, chicken, french fries, ect. It is always a huge crowd pleaser. However, I would not recomend working with hot oil inebriated without be extremely familiar with it XD
Well, when you get better at it and have the better tools to make you more frying efficient, the tastes of deep fried food becomes worth it. You will now finally get to dabble in deep fry recipes and all of its varieties. I think deep frying is no different than cooking for your first time, or grilling or smoking meats. Is any if that simple and easy or time efficient? Not really, they all have their own learning curve and difficulty but we learn to enjoy it anyways. If you enjoy cooking you enjoy cooking. Many of us cooks hate baking! Haha I need to take what I said here and get my hands wet in baking... hey I already got a bread recipe I want to make. I'm excited. Deep fry, enjoying exploring new recipes and techniques, and just enjoy cooking.
I love Adam's perspective as a "regular" home cook and I think that's where the confusion comes in. I have been cooking for years and I have deep fried more than I would be proud of. I don't know how you made that oil look that clean... but cook some battered fires, mozzarella sticks, chicken wings, etc... and that oil is toast. I have tried to filter and screen it and it's nasty smelling stuff. Commercial fryers are what make commercially fried food palatable.
Whether to deep fry at home is more than just frying technique. Ethan, my kids are about your age. When they were little and I was a stay at home mom, the only adult at home, I would never have dreamed of deep frying anything. My kids got most of my attention; I could not give a pot of hot oil the focus it needed. [In fact, my worst ever knife cut was when I was dissecting a roast and was interrupted. I probably should have gotten stitches, but there was nobody home to help me. 20 years later, and the scar has faded completely.] However, once the kids were old enough to understand, I did some deep frying ... and later supervised my teen daughter's experiments in fish and chips. We never ate enough fried food to make deep frying a regular thing, but were not afraid to use the method.
We just bought a home fryer. It is temperature regulated, has a lid and a oil/air filter. And it did cost only about 80 Euro. A lot easier than a pan. You can also do larger batches of fries.
@@EthanChlebowski guessing is my game 😆 after a while you just know okay the oil is getting too hot and whatever. I also cover it when I initially put the chicken in if I don't have enough oil, the meat gets really tender 👍
8:34 I just deep fryed at home and while I deep fryer out side I did use one of those mash things you use to get rid of water while not losing the Spaghetti and I use the to get rid of that stuff that was still floating in the oil and my kitchen still doesn't smell thanks for the tips they work really well 👍
Thank you Ethan for defending the holy cooking method known as deep frying. I was born and raised in the Southeastern US and we’ve been deep frying for generations. If deep frying meant living with the supposed consequences as Adam pointed out then we’d simply live with it because deep fried food is that good.
I think some people are maybe missing that this just comes down to a difference in philosophies and a difference in what kind of food each of them wants to cook. Yes, if you want to make vodka-battered chicken nuggets at home then there are lots of ways to do that, and Adam's video did not demonstrate the easiest way, so Ethan's response is definitely useful to show that it can be safer and easier. But to the comments talking about buying a home deep fryer, filtering and storing oil for future use, watching your children like a hawk while oil is bubbling, etc... that's all a huge waste of time and effort if all you want is French fries. Just go to McDonald's: it's often open 24 hours, the fries are like a dollar, they've been engineered to be at least very good, you can have them within 10 minutes, and you don't have to make them yourself. If you LIKE making them yourself, or you want to make something you can't easily buy a better version of, or taste is your TOP priority, then Ethan's method is the way to go and he has a lot of good info here. That's what Ethan is great at: creating exactly the recipe he wants to eat, and then making it as accessible as possible to do yourself. But Adam's whole thing is that you can be a skilled home cook and eat delicious food without obsessing over the little things that pros care about, like superfast knife skills and measuring ingredients to a tenth of a gram and only using cast-iron pans cleaned through electrolysis or whatever. His goal is to get delicious food on the table with as little fuss as possible, and the only techniques and gadgets he supports are things that have a noticeable impact on flavor relative to the amount of effort they take. In that context (which is also where I come from), even with Ethan's corrections, deep frying is absolutely not worth the trouble for me, period, and I think that was Adam's main point: technically you can deep fry at home, but there's no shame in leaving that to the pros and just keeping your home cooking to things that you can do more easily than them. But I think both perspectives are valuable to have!
I wouldn't say that home deep frying is "a great idea", so much as it is "a delicious idea". Fried food isn't very healthy, even with good oil it's not really healthy, just healthier than you'll usually get when you go out and get it from most restaurants. Being less unhealthy than something else does not by default mean healthy. Fried food is bad for you, full stop. However, it is delicious, easy, and not nearly as much of a pain to deal with if you're doing it right. I do recommend it, but in moderation.
If I recall, Adam said that he doesn't recommend it because it is inherently dangerous (only if you're being dumb) and it's messy. Which I agree with, although it doesn't stop me
Adam argues that it's dangerous for his kids, having curious children and a pot of hot oil don't go together that well. Chances are that it wouldn't happen, but I suppose his mindset is "better safe than sorry"
@@meesehead3202 well that argument is kinda dumb if you think about it since the kitchen in general is full of safety hazards(stove, oven,sharp utensils, gas). if his children are not old enough to know that touching hot oil is not okey, then maybe he shouldn't let them in the kitchen in the first place.
I grew up in a house where deep frying was an every day thing. We had an electric fryer which was pretty convenient since it maintains the correct temp automatically, has a basket and doesn't take up hob space. These days I fry in a wok. One thing I'd add to the list of advantages you presented is that the sloped sides give room for the steam bubbles to expand outwards rather than upwards, so there's less headroom required and less risk of boil over. Sometimes I need to cook a large batch and I can let the oil get a lot closer to the rim than I'd consider safe with other pans.
Tonight I entered the home fry oil and did your spin on the Chick Fil-A sandwich complete with the MSG, home made sauce, and brioche buns. My fiancee and I thought it just rocked!!! Thanks. I will not be afraid of this method ever again!
It really depends on your kitchen and equipment. Not everyone is going to have an easy time deep frying, including myself, the way Ethan pointed out, at the same time i know tons of people who deep fry at home and dont have any of the problems Adam pointed out. So there is never one answer to this question.
Moral of the story: take the combined list of pros, the combined list of cons, filter out the ones that don't bother you or don't apply, and judge from there. Deep frying will be great for some people and awful for others, and that's just how it's gonna be.
Another thing to add to the safety part, is to make sure you have a fire extinguisher in your kitchen just in case, making sure its designed for grease fires. Better safe than sorry
One safety tip that was missed, and people should know: KEEP A LID NEARBY. And know how to properly handle an oil fire. Burner off, lid on, and do not use water.
Yes 👍🏾👍🏾
That's very good advice thanks man
If anything water makes it WORSE due to water and oil pairing like Aphrodite trying to pair a couple.
@@a.h.tvideomapping4293 yes, it will just explode if you splash it in due to the water rapidly vaporizing and thereby expanding its volume under the surface of the oil.
I always keep a giant bucket of sand mounted over the stove, just in case ;)
2 of the smart kids arguing about the answer on the homework:
While I'm sat there, listening in, my answer the farthest possible from theirs. :^)
Solar Bear nah you are just waiting for their answers and then just copy both
Aruel Hamehabel r/murderedbywords
Who's the other smart kid? Ragusea fucking can't cook...
@@SuperPhelix You have proof of this?
If these two gentlemen weren't intellectual and mature... this would've been messy. Love the academic disagreements between these two. Ethan, you just earned another subscriber
Yes, you can tell that Adam was a professor by reading his response. It was like reading a professor's comments on a paper someone wrote.
Ellie Z. Except the student was also just like a teacher and it was a very civil proffesional disagreement lol
@@elliez.3561 i think adam is a professor
Nah they both are awesome lads. I respect both of them. They should have a collab sometime.
Banana God exactly they’re both great. I don’t understand why the fans of one call the other one names lmao
Both are correct. When I watched Adam's video, recently at the time I just started to deep fry (chicken wings) for the the first time, I experienced everything he talked about and felt the same way. I shy'd away from deep frying for awhile because: it was too much of a hassle, too much clean up work, too time consuming when cooking large quantities due to cooking in batches and then have the issue of prior batches losing quality due to sitting out waiting to finish the later batches...
But now I also can identify with Ethan's train of thought. Have a game plan, know what your cooking and all it's variables, and just execute. In the kitchen one of the most important thing to do is clean as you go, and once you have strategically planned your mise and procedures, it makes things much more manageable.
Face it, you're a cooking geek if you're watching channels like both of yours. Which means more cooking techniques, more tools, more theory in the name of efficiency the better. So I'd personally buy a tool just to less the contraint of time. All so I can impressively, single handedly serve a large group of people resturamt quality food lol. It's such a badass and manly thing to do lol
if you're keen on getting a tool that helps, a small counter fryer is the way to go! from temp control mess control and just overall ease it's a game changer. Also I now use it on my grill's side shelf and that takes both the heat and smell out of the kitchen from frying. I think from both having used a small fry daddy of a roommates in college and seeing how top chef contestants never pan fry it was a cheap and way more efficient answer.
If u have no extractor hood and/or poor ventilation you are 100% fucked when deepfrying. preiod. oil gets on every surface of your room and leaves a smell of it too.
As someone who has done their own home frying, I have to agree with Adam on most of his points. It's not that you can't fry at home, but the results aren't worth the time and effort put in. The cost is a huge factor in this. Oil can be expensive, so you need to reuse it to get the most out of it, but cleaning the oil adds a whole bunch of waiting and extra work to the process. That extra time and effort spent will be there no matter how many batches you need to cook (and 4 minutes a batch adds up real quick when you need to make 4-5 batches, 16-20 minutes spent frying is not a small amount of time).
Crucially, time waiting for oil to cool is time until you can clean up. As someone who often has to go to work the graveyard shift, I don't have an extra hour to wait to get everything cleaned up. I also can't afford to just throw the oil away because I can't wait. Maybe this would be different if I had a countertop deep fryer, but all I have is an enameled dutch oven (which in my opinion is better than the wok as the extra room for oil and thicker cast iron has more thermal mass to maintain temperature). If I had an outdoor wok burner like Kenji, then I'd be all over wok frying (since outdoors also means no smell or heat in the house).
As a home cook, I want to focus on best results for effort spent. If I feel like I barely beat KFC, my kitchen is a disaster, and I spent more money then I don't feel like it was worth the effort. If I compare this to Adam's oven fries, I feel like I beat the fast foods and supermarket and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg in money and stress.
get a small counter top fryer when it's on sale. 20 to 40 bucks. Less mess less work, you can wait till tomorrow to strain the oil if you are tired. Also I use mine on my grill's side shelf so all the smell is outside.
Personally I find frying my own food is leagues better than any fast food place. The flavor cost per serving is just so much better. I save it for weekends or special occasions though
Make fried foods in bulk
Skill issue.
Adam 🤝 Ethan
Having different opinions on cooking and making non-toxic response videos while maintaining mutual respect
And then there are the toxic fans, oh god no
@@a.h.tvideomapping4293 Honestly, I just wanted to observe the well-mannered discourse between these two gentlemen, but the sheer vitriol that was dripping from the fans on either side just made it difficult to enjoy. It fascinates me that even culinary youtubers like these face the same problems with "stans" that you see in the gaming community. It's unfortunate to see that this applies to TH-cam as a whole.
@Minwon Jang ...ballistic in a good way? I dunno, I never really paid attention to the video very much (I mean the comments section) because I know I’m never going to make this.
@Minwon Jang wdym he went ballistic?
Yeah, to the original comment: I actually lost any respect I had left for Adam after reading his "reply" comment. Far from being respectful, he was sarcastic in an obviously caustic and demeaning way to Ethan, purposely misrepresented the points Ethan made and then straight up lied about what he himself said in his video. The guy didn't give Ethan an ounce of credit. He's not "nice", he's a d ick.
Although I must say I don't think you'd enjoy deep frying if you lived in a tiny apartment and/or had a couple of kids.
It's a lot more work to keep it clean. And it's inevitable: small droplets of oil get in the air even before it breaks down. If your ventilation is less than incredible, the place does smell.
That's my situation. I've tried the whole "strain the oil while you're cooking" technique - another added task to accomplish while deep frying, I might add - and it still doesn't work. The place stinks afterwards, and there's a fine layer of grease everywhere. Also, YOU stink after frying. And here's the other thing - fried food doesn't keep. It's not particularly good the next day, unlike a lot of other leftovers. I've never really been into cold fried chicken, and that's one of the better leftover fried foods. I like to be more economical and make dishes that are as good as or better when reheated.
I will say, Asian fried chicken recipes tend to reheat better than other fried foods. But you need to reheat in the oven, not in a microwave, which makes dining on leftovers less convienent.
Idk man. I'm from an Indian household. It does not make a mess when done properly. Plus, after you fry large batches. A simple wet cloth wipe down is more than enough. That to just around the stove. India kitchens is like a small room. It does not open into the living room. You don't need a exhaust. Just crack open a window.
@@sunspot42 how do you get grease every where. I've been frying a lot of stuff for a lot of years. You have incorrect sized pan or wok. Or you are just overheating the oil.
Dhruv Pandya The problem is, the instructions given in this video specify you should overheat the oil at the start to prevent the temperature from crashing when you add the food into it. I don’t disagree with this advice by the way - it does make the food fry better - but it also always leads to splattering and grease going everywhere.
And even if you contain the splattering with a splatterguard, the oil evaporates as you fry and coats every surface it comes into contact with. Including you.
@@sunspot42 I understand. I believe American frying pans generally are too wide.
Tip: It is a lot better to cook in small batches multiple times in a taller pan with a small diameter. It will use less oil and you can just throw it out.
Plus I realized something. This is not really a thing in American kitchens. I have a long platform with the stove and sink on it. We just wash down the platform with water. I feel it has something to do with it. Plus the stove traditionally even in tiny apartments in India is next to a window.
In so many SoCal apartments I used to live, the stove faced towards the living room opposite of the window/ sometimes no windows. Which I found idiotic. Plus, they don't plan for natural cross ventilation. It definitely causes staleness and bad odours.
I think this comes down to different audiences mostly. Adam's video seems to be aimed at the "everyman" who is considering deep frying. Someone who doesn't dedicate much time and intensity into cooking and is more concerned about safety and functionality. Your videos seem to be targeting those who already have a grasp on cooking, but want to take things to the next level.
Your points are both valid and suit their respective audiences well
Jeffery Thompson I feel like this is fair, but even people who love cooking can acknowledge when the payoff to effort ratio of something seems off. Both useful videos, though
I was really hoping he'd prove adam wrong on this one, but I essentially have to buy a whole bunch if special equipment and preboil my fries in vinegar? I'll just stick with baking
@@cjlooklin1914 a lot of cuisines deep fry a lot and never had issues (except maybe health) including... you know, Southern States of the US like Georgia, and Souther Italian sea cities like Bari, where his Italian side comes from.
Yep, hit the nail on the head. I definitely have to side with Ethan too on this. I don't need someone to tell me how to cook like an average Joe. I want the cool, neat techniques. Also I have found Adam to be pretty full of himself lately. His Q+As are horrendous, very cringe to watch himself so eagerly talk about himself as he sips his wine. Just my two cents.
@@KyrieFortune exactly. I am Indian, and though we don't have many deep fried entrees, majority of our snacks are deep fried. My grandmom would find it unbelievable that someone actually feels deep frying at home isn't practical. I have been making deep fried potato fries, chillis, and pakoras ever since I was 14-15.
Great comparison, as I fry all the time at home.
Pro tip: If making fries at home, boil double what you need and freeze half of them. Fry them from frozen when you want some.
ppl pls be careful chucking frozen stuff in hot oil, any ice from water in the food will make that oil bubble up
My favorite TH-cam popping up on all of the cooking channels
CHEFPK out here hustling on all the food videos damn, keep it up
Boil with a touch of vinegar, let rest, pat dry as much as you can, fry at a lower temp like 250, freeze, and fry again at 350 when you're ready to eat fries. You can take it a step further and fry and freeze it twice, before you fry for eating, but that's too much work for me.
Yeah that's what restaurants do they par boil fry once and freeze and then they only take a few minutes to be ready with the second fry
I love the pinned comment response by Adam because Ethan and Adam have a civilized discussion about their videos, then the peanut gallery comes in with either "ADAM IS PRETENTIOUS!!!" or "ETHAN ONLY CALLED ADAM OUT FOR VIEWS!!!"
Funny how the creators can have a friendly debate- no, a discussion with constructive criticism (notice Adam complimenting his ideas and giving them praise/Ethan taking his points into account and pointing out what he would do instead) but the “fans” of both can’t. In fact they see it as an insult war. I’m not going to even say any examples for how stupid and unbased they are.
@Warpdroid lmao I kinda agree he is so snarky and passive aggressive
@@asimhussain8716 i watched a few of Adams videos and collabs and feel the same. my guess is it's just the constant lack of humility, maybe with some narcissistic traits. "you don't need to do x because I don't do x" approach is not very helpful for most people...
@@gabrielwood3016 I didn't watch much of Adam's channel (just occasionally clicked on a video when it popped up in recommends), but the "why I NEVER brown sugar" video sealed my "why I NEVER watch Adam" decision. Just too much silly drama creation.
@@gabrielwood3016 I feel like that’s only one side of his content. He makes half of his content as good and easy recipes, and then in the other half he starts to give his opinion. And every time he does this he always lays out a base, before giving out what HE thinks
This is not a bad counterargument. Personally I'm not a fan of the extra work and equipment required to properly deep-fry and avoid the issues. But it's good to know the possibility exists for something like a special occasion.
Adam's safety reservations may stem from him having kids. Not sure if you do.
That's spot on. I wanted show the how to do it easier, safer, less wasteful, etc. Then you can only ultimately decide if its worth it.
Kids need to learn about the hazards of the kitchen. The only way a child understands hot for instance is if they touch something hot. Kids learn by experience. There is no reason to not deep fry in any house or apt, just do it safely.
@@billyjoe415 There's a time and a place for teaching them those lessons, but it's not around a vat of 300°+ oil
I absolutely agree here, I have a small toddler and while he's not allowed in the kitchen, there are times he makes it past the gate. I avoid frying for now partly because of that and also partly because I agree when Adam here. It's usually a huge pain to deal with everything frying related and it needs to be babysat the whole time, which is something I'm already doing with a toddler.
Also, there is an oil smell and it lasts for days and I hate it
Adam has a solid oven recipe for crispy fries, I highly recommend.
Ethan, I'm not very sensitive to the smell of frying oil either but it does 100% have a specific smell, no matter how fresh
It depends on which oil you use.
Honestly if you wanna cook for fun you're going to learn to love the smell of all cooking. If you dont have the passion then you dont and theres nothing wrong with that. But that's on you.
jonrd21 shrug, hard disagree. I love cooking, but I can acknowledge when cooking fish has made my home smell like fish, and that's not always good
It's not very bad though, and it's definitely manageable. Personally the only time I've ever had problems with the smell of grease was when I worked at McDonalds, but there was 4 deep driers going at all times so yeah
If you live in a very tiny enclosed studio apartment (as I do), deep frying and cooking fish both are like living in a garbage can. The smell gets into everything. It feels yucky and smoky and unhealthy.
I think both arguments are valid. There are still safety concerns with deep frying with hot oil, especially cooking multiple things at home while using hot oil.
Used oil is also a factor because it will eventually go bad even when clean, and most people would likely go long periods without wanting something fried or to eat it from a restaurant.
Deep frying is also at least somewhat inconvenient compared to other cooking styles, such as making oils and batters ext.
But there's many benefits too like controlling variables and making much better quality fried food you would be normally limited to in choices of options.
Also would seem like a good option for cooking for guests.
Best option, watch both videos, try it and decide for yourself.
Agreed. It's all about time management/investment, organization and logistics, and dedication/intent. For me that's the "should I deep fry or not" triangle matrix thing from which I'd decide whether to deep fry or not -- or anything else for that matter.
Ethan was right in regards to deep frying techniques and equipment, adam was right about cooking with what u have. Deep frying is easy peasy with the right equipment, but its a real pain if u arent well prepared for it. In my humble opinion, if any of these are missing from your kitchen, good ventilation, gas stove, chinesse style wok, fine mesh strainer, spider/long chopsticks, wire rack and fume/cooker hood, i would rather not deep fry. I will go the Adam's way and take what ever hit on my meal. But if all that equipment is available, hell yea deep fried food for me it is.
@@krisnadiimam4556 If all you are looking to do is fry you can buy a deep fryer that solves most of the equipment issues and possibly the ventilation ones aswell if you are able to do it outside I suppose.
@@luckygozer I have a wired thing for my insta read thermometer it makes life real easy.
@@krisnadiimam4556 exactly, and most apartments are not well-ventilated and don’t have outside spaces to cook. I wouldn’t dream of trying to fry anything in my one-room apartment.
Honestly Ethen, I'm so glad I discovered yours and Adam's channel, I think the service both of you provide in educating and empowering people to cook at home (which a lot of people are afraid of doing or don't know basic techniques) is honestly priceless.
I agree with Adam in that I've tried to deep-fry on a gas stove-top and found it impossible to regulate the temperature of the oil or prevent oil from splashing all over the stove-top. I recently decided to buy a good quality deep-fryer, and chose the Tefal Oleoclean, partly because it has an oil filtration and storage system. It cost me US$100 but now I have a dedicated deep-fryer that frees up my stove-top, and is cleaner and more efficient. I'm also less likely to burn myself or set fire to the kitchen. The unit is also guaranteed for 10 years so it's basic cost is only $10 p.a. I'm going to deep-fry EVERYTHING! 🤣🤣🤣
You must be really bad at cooking. You just turn the dial down man...
@@18matts What would you know? My old stove-top's dials are barely adjustable and pretty much only work on the highest setting.
The deep-fryer has enabled me to produce better fried chicken than I can buy from any take-away.
@@andrewstrongman305 I agree with the small fryer, makes it so much easier on so many levels. But sounds like you need to invest in a new stove next! Also I have made one more improvement. I fry on my grill's side shelf outside. so the smell in my kitchen is zero. Happy Frying! BTW wings at 1/4 th cost of wing joints and 10x better at home only took a few trys!
@@andrewstrongman305 In that case it sounds like your inability to regulate oil temp is because of your broken stove, not any inborn flaw of frying as a cooking method. The point of Adam's video, which he says was intended to be more satirical anyway, was that deep front at home is a bad idea, in general, for a variety of reasons. In your case, deep drying at home is a bad idea, for you, because your stove doesn't work properly. That's not a critique of frying, that's a critique of, I guess whoever manufactured your stove, or whoever convinced you to buy it, or your landlord who hasn't fixed/replaced it yet... The point is the problem isn't your coming method, the problem is that your stove is broken. It sounds like if you had a working stove you could use these methods to solve those other problems.
Did you try contacting a repair guy (not sure what title you'd use for someone who works on gas stoves, but I guess the gas version of an electrician?) to see how much it or cost to have them fix the stove? It might've been comparable to buying the deep fryer.
As a fan of now both channels, I find it funny that anyone sees this as needing to defend their point of whatever. Adam and Ethan show pros and cons of deep frying with a disagreement here and there . Take what works for you, bashing deep frying as utterly useless technique is dumb.
I’m trying to defend Adam from ridiculous accusations no one will counter. Using Ethans and Adams knowledge I’ve become way more confident with deep frying. Even though bigots will sadly be apart of every popular video most people including Adam and Ethan see this as FARRRRRRRR from beef. They are just pointing out facts that will precaution and push you to the magical world of deep frying. I’m perfectly fine on anyone having a normal opinion on deep frying, what I DON’T like is the stupid people who watched approximately 0 of Adams normal videos and take him soooooooooooo out of context and people are falling for that. I’m not going to be some “hero protecting Adam” I’m just trying to provide context when the stupid people add false stuff and remove real stuff like saying the videos “toxic” or its “clearly saying that you shouldn’t deep fry” I hate those people so much. Both Adam and Ethan had great points and videos respectively.
@@a.h.tvideomapping4293 hope you find your dad soon
@@SimonWoodburyForget I'm inclined to believe this is indeed more about your kitchen because even if you end up burning something it isn't supposed to smell for literal days.
@@SimonWoodburyForget I'm gonna need to ask: how do you clean your house bro?
@@SimonWoodburyForget "If you don't dirty your house, you don't need to clean your house" you're one if those that only cleans stuff when Spring comes around aren't you?
Even when using clean oil, the smell will still be very noticeable to most. Small particles of oil are vaporized at high temperatures allowing them to get airborne for a while before sticking to something porous like fabrics. There is no way to avoid the smell except frying outside, which is my preferred method
it depends on the oil you use, I deep fry at least twice a week and don't have an issue with smells lingering in the house.
@@Bluebelle51 No offense but if you deep-fry at least twice a week you probably just got used to the smell :D
Actually when you deep fry in water there is no smell.
@@frgwyn3760 y...you mean boil?
asian have specific kitchen outside for those, with big burner too.
one of the most satisfying sound to hear is the crackling/crunchy of a perfectly deep fried food
One of the great wonders of cooking.
It sounds just like rain
Ah, human trash delightful
1234 a bit extreme...
fat ain't the *sole* cause of cardiovascular disease, it plays a role but not a big one.
The arguments are coming from two very different households. One has a family with small children and the other is a single bachelor in his apartment with more time and freedom to cook food how he wants. Kids and a family just don’t give most people the ability to freely cook masterful dinners and Adam’s suggestions on his videos just work better for my household.
Lol I grew up in a house with fried food along with the rest of my family. No one I know has ever been harmed by deep frying. It has nothing to do with households, it has to do with parenting! All cooking is dangerous, do we just stop cooking when we have kids or do we PARENT? I have five kids. None of them ever harmed by hot oil!
People like you are what is wrong with this overly sensitive generation we live in today!
To each their own I guess. Deep frying doesn’t work for him so he doesn’t do it. Adam doesn’t tell you how to live your life, you do you. Thanks for being so kind bruh.
@@Himdownstairs86 how is this sensitive? You are just insane. What’s wrong that they don’t want to take the risk of hurting their kids? Just because no one in your family has been shit doesn’t mean you’re going to leave it out on the table, even if it is a bit away from the reach of kids, are you?
I agree. The thing as small as "my mom can't bear the smell of frying" changes a lot, as well as the differences in kitchen layout, the presence of ventilation (smoke collector?) etc
@@a.w.4708 kitchen layout is so important! I have a big kitchen and lugging around heavy filled pots is dangerous lol
I stopped deep frying years ago precisely for the reasons that Adam mentioned, the I recently got a wok, and tried deep frying. OMG, it’s no longer a messy wasteful nightmare. I’m glad I found this video since it verifies what I knew all along.
This comment section is saltier than the delicious fried food shown in this video. Adam’a point was that oil can be a lot of messy work, and Ethan’s point is that it doesn’t have to be as messy or impractical as perhaps it might look. These two are clearly in charge when in the kitchen, and while we might stake our passions on the things we create and how we create them, these two are respectful of one another’s different opinions.
As for Ethan, this is my first time seeing your channel and I‘m only disappointed youtube didn’t recommend me your videos sooner. Keep up the good work.
I know right? It’s like they’re all blind and just hurling insults everywhere. As a fan of both it’s really sad to see. But I can’t say unexpected.
I'd say this a case where they're both mostly right. A lot of the issues with deep frying can be negated with a little bit of time, it's just a matter of how much time and effort you want to invest. Even recipe has it's pros and cons factory in convenience, quality, and even health. Adam's fries negate a deep fryer, but having your oven on for almost an hour and a half is also really inconvenient. It's expensive, and on a warm summer day, it can make your home unbearably hot. It also requires an oven (obviously), so if you're in a student dorm with only a hot plate, deep frying is the clear winner. It's all about your given situation.
For me personally, it's easier to just pan fry everything. I can make decent versions of falafels, nuggets, and even spring rolls, so I don't really miss it. Fries aren't really the same in the oven, unless you use Adam's method, but I probably shouldn't be making fries a dietary staple anyway. Also, as a aside, rinsing fries and coating them in flour is probably has the best quality to effort of any home cooked fry that I've found. They're not on par with restaurant fries, but they crisp up well, and at 435f can be prepped in 5 minutes, and cooked in 20.
It is in fact, and that's why my mom and dad and basically nobody I knows makes deep fried food at home. It's not really convenient, I never perceived Adam's video as confrontational towards people that deep fry, it's just acknowledging the "status quo", basically remembering the majority of people that don't deep fry at home and might now desire it more because of airfrying and other trends the reasons for wich they didn't do it and even laying out what they could do to begin deepfrying at home comfortably/safely
Disposing of the oil is a pain though.
@@businessoffice4964 Not really, most fried chicken joints will take it. They get paid for their used oil. also some municipalities have cooking oil recycling too. you just have to research where you can take it.
"Enough fries for two people."
Um...
"Or maybe one hungry one."
Uh... I think we're living in very different ways...
hahaha exactly my thoughts
And that is why I disagree with Ethan.
He has a big kitchen and made a tiny amount of fries (7:45)
It is completely different if you have a medum sized Kitchen and try to serve food for 4-6 people.
Deep fying sucks in that regard and you will stand in the Kitchen cooking and managing the frying for like 30 minutes while 2 of those 6 people are eating, the rest waits for the next batch while you will never see any of your guests or your family.
Alternatively you put the finished fries into the oven to keep them warm which will produce one big serving in the end but gives only mediocre fries.
look at his physique and his portions make sence. The guy loves to deep fry and he has a nice body. So it is evident that he consumes less food than us more ascended fat fuckers.
@@giornogiovanna3139 you, sir, see the truth of the matter.
I'm pretty sure that there's just one way to solve that issue: TWO MEN IN, ONE MAN OUT!!!!
Two men in what? The deep fryer?
Two plus one is three minus 1 quic math
Dude have you seen Adam's gains though?! All food tubers tremble at the sight of Adam's biceps.
@@oscallibur5597 you didnt get the joke did you
@@jonatanluna1061 *Joshua Weissman has entered the chat*
A few more things to consider:
1a. If you have to cook for more people, more so in cases when more than one type of food will get deep fried that will require several batches of each (ex chicken for chicken sandwich and fries, or fish n chips), use your oven as a warmer. Set oven to ~150C top element only while warming the oil with the wire rack over a cookie sheet on the lowest rack position, then when the oil is ready, drop the oven temp to 100C. Voila, you have a warmer.
1b. Sequence including taking into account how much time it will take in the oven matter too. If you're doing chicken with a dredge or just bare skin OG fried chicken, do the chicken first, and depending on how many batches there'd be like a whole chicken, do the thighs and legs first but a little under, then the breasts, and lastly the wings. If you're doing fish n chips I've found that batter doesn't do to well, so do the fries first and use a finer mesh to keep the fries/chips in the oven in one layer. If you have convection, use that setting.
"Why not just use the oven to do all the cooking?" Because it doesn't work with a batter that needs to get more of a "shock" effect from the hot oil to solidify, and second, having to do proteins then starch is more complicated jockeying in the oven. If you just want to use the oven to fully cook one of these, I'd go with broasted chicken and deep frying the fries.
2. If your household (or your group of friends you might perpetually cook for) tends to be large enough then your cookware must be also large to match. So whether you use a wok or a Dutch oven or pan frying in a braiser, if the household has four people or you expect more friends to be coming, you really should have a larger wok to stir fry in for all of them same way your Dutch oven needs to fit enough ragu or your braiser to fit enough short ribs to include leftovers. In short...cooking for many people in batches wouldn't result in that many batches if you're prepared for however many people you'd cook for.
For example I can do over 250g of fries in one batch on a 350cm wok with oil halfway up, and if we're only doing chicken thighs meaning I'm not sequencing them for how long each chicken part takes to cook through (or nearly cook through, because oven), I can do four large thighs with lots of room to spare (wouldn't bother with a fifth though). On other days I can do 500g of egg noodles or yakisoba noodles (yes I know this cooks on a griddle, but who has one larger than the Lodge one at home?) with all their toppings in one go, or about 500g of 2in long sections of pork ribs plus the vegetables and the seasoned oil.
3. Wok vs Dutch oven :
a. Dutch oven has more thermal mass along with the oil, but you still need to crank up the heat just before adding each batch, and then lower it. Woks I find will heat up too quickly so you add each batch first, then crank it up a bit.
b. Which one you get depends on what else you do but I have both. I bake in the bare Dutch oven, I cook acidic stews in the enameled Dutch oven, and obviously I stir fry in the wok. On most days, for deep frying I tend to favor the wok because the wider opening allows for more evaporation. However on some days I may need the wok for something else and I only have the one carbon steel wok, so it's useful to have more than one.
For example: Korean chicken or Chinese spare ribs with a glaze. Dutch oven to deep fry, have the wok ready for the oil or glaze. Or what if I'm already baking something in the oven? No biggie, I can do fries in the wok and deep fry chicken or fish in the Dutch oven. Sure that's a lot of oil but...
4. If most of your cookware is carbon steel and cast iron with some stainless or enameled iron for anything acidic/takes a long time/has a lot of liquid that needs to come out really clear (like stock), then you have more uses for the used oil than just filtering it and frying with it later or slowly cooking other things with it bit by bit: seasoning. Come on, do you always only use flaxseed oil. Add cast iron grates on your grill and there's one thing that needs a fair bit to get baked on it and rubbed on before use considering it's sitting outside.
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If anything, the most confusing bit about deep frying are those dedicated fryers. I can't even fit a pork trotter in there (like... the whole foreleg...including the hooves). And even for people who live alone and only need one chicken thigh and one batch of fries at a time considering it's a unitasker that will just sit there you might as well have a wok, a pot, and pan and either deep fry with two of those or pan fry or sear with the pan and deep fry with the wok.
Heck at least air fryers can sort of sub for an oven for people who live in really tiny flats. I won't buy that either but ya know...at least you can roast a couple chicken thighs in there. Or pork belly, without needing to boil the pork belly first (then again you can confit this and then only need to pan fry).
This is truly an incredible resource. I've always been terrified of frying, as it's always been such a messy, stressful ordeal for me. But you touched on all the points I was doing wrong, and now I feel far more confident! I will absolutely be making those glorious chicken nuggets. Thank you forever, Ethan!
Deep-frying is fine as long as you are interested enough in cooking to do all the work associated with it (e.g. recovering oil), don't have any kids that could knock the pot over, etc. I don't know if it was quite Adam's point, but I would consider deep-frying to be a higher stress cooking technique in the home environment for anyone who isn't a cooking enthusiast, which therefore doesn't encourage home cooking. The best cooking techniques for home are those that give great results with quick prep, fewer and more lenient points of failure, and minimal clean-up.
Yeah, this is his point. He exaggerates it sometimes, but basically yeah
I feel like he shouldn't have said just shallow fry instead when it has all the same problems except the oil recovery. Oh and wayyyy more splattering. Coming from a guy who shallow fries a lot and only deep fries when I have more oil than I know what to do with. And that's what Ethan said too, if you're going to fry stuff, you're going to run into these problems. The solution isn't don't deep fry, it's don't fry your food if you don't want these problems lol
I'd say pretty much Adam's whole case against frying at home, you've just said it more concisely
BruceLeedar This makes me wonder, if he isn’t a cooking enthusiast, why is he doing cooking videos? To convince us to do it lazier?
@@jvallas Adam is making videos for people who want to make decent food at home even if they find cooking a chore. Essentially as lazy as possible, but no lazier.
I like deep frying at home but here are some negatives that I haven't seen in the video (I admit some of them might be by my incompetence)
-I fry with a "mixed" oil (don't know how it's marketed in english) but as I understand it's part soy oil and so cheaper, it doesn't matter how clean it is when you heat it up it smells like grass lol, I like this but there's still an oil smell
-deep frying is FREAKING HOT, I have a small kitchen (Around half of the size of yours I think lol) and a gas burner, even if it's the middle of summer it will be super hot, now I know this is a general in cooking but it's more notable when frying
-I don't have the problem of burnt oil but when making Fritters (Buñuelos) the kitchen stinks to frying for DAYS even after cleaning
Limpia con bicarbonato y limón, déjalo un rato y eso eliminará los olores a grasa
Depending on what you’re cooking, pre used oil is great. 1. You’re not wasting oil and 2. Added flavor from the oil
Apparently it's mostly due to the type of oil used, so doing some research on which oils smell bad and which oils don't might benefit you as far as the last issue listed goes, though I'm not one to deep fry stuff so it's mostly what I've heard.
I like to squeeze some lemon juice in a pan with water, throw the lemon in the water and boil for a while, makes the impregnated smell go alway like 70-80%
Palm oil. In south east asia Use palm oil, palm oil no smell, high smoke point,cheap. all food taste great with palm oil. Sorry about propaganda about palm oil u hear. That only economy southeast Asia have. If u see map, compare palm plantation and your country vage plantation or corn plantation. It all propaganda by western, why use "corn starch" to make food crispy? Use rice flour to great crispy. Sorry donno write english.
Adam: You shouldn't deep fry at home.
Every latin mother in the world: Mijo, take this empanada and be quiet.
Okay, that makes my day. Thank you, and good night.
>his abuela doesn't bake her empanadas
tragic
Nailed it. Frying foods can be a part of someone's culture and upbringing, all of these tips to make it easier are just second nature for me after growing up watching my Mom and Grandma fry foods.
@Oh Wow fucking 12 year old still commenting cringe on everything.
Bruh, don't even bring in abuelas: the guy's Italian side is from Bari, where deep fried calzones and deep fried seafood are some of the most common food around town. His own nonna would be ashamed.
I’m literally dead these folks just wrote a whole essay “politely” dissing each other
Yeah everyone is like “it’s so professional” but I would simply not make a 13 minute TH-cam video which probably took dozens of hours of labor just to nitpick another video, but that’s just me and also he 100% did it for views, so.
A middle finger is much faster then a make up brewsky together ❤
@@mariahtasker or maybe hes passionate about educating people on different cooking techniques and eliminating their fear...
10:00 - This was for me the most important part. As someone coming from a country where deep-frying isn't particulary common I always had the question on what to do with the leftover oil and thus stayed away from deep frying more often than not.
Thank you for picking this up and I wouldn't mind going even morein depth about it.
Reused frying oil is also a carcinogen. Even if it's "clean". Considering how cheap oil is, just chuck it out. It doesn't add any joy to your life to reuse that oil, it's a completely pointless health hazard.
With Ragusea as my personal favourite cooking channel, I never agreed with his attempts to eradicate difficulty from certain meals, this was an excellent counter argument, people should be encouraged to try!
Agreed! Overall I like Adam’s approach, but there are some things I disagree with or feel are over exaggerated and generalized to help make a point. That’s why I like to show how to do it well, and then once someone tries they can decide if it’s for them or not.
I like most of his educational videos but some of his advice is awful.
Like sharpening knives or chopping food up.
I learnt how to cut up food safey with a claw grip and it only took a few days to always have my fingers curled up out of the way of the knife.
I also know how to sharpen knives and it's not a particularly hard skill to get a ok edge on any knife it's just difficult to master.
Not even trying is some of the worst advice for anyone trying to teach people to cook.
generally agree, but the more things I have to do in my life, the more I think about minimizing difficulty along with maximizing tastiness/health/portion size per effort/etc. It's interesting, as someone who has deep fried a lot at home, I thought Adam's video offered a pretty nice perspective that you might not see from a typical cooking show. I think this video was useful, too, but for me, it was kind of strange; it came off as much more of a "takedown" style video than I think it was intended to be
don't forget an entire video dedicated to how it isn't worth his time to learn the claw grip when using a knife because he doesn't need to rush *rolls eyes*
@@suivzmoi Don't phrase this stuff to make it seem like he's an asshole. He thinks that saving him maybe a couple of seconds on each vegetable with a grip that he finds uncomfortable isn't worth it. His goals are to make dinner without getting hurt, and to make dinner taste good, and he thinks that the claw grip is unnecessary to those goals. He also talks about how professional chefs require lots of speed, so the grip might be worth it for them. Only one part of the video was dedicated to why he doesn't use the claw grip, he talks about why people use it and how to help protect against knife injuries. He emphasizes that he is a home cook, not an expert, and he doesn't really find going slower to be a big deal when there's only maybe three things to cut. If you want to phrase it that way then you can say he doesn't think it's worth his time, yeah. But he doesn't need to rush, as you said yourself. So who cares?
I love Adam's channel. His video on deepfrying caught me by surprise because of his reputation for having unconventional pro-tips in the kitchen. I thought it would've been more like him to have a better way to deepfry instead of steering away from it altogether. We deepfry stuff a lot at our house but never tried the wok. We will have to try that next time.
Adam didn't say that it's impossible to deep fry at home. He said that it's not worth the effort and i feel like we can all agree that deep frying is a high effort cooking method when compared to some other techniques more suitable to be used at home.
His whole channel is often about minimizing effort in the kitchen and optimizing the cooking process at home - less dishes, less time and less cleanup and knowing that i don't think that points made by him, altought hyperbolic, are that unreasonable.
I have a high optimization sense and i live in a tiny apartment and his side just hits closer by me :P
if that were true Adam should do his black bean gravy in a pressure cooker unlike the way he does it in a pot, which takes hours.
@@MegaElderscroll not everyone has a pressure cooker...
@@evbunke2 They are cheap to buy. You should try one. Even in India, where there is a lot of poverty, pressure cooking is common. Not only are modern pressure cookers safe, quick but they excel at stews and soup which are economical too.
@@evbunke2 Instant Pot and pressure cooker is cheaper in the long run especially when compared to the utility bill Mr. Ragusea must be paying for simmering something for hours.
Not about to buy a pressure cooker just to make beans...
My mom got me a small fryer for Christmas. Used it to make fried chicken and hot dang it worked like a charm! Easy to use and chicken came out great. Forget the pan, buy a mini fryer, much safer, especially if you have kiddos and it's convenient.
I use an induction cooker with a taller pot with a glass lid.
This is also nice to take outside in the summer.
I keep it in my shop which is cold in the winter.
Just a matter of turning it on and setting a timer, then a short fry time.
This allows me to keep the container closed and out of the way after using.
No mess in the kitchen or wasting expensive oil or the handling and storage of hot oil.
I use Coconut oil, but recently bought Tallow, for use after the Coconut oil is used up.
I quit taking Statin's 5 years ago and only use Saturated fats.
Mostly Avocado, butter and some Olive oil.
Fries from scratch are still a problem because frozen fries are already contaminated with seed oils.
I find sugar easier to avoid than the seed oils. I also avoid low fat foods.
I am 73. 5" 8" and weigh 170lb, and exercise very little, and will probably get more walking in now that it has warmed up.
After watching both videos and then reading the back and forth on this... TH-cam is a scary place. Both videos made excellent points and context for your arguments, (even if one was hyperbole) is important. I too personally disagreed with Adams video as I'm a regular deep fryer myself; so had a bias not to like it. However, I understand that he's a father and having cooked for younger family members, I gotta say my attitude around cooking when those tyrants are involved changes drastically. But anyway, tangents aside, I feel like both videos can exist at the same time. Adam's content feels like it is about how /he/ cooks in his life, but he shares what he makes along the way. I can't be discouraged by his messaging because he isn't cooking for me - I am. Meanwhile, this channel is more about teaching people /what/ to cook. If you made this message I would feel pretty bummed because I would come here looking to be encouraged. (I guess that's why you felt motivated to make this video in the first place, huh?)
tl;dr: both videos can co-exist because both videos are right in their context and messaging.
My parents have been frying (edit: I should say deepfrying, but lazy) since I was a kid... The cleaning oil technique is easily the most important part of this video. As a kid, I didn't even know a house *should* smell for hours or even days after frying up until the day my aunt was in for a visit for a few days and decided that she would help out with the schnitzels and good lord, she just left the burnt bits linger around in the pot (with schnitzels you have to skim what you can between the batches otherwise that burnt bread will stick to the next batch etc.). Kitchen smelled like shite for the rest of her visit.
The oil conserving advice is also great, just strain it so its clean and good oil can probably last a very long time no matter if you fry every day or once every few weeks.
Amen brotha deep frying at home is great especially if you have one of those Asian wok things.
You know a wok is very handy when you wanna do fries in a massive quantity lol
@@nadaso8819 In fact, if i remember correctly they explained this exact avantage in their guide to wok-buying video
Woks are Chinese btw
@@misskwannie And China isn't part of Asia? Yeah, rice is rice.
@@roostertailspice2482 Asia is huge and there’s big differences in not only the countries but provinces/prefectures. Also, rice is not just rice. Rice can be long grain, short grain, jasmine, glutinous etc.
In the Netherlands almost every household has a deepfryer! We love it more than Americans!
u guys need the extra fat for the cold.
Ashmeed Mohammed true, i guess 😂
Bruh
However, it looks like you guys are better at eating fried foods in moderation compared to many Americans.
I have been deep frying at home for years, until I learned it was nearly impossible. God bless you Ethan, I can now fry again!
Have to agree with Adam here, I think for the average home cook, deep frying is definitely inconvenient.
I agree with Adam too. The points he makes are 100% valid. But the way he delivers them and the title and thumbnail of the video scares and discourages people from trying deep frying at home. Sure, it's not convenient, but it's not impossible to manage, as shown in this video. It's a great method of cooking for many foods and people should try it for themselves before they decide.
Lol how though? Just get a random pot put some vegetable oil in and go to town. Once the stuff floats to the top take it out. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to fry food.
@@RossLemon the point isnt how hard it is, it's how the oil is difficult to discard, it takes too much time, you can't cook another part of the meal during, and it's better to leave to professionals. Watch Adams video, he gives literal points.
how is it "inconvenient"? I would fry every day if given the option because it's faster and easier than most other methods, not to mention tastier
Anyone who can afford to deep fry can also afford to buy a heat proof jar to store their oil. It's not extremely convenient but it's not that hard and there's absolutely no need to discourage it.
My favorite thing that you said in this video is that you actually test your recipes at home before you post the video. As a huge fan of America's Test Kitchen and food science in general I found this video relaxing to watch and gave me hope for the future of culinary innovation. Thank you! You just gained another subscriber.
I think Adam’s main point was that deep frying is a pain in the ass and there is absolutely no need for deep frying just to make good food. That’s a point you can’t refute. Most people just want food that tastes good, and they want to achieve it with the simplest means. That’s why Adam blew up.
But then he makes a video doing a lot of thing just to make some pizza in his oven.
some things can't be achieved without deep frying
@@sliferx0 lol yes. As if it isn't more effort to drape pizza dough on an oven rack. Which is a way higher chance of getting burned or just dirtying the shit out of your oven
@@dontakeshit it's just making simple things complex for no reason, i don't use a pizza stone but if i wanted to, i would probably put a baking sheet in the oven and let it get hot and throw the pizza un there. Same as deep frying, talking about how complex it is when the only thing to do is throw some chicken nuggets and wait lol.
I don't deep fry often at all, but one of my favorite things about frying oil....... is that I can still just use that oil for what I ilkely bought it for anyway, which is seasoning my cast iron and carbon steel cookware.
I know this video is a year old but I have to say I love both Adam's and Ethan's videos. Both of these fellas have inspired me to cook way more and taught me a lot. I appreciate these gentlemen and their civil discussion.
This is super informative and hits on a difficult topic for a home cook. With so many good recipes that require deep frying, I'm eager to try the technique out but didn't really know how to go about it until now.
I’m glad to hear it, that’s exactly the type of response I was hoping for!
That portion of fries you made was tiny.
Not sure how he said that was for 2 people... That portion would feed a quarter of an American.
If you're having meal consisting solely French fries sure, fried potatoes aren't exactly a main course unless you're trying to clog your arteries haha
@@secrest1013 Lmao, we Americans love to clog our arteries :DDDD
Yer goddamn right we do, America's true pastime
@@MiguelAviles175 yep
Quarantine, has people debating to deep fry or not to deep fry. How 'bout, we all do what works for us; personally?
U damn right, this was a great video tho
I think both of them agree that people should think about the pros and cons and decide for themselves whether it's worth it. But for Adam, it isn't. He was just explaining why. Ethan told people to at least try it and gave them good advice as to how to avoid some of the things that usually steers people away from deep frying at home.
Overall this video was very educational and was a lot more optimistic than Adam's, but Adam made some excellent points as to why deep frying is a bit much for him and other home cooks
@@collier1621 I think Adam just wanted something controversial to make a video about. I guarantee he deep fries a hell of a lot more than you think. But that wouldn't have made as good of content 😂
I grew up in a family who were all very confident in the kitchen and deep fried at least once a month so i’ve never been intimidated by frying just carful taking safety precautions. if you get good at it it can go incredibly smooth and quick. honestly ive come home after a 12 hour stressful work day and cut my self some french fry’s for comfort food. it can 100% become an easy kitchen skill.
I just want to say that Ethan’s video inspired me to fry something indoors, at home, and with a wok! Result? My house still smelled like oil afterwards, and yes, it was clean grease, no burnt debris, and no splash or mess left lingering. Back to outdoor frying if at all.
Do you remember what oil you used? Peanut oil is said to smell a lot less than other kinds of oils.
@@paulg3686 I used canola I think.
Maybe just open the windows?
@@vanc.miscaccount2748 i would highly recommend trying sunflower oil or peanut oil for deep frying if you are concerned about the smell - i personally never use canola oil or vegetable oil for deep frying as i also find them to smell strong
had the same experience tbh
Looking at this entire discussion feels weird as a Belgian, with how domestic deepfryers are so widespread and easy to use, it's hard to imagine it being complicated for people now.
They have a temperature gauge, the oil/grease has its max temp listed on the container/package, etc.
Maybe it's just that frying is very prevalent in our culture.
It baffles me that these people just don't buy a deep fryer and put it in their garage or something. Here in the netherlands you could get a decent one for 50 euros max. It would negate almost all the problems Adam Ragusea has.
@@meeske999 Not everyone deep fries enough to justify an investment in a one-use appliance that just takes up space 99% of the time
Well, I put oil in a kadhai and that's my deep fry set up. No thermometer either.
@@ryanlam5237 This, unless you plan to deep fry on a regular basis, it's a waste of space. For the regular home cook that deep frys 4 times a year, this ain't it.
You’re really good at english! I know some americans who can’t talk half this good! :D
I usually love watching for his more against-the-grain takes, because they usually simplify and make cooking a bit more accessible. But you totally beat him at his own game here, you made deep frying seem super accessible! By the way, your videos have gotten really refined recently. Seeing you improve makes me want to try some of my own creative pursuits, so thanks :)
I really appreciate it! Definitely start creating stuff, one of the best decisions I’ve made!
I think Adam is a response to the popular youtube cooking channels that are a little overly elaborate or expensive. I love Binging with Babish and others but there is definitely a market for people who want to cook stuff without making a trip to bed bath and beyond on top of the grocery store.
And I’m saying this as someone who owns and regularly uses a sous vide machine, so I like all these guys.
I think some of his worries are from needing to cook for more then one person and wanting to have all the food ready to eat together with his family
Late to the video but I am surprised people are overlooking this factor. The probably with having to cook multiple batches and safety concerns make a lot more sense when you consider that Adam has kids. Ethan in the video says how a batch can feed one or two people which is fine if cooking for yourself but if you have kids you need all of the food ready at the same time.
And having a big pot of boiling oil is a bigger concern if you have a small child that could pull in onto themselves.
@@MC-yt1uv This a very good point!
As someone who grew up in a southern household it blows my mind that this is even a debate 😲
@Ashvin Vaidyanathan Thats not even funny my guy
@Ashvin Vaidyanathan bruh moment... i-
@Ashvin Vaidyanathan I thought this was funny
yeah, I was deep frying by myself from like 13 y.o. I dont understand where is problem
@@thecevi9179 yeah i was frying snce i was 8
Deep frying:
1) Time consuming (mostly the cleanup afterwards)
2) Dangerous (worst kitchen accidents I know in family were from hot oil)
3) Unhealthy (you eat fried stuff out, do yourself a favor with a healthier alternative)
4) I find it gross to keep that jar full of preheated oil
5) You can get that friend food for cheap from a takeaway
I would rather do the oven crispy fries 1000 times comparing to deep frying them. Saving time, calories, money and avoid oil wastage.
BTW wiping the kitchen with a wet sponge wont clean the oil. You need to get some soap there and cover all the surface the droplets spread to keep your kitchen properly clean.
What keeps me away from this is if I deep fried things at home I'd weigh 675 lbs.
You can deep fry at home, but don’t be that guy that just threw their fries in a small pot of popping oil causing a huge fire on their stove.
lol
Adam Ragusea and Ethan Chlebowski are two of the most informative and insightful cooking channels on the internet, and both of their infinite respects towards Kenji just kinda show that they’re both doing what they love in the way they love it. They have two very different philosophies of cooking, one as a father and journalist and the other as an auteur and artisan, and their dialogue has been so incredibly insightful to watch and listen. Both of them deserve their sub counts and more and both are so entertaining to watch. I’m glad both of them are here and on the platform and it was genuinely quite incredible to read both their responses. They’re great.
Yeah the thing I like about all three of them is that they are smart and experienced enough to not get precious about things that aren't that important. I have heard each one of them say "If you don't have (such and such) then use what you have". The techniques are the focus.
Adam is informative and insightful? 💀
I couldn't agree more.
As a home cook learning to cook in the lockdown, I wanted to share a few things here. While frying is a really great cooking technique, it is also deceptively complicated. I've messed up so many times with burnt bits of food ruining batches, oil temperature heating up greatly between batches when my attention was diverted, wasted oil because the burnt bits didn't leave it smelling good - and severe burns as well. I'll admit, I could've avoided most of this stuff (especially the burns) with better technique, but all I'm saying is, frying is really more complicated than just dunking food in hot oil.
That said, I'm going to wrap up my burnt thumb and keep trying till I perfect it. Will buy a proper heat résistant strainer and thermometer as well. Thanks for the video Ethan and Adam - you guys are more helpful than you realize.
Adam is right in that deep frying often just isnt a great idea for health or work. If you're keeping oil around, it's a pain in the butt unless you're into that stuff. It's not like it's impossible, but it is a lot harder than his ideas for crispy potatoes imo.
I suppose a lot of people don’t like the smell of fried foods?... when I get home from work and I smell the house is filled with the scent of fries from my dad heating up some fresh fries for my dinner, I feel so cozy. My dad is amazing for doing that shit btw. But he has an actual deep fryer pot that has a temp dial attached to it. It’s no McDonald’s fryer, but it’s a badass fryer for sure. If you like frying shit, invest in that. And make sure to reuse the oil, it enhances richness and flavor.
Hello. Yes many people dont like the smell of fried food. I personally hate it. My Mother makes some doughnut type fried pasrty once a year and thats the only time we deep fry at home.
I like the smell of fried food in my kitchen, but I don't like the smell of fried food on my clothes, on my sofa in the whole house, because frying food can make everything smell.
I hate it, it stinks up your clothes and your hair and permeates everything. I guess the difference is that we almost never had any fried food done in my house, so I never got to associate that smell with something pleasant.
Why dont any of these guys have a Frypapy? Like seriously, i make a lot of fried food at home and i use a dedicated appliance for it. It costs like $60 and makes everything 100x easier than anything they have said
What is that? Don't think google returns the correct result in my country
I have one tip for beginners: if you can, do your first steps with deep frying outside. every possible beginners' error is less severe there. I did my first deep frying steps while doing 80 "Kirtanudeln" for a family party, and I did it in a non-inflammable empty garage built from concrete. And I'm glad I did, less stress, and frying is fun!
Second tip: have a fitting pan lid and/or a fire blanket at hand. Just in case - it's like an umbrella: if you have one, you'll probably not need it.
Girl not everyone has a rich family. Cool that your family bought you a house (and paid someone to build a garage just so you could deep fry damn) immediately after you moved out - 90% of people do not have that experience.
Great video. This is taking cooking to a whole new level. People may get upset about disagreements between their favorite channels, but in any serious field, criticism and disagreement of this caliber are key to making progress both as individuals and a community. Everyone benefits.
Here in the Netherlands almost everyone just have an electrical frying pan. It's has a container of at least 3 liters worth of oil while still having enough headroom for spattering, oil displacement or the formation of foam (very rare, change oil regularly to avoid). It has a metal wired basket to put your food in and lower it into the oil. Underneath the basket is the heating element which has a thermostat (the thermostat is crucial for keeping temperature consistent). Underneath the heating element there is the "cold zone". The cold zone traps a bit of oil with tiny food bits in it so it doesn't get burned or ruin your oil after just one usage.
I really don't understand why these things are almost never shown in American/Canadian cooking videos.
This sounds cool. I want to get one of these
@@omaralleyne8987 man they're amazing. If you just want some fries or some fried snack you plug it in, set your temperature and within 5 to 10 minutes you're ready to go. Good ventilation _is_ recommended though, but that's always the case with frying food.
We actually have a whole fried snack culture going on here! Fries, bitterballs, kaassoufflés (packages of cheese folded into puff pastry with a breaded exterior), croquettes, frikandellen (spiced meatball sticks) and many more, which are just available in the freezer of every supermarket.
We also have snackbars (small fast-food restaurants) where you can buy all this stuff and they make it for you. Like a burger king or mcdonalds but at a way smaller scale. You'd like it here!
Just get an electric deep fryer. Those things come with a thermostat and a lid. So after frying you let it cool down, close the lid and store it in a cupboard. No need to pour the oil in container and clean the fryer. Also use oil made especially made for frying, those tend to smell much less.
The really great thing about this video is probably the fact that I don’t entirely agree with every argument you made, and that’s probably true for a lot of other people. The fact that this video now exists alongside Adam’s video would be great for helping people truly assess whether deep frying is a good idea for them or not
You can re-use the oil for other uses. You don't have to use it for deep frying again. When I deep fried chicken, I strained the oil, transferred it into an old Sriracha bottle and I use that as general cooking oil. So even if you only deep fry at home once in your life, doesn't mean the oil will be wasted.
For stir frying go for thin lightweight Aluminium woks. Easy to toss the ingredients while frying.
For deep frying go for thick iron ones.
The thicker the better.
Personally for deep frying I like a thick stainless steel wok that's cylindrical (like a Dutch oven) that's small . That way I have to use less oil to get a good height of oil.
What I've learnt in the last 1 year is that if you use a high height of oil ( the stuff you're frying should float instead of settling at the bottom) the food is crispier. It feels less oily and doesn't make you feel sick if you eat a lot unlike less oil frying. When food settles at the bottom it soaks up more oil. Also flattens the food at the base that's in contact.
Also if you're using a large quantity of oil while deep frying, you shouldn't touch the food while frying. No need to turn over.
Also always follow Ethan's way of storing oil. I simply strained it using a strainer , not a kitchen towel. It's the bits that ruin the oil and the towel prevents that.
For me, fries started in cold oil was the gateway to frying. It's just so darn easy.
Yea me too. Start cold end hot af
@@noobplayer_23 I didn't believe that it would work at first, but it works so well. Great results with so little effort.
To clarify, do you mean putting the fries in the oil and then turning on the stove/heat and letting the oil rise with the fries already in it? What benefit does it hold over heating the oil and then putting in the fries? Genuinely curious as I’m learning more about cooking and techniques.
@@BillPhilliams Hi there. You see, when you heat up oil to a specific temperature that you want, 325° Fahrenheit, or 160° Celcius, and you add food in, the oil temperature tends to dip quite a bit, as you know, things gain/lose heat from it's surroundings, and therefore, when the fries gain heat (to be fried, ofc) and the oil temperature dips, the food tends to take longer to cook, and might turn soggy. Turns a big no-no. Starting from cold pan to hot pan allows the temperature of the oil and food to be almost the same at all times, ensuring that no temperature fluctuations will happen, and food won't turn soggy. Hope this helps!
Bought a cheap 25$ deep frier using it outside when frying, changing oil once a month or when needed
Disagree completely. I suggest anyone watching to give deep frying a try. It’s always way more work than TH-camrs make it seem.
Lmaooo you already know. Its like sitting in the audience of your favorite show. Its like.... WTF 😱😭😭. The magic is gone.
I tend to be sensitive to smells. I find an air purifier works great. So if it doesn't smell to you, that's great. If it does use an air purifier.
For safety I make sure to have a large lid nearby. That will cover what you are frying in. (Someone already mentioned.) Plus I have 2 b, c, kitchen extinguishers. B is rated for grease fires. C is rated for electrical fires. Generally a kitchen extinguisher costs around $20. I love the Levoit Vital 100. It's around $100.
Tasty fact: potatoes aren't the only veggies you can fry. If you for example have leftover broccoli stems you can chop those in large chunks, dunk them in some batter and fry them up like nuggets.
Due to the leftover-y nature of fried broccoli stems, I usually fry at very small batches to make a little side dish (or netflix snacks) so I've been doing fine with a small-ish pot so far, but after watching this video I'm tempted to invest in a new wok for deep frying. The wok I already have is a cheap IKEA thing with non-stick surface, not sure if the non-stick will interfere with the deep frying or come off if I have to clean it too aggressively, but it certainly would make it harder to see when I have to clean out the oil.
Hi, Ethan! You did a good job of respectfully rebutting Adam's arguments. He was coming from a different place at the time, before his kitchen remodel and while he was still teaching, so his air flow patterns in the kitchen were probably more stagnant and he didn't have good ventilation. It will be curious to see if and how he responds, but his favorite phrase is, "Hey, you do you." You demonstrated good techniques for dealing with the issues he raised.
BTW, Kenji was born James Kenji Alt, and when he married their names became Lopez-Alt. Also, the way you do your two-fingered Peace means "F U", the equivalent of a single middle digit.
Agreed. I doubt he will see it, but I would love to hear his thoughts on it if he does.
I’m really glad you decided to chime in on this subject. I’ve got lots of respect for Adam and really enjoy and benefit from his videos. Even though I already deep fry occasionally, and didn’t really agree with his opinions, his video kind of got in my head and made me wonder if I was a chump for making the effort. It tainted my experience. I really appreciate you showing how easy, efficient, and comfortable a process it can be if one is willing to practice it.
Wow, super detailed. Keep up the great content! You deserve 1 million subs
Much appreciated!
I came here because of the Air Fryer Video where you said you discussed Deep Frying and YES I did feel discouraged by Adam's video, what a coincidence. I own neither an air fryer nor a convection oven and I'd like the option to have crispy home cooked food yet an hour of old-fashioned oven baking does not give the same results. Thanks for this video. It gives lots of tips, concerns, counters, and suggestions that no one has mentioned to be before. Much appreciated.
Deep frying food is one of my favorite things to do when friends come over, and we have some drinks. Wheather its fried pickles, chicken, french fries, ect. It is always a huge crowd pleaser. However, I would not recomend working with hot oil inebriated without be extremely familiar with it XD
I mean, you still haven't convinced me that deep frying is worth the trouble.
And that's fine. He did say it's up to you to decide but don't let your decision be based entirely off Adam's videos :)
Well, when you get better at it and have the better tools to make you more frying efficient, the tastes of deep fried food becomes worth it. You will now finally get to dabble in deep fry recipes and all of its varieties.
I think deep frying is no different than cooking for your first time, or grilling or smoking meats. Is any if that simple and easy or time efficient? Not really, they all have their own learning curve and difficulty but we learn to enjoy it anyways. If you enjoy cooking you enjoy cooking. Many of us cooks hate baking! Haha I need to take what I said here and get my hands wet in baking... hey I already got a bread recipe I want to make. I'm excited.
Deep fry, enjoying exploring new recipes and techniques, and just enjoy cooking.
I love Adam's perspective as a "regular" home cook and I think that's where the confusion comes in. I have been cooking for years and I have deep fried more than I would be proud of. I don't know how you made that oil look that clean... but cook some battered fires, mozzarella sticks, chicken wings, etc... and that oil is toast. I have tried to filter and screen it and it's nasty smelling stuff. Commercial fryers are what make commercially fried food palatable.
Spitting cooking truth! Don’t be scared to fry my peeps, it ain’t all that hard to do!
Whether to deep fry at home is more than just frying technique.
Ethan, my kids are about your age. When they were little and I was a stay at home mom, the only adult at home, I would never have dreamed of deep frying anything. My kids got most of my attention; I could not give a pot of hot oil the focus it needed. [In fact, my worst ever knife cut was when I was dissecting a roast and was interrupted. I probably should have gotten stitches, but there was nobody home to help me. 20 years later, and the scar has faded completely.]
However, once the kids were old enough to understand, I did some deep frying ... and later supervised my teen daughter's experiments in fish and chips. We never ate enough fried food to make deep frying a regular thing, but were not afraid to use the method.
We just bought a home fryer. It is temperature regulated, has a lid and a oil/air filter. And it did cost only about 80 Euro. A lot easier than a pan. You can also do larger batches of fries.
It also makes them much better due to more quantity of oil.
It's shocking that I've been deep frying since I was 15 without a thermometer, deep frying isn't that hard 🤷♀️
Same
Haha it’s not absolutely necessary to use a thermometer, but it takes a lot of the guess work out of frying ✊
@@EthanChlebowski guessing is my game 😆 after a while you just know okay the oil is getting too hot and whatever. I also cover it when I initially put the chicken in if I don't have enough oil, the meat gets really tender 👍
He has kids, I side with Adam but fry weekly myself as I set up an easy home system.
8:34 I just deep fryed at home and while I deep fryer out side I did use one of those mash things you use to get rid of water while not losing the Spaghetti and I use the to get rid of that stuff that was still floating in the oil and my kitchen still doesn't smell thanks for the tips they work really well 👍
Thank you Ethan for defending the holy cooking method known as deep frying. I was born and raised in the Southeastern US and we’ve been deep frying for generations. If deep frying meant living with the supposed consequences as Adam pointed out then we’d simply live with it because deep fried food is that good.
I think some people are maybe missing that this just comes down to a difference in philosophies and a difference in what kind of food each of them wants to cook. Yes, if you want to make vodka-battered chicken nuggets at home then there are lots of ways to do that, and Adam's video did not demonstrate the easiest way, so Ethan's response is definitely useful to show that it can be safer and easier. But to the comments talking about buying a home deep fryer, filtering and storing oil for future use, watching your children like a hawk while oil is bubbling, etc... that's all a huge waste of time and effort if all you want is French fries. Just go to McDonald's: it's often open 24 hours, the fries are like a dollar, they've been engineered to be at least very good, you can have them within 10 minutes, and you don't have to make them yourself. If you LIKE making them yourself, or you want to make something you can't easily buy a better version of, or taste is your TOP priority, then Ethan's method is the way to go and he has a lot of good info here. That's what Ethan is great at: creating exactly the recipe he wants to eat, and then making it as accessible as possible to do yourself. But Adam's whole thing is that you can be a skilled home cook and eat delicious food without obsessing over the little things that pros care about, like superfast knife skills and measuring ingredients to a tenth of a gram and only using cast-iron pans cleaned through electrolysis or whatever. His goal is to get delicious food on the table with as little fuss as possible, and the only techniques and gadgets he supports are things that have a noticeable impact on flavor relative to the amount of effort they take. In that context (which is also where I come from), even with Ethan's corrections, deep frying is absolutely not worth the trouble for me, period, and I think that was Adam's main point: technically you can deep fry at home, but there's no shame in leaving that to the pros and just keeping your home cooking to things that you can do more easily than them. But I think both perspectives are valuable to have!
MOM DAD STOP YOU’RE RUINING MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!
I wouldn't say that home deep frying is "a great idea", so much as it is "a delicious idea".
Fried food isn't very healthy, even with good oil it's not really healthy, just healthier than you'll usually get when you go out and get it from most restaurants.
Being less unhealthy than something else does not by default mean healthy.
Fried food is bad for you, full stop.
However, it is delicious, easy, and not nearly as much of a pain to deal with if you're doing it right.
I do recommend it, but in moderation.
If I recall, Adam said that he doesn't recommend it because it is inherently dangerous (only if you're being dumb) and it's messy.
Which I agree with, although it doesn't stop me
Adam argues that it's dangerous for his kids, having curious children and a pot of hot oil don't go together that well. Chances are that it wouldn't happen, but I suppose his mindset is "better safe than sorry"
@@meesehead3202 well that argument is kinda dumb if you think about it since the kitchen in general is full of safety hazards(stove, oven,sharp utensils, gas). if his children are not old enough to know that touching hot oil is not okey, then maybe he shouldn't let them in the kitchen in the first place.
I grew up in a house where deep frying was an every day thing. We had an electric fryer which was pretty convenient since it maintains the correct temp automatically, has a basket and doesn't take up hob space. These days I fry in a wok. One thing I'd add to the list of advantages you presented is that the sloped sides give room for the steam bubbles to expand outwards rather than upwards, so there's less headroom required and less risk of boil over. Sometimes I need to cook a large batch and I can let the oil get a lot closer to the rim than I'd consider safe with other pans.
Tonight I entered the home fry oil and did your spin on the Chick Fil-A sandwich complete with the MSG, home made sauce, and brioche buns.
My fiancee and I thought it just rocked!!!
Thanks.
I will not be afraid of this method ever again!
man, you guys are writing an entire manifesto
i think these are the longest comments i've ever seen on youtube
props to anyone who actually read them
It really depends on your kitchen and equipment. Not everyone is going to have an easy time deep frying, including myself, the way Ethan pointed out, at the same time i know tons of people who deep fry at home and dont have any of the problems Adam pointed out. So there is never one answer to this question.
You can literally just use a pot and some cooking oil. That's it.
Any steel wok will do or is there a specific one?
As long as it doesn't have that nonstick coating, it's fine. For some reason some woks, not many, come with nonstick coating
@@OldManJenkins69 If I had to guess woks made by western manufacturers.
Nah woks don't need to be stainless steel, us Asians use like aluminium ones and they last long.
yo no got fans recognized u yet, so here I am. hello
@@audiarif6534 goddamn. Never would have suspected aluminum to be a good material for cooking.
Moral of the story: take the combined list of pros, the combined list of cons, filter out the ones that don't bother you or don't apply, and judge from there. Deep frying will be great for some people and awful for others, and that's just how it's gonna be.
Another thing to add to the safety part, is to make sure you have a fire extinguisher in your kitchen just in case, making sure its designed for grease fires. Better safe than sorry