Newest Replicator Video

[Ken_Griffiths]

I noticed a few things with the process being videoed, I think the time taken to cap the pot seems a long time. I think one minute is plenty and it seems a lot longer than that.

The video starts with the chicken already in the oil and is already a little 'cornflake' coloured in the opening shot, so it's difficult to calculate the real time.

I would like to have seen the drop temperature and the fact it's good to stir the oil during the warm up procedure to spread the temperature evenly throughout.

The metal tongs used to remove the cooked chicken from the pot, clearly 'rip' some of the breading away from the chicken. It would be better to get underneath the chicken with a potato masher or a slotted spoon etc. and to lift out the pieces faster, but carefully.

...and finally, I think the pressure needs to be taken down much faster (as quick as possible) at the end of the cooking and the chicken removed from the oil as quickly as practicable. Because it's being done one handed, whilst holding the camcorder, things are unfortunately a little slow and therefore the oil is absorbing back into the chicken at a fast rate and making it look a little greasy. That chicken needs to be taken out the 'rapidly cooling oil' asap.

These are only small things that I'm commenting on, but they can all make the difference between 'good chicken' and 'great chicken'. I don't think I could have done any better one-handed though, whilst holding the camcorder.

'Get the wife, or somebody else's wife (ha ha) to hold the camcorder'... would have been my YouTube comment, but I have forgotten my YouTube login details.

[ThePieMan]

May 15, 2017 13:02:00 GMT Ken_Griffiths said:

'Get the wife, or somebody else's wife (ha ha) to hold the camcorder'... 

ha ha ha. I just learned from a video titled, "Monogagmish," that that would be termed, "Partner Poaching..."  


re: feedback:–

• I filmed it. 
• I used an iPhone 6+
• The pre-cap cooking time was 2 minuted. The tongs were brutal on the breading. I now have a spider.
  
• It was the second batch of chook cooked.
• I would normally cool under a water stream, but it is not much quicker than what you just saw, and given the nature of this lid, there is added risk of water dropping from the lid into the hot fat on opening.
• Cool it faster? The only way to do that would be to rip the weight off completely at first go. Until I see a video of someone doing that safely, with oil, and it not spurt out through the steam vent, I'm happy with my current, cautious, process. 
• I may like things interesting in my life, but there's, interesting, and Interesting!
• To make the venting more uniform, recently I used some Fish Tongs to prop up the weight, this worked well. I'll post the new video (made last week) when I've finished editing it.
  
  I have a new deep fat fryer/candy thermometer which sits well in this pot, so I'll be able to do drop temps at a later stage.
  
  My previous thermometer was made of glass and has split in the column. I tried to reset it with the deep freezer, but it wasn't cold enough to do the job, and I don't have any dry ice or Liquid Nitrogen to do a proper job, but I keep it still in hope, and for sentimental reasons. I've had it a long, long time.

[mpmn04]

TPM, you can try the heat method. If you wave the thermometer over a heat source and focus on the upward movement at the top of the casing,being very careful not to build up pressure so it doesn't burst, it will meld the fluid together as 1 again. I have done it numerous times, and I've burst a few too. Liquid type thermometers should not be laid flat.

Mike

[Ken_Griffiths]

TPM,

I wasn't suggesting water to get the pressure down, but in the video there was a bit of start-stop approach to lifting the jiggler, which I think was maybe for video effect and production purposes. I have an almost identical fryer, albeit with no custom installed pressure gauge ... shove a fork under the jiggler (prongs facing up) and its own handle weight will lift the jiggler and keep it there till the steam has gone... leaving your hands free (when not filming) ready to remove the lid.

Then it's lid off and out with the chicken. Even the Colonel never waited and I'm sure you've seen him on YouTube fighting to get the lid off his Fryer, even before all the pressure was out of it. But everyone should remember it's 'always safety first'.

Great quality video for a phone ... I am impressed.

On the thermometer front I bought a laser pointer thermometer off eBay .. it's brilliant and it was not very expensive either... and it is very accurate for frying purposes.

Point the laser at the oil and press the trigger to get the reading... I stir my oil as it warms up to make sure the heat is even throughout. I used to use stick thermometers but now I don't bother and I stick to my 'known, laser reading .. 315°F and in goes my chicken.

Here is an example of the cheap type of thermometer I purchased... I've had it for about three years or more. I'm still using its original batteries:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Handheld-Non-Contact-IR-Laser-Infrared-Digital-Temperature-Gun-Thermometer-/351901852905?hash=item51eefc24e9:g:BLIAAOSwHMJYJBtI

Ken

[ThePieMan]

I hears ya, Ken. I also have a laser thermometer, cost me €14+ at Penny Markt, on sale. My candy thermometer has a stainless steel body that keeps the glass bulb off the bottom of the pan and clips on the side of the cooker to stay nice and neatly out of the way. Which translates to hands free temperature monitoring. The old one was a double glass walled type with sliding clip and a metal tip on the bottom. The split in the column is too wide apart for the heat method, and I'd have to take it way over 200°C just to get even close.

I remember seeing the Colonel with his cavalier treatment of steam release. I have had frequent situations with water based contents venting if the pressure is released to rapidly, and I don't wish to try that with oil, especially with the high risk of flaming should the hot oil spill on the hot ceran cooktop.

[Ken_Griffiths]

Yes safety is always the overriding factor and it's true that 'familiarity does breed contempt'. I can't stress enough, that people should only do the things that they're comfortable with.

My wife, who cooks for a living, hates the idea of pressure frying with oil. The first time we did it, many years ago, we both stood well away from the stove with damp towels at the ready and we had all sorts of contingency plans in case the pot went 'fizz-BANG..!!'.

It's something people have to get used to initially (the wife, I mean .. ha ha) and.. the fear-factor of frying under pressure, but the fear soon goes. I still never take anything for granted and I keep all my fryers clean and well maintained. The gasket, valves and all the safety mechanisms are checked each time they are cleaned, but I still ask my wife and family to stay well away from the pot, particularly when I'm removing the lid and taking the chicken out.

I have cooked with three fryers (2 large(ish) & 1 wear-ever bucket) all on the go at the same time (just the once) and that's made me truly appreciate what stresses the Colonel must have gone through in his restaurant kitchen .. I can understand him cursing and swearing with the amount of fryers he must have used on some of his busiest days... my stress was the lack of work surface and space at my daughters house and people wanting to watch and stood in the way... never again!

I'm also careful when I wash the pots to not damage the edges in the sink, or on the drainjng board, so that there are fewer chances of any unwanted escape of hot steam or fluid due to damage. Those unwanted occasional 'steam escapes' allegedly only happen when your arm is nearby, so some people have said to me in the past and they have the burn marks to prove it... it's not happened to me, so far... fingers-x'd.

My wife has one or two burn and scald marks on her arms, just from her industrial ovens and stoves at work, so I try to explain these fryers are just as safe, if not safer, with their various 'triple' (or more) safety mechanisms.

When cooking with a fryer however it's certainly a time to act responsibly and not something that should really be done when heavily under the influence of drink etc. I don't drink alcohol very much anyway, in fact I haven't had a drink at all this year, that's not counting any alcohol in food, as my wife usually adds a tiny bit to her recipes.

One thing though, I still think pressure frying is far safer than a garden barbecue, I know one or two people who have been burnt by those things.

[ThePieMan]

Funny you should mention bbq, I love a fire – nothing better than staring into the well heated coals of a large conflagration. Pressure frying doesn't have the same feel of comfort. With that, I'm very cautious.

Even with the pressure guage, and knowing that my safety valves go off at 17-18psi, I'm STILL nervous about fat release under higher pressure. The gauge should give me confidence and comfort, but it doesn't. Funny how the mind works.

My pressure cooker has:

• a curved lid lip so that if steam escaped it would be directed downwards towards the cooktop
• silicon seal that withstands high temperatures
• the lid where the seal is seated, is perforated, for additional high pressure venting
• A spring loaded pressure release safety valve that releases at 17-18 psi
• a stepped weight that can be canted to the side to release pressure
• all stainless steel construction making it essentially explosion proof

Everything about this pot would suggest safe to use, but I'm still nervous in the service.

[ThePieMan]

Temp Drop today was 20°C down, from 175°C

[Ken_Griffiths]

155°C in 'real money' is 311°F... same as me, near enough.

I use a drop temp of 315°C. Cook for 1 minute, cap, cook for a further 8 minutes... & done.

With an adjustment of the heat from high to med. after the jigger starts to do its dance.

Gosh .. I'm starting to sound a bit 'hip' and 'with it' in my old age.

[Ken_Griffiths]

I don't use egg yolk anymore, just egg-white and (skim) skimmed milk .. the stuff that has the fat removed and tastes of nothing !

I find that dip gives me a nicer golden colour to the cooked chicken, like it used to look in the old days and not the dark brown, almost muddy, colour the chicken sometimes looks like these days at one or two KFC outlets. It was never that colour, as far as I can remember... was it?

[ThePieMan]

Was looking for a place to pop this video and after reading through this thread again and the direction of the discussion, I thought as good a place as any...

The Colonel talking about his cooking process...
"Colonel Sanders Original Recipe Of Kentucky Fried Chicken" (in case you want to youtube search it...)


Its also in my playlist of interesting KFC related videos (That list seems to document from time to time disappearing videos as well)
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdvoeLAELm1xs_1_JUGsLGm7K79OflZEA