Pressure Frying Guides

[btb]

Many members here have rightfully expressed frustration about the lack of information on the internet on the more specific "how to" aspects of pressure frying chicken at home.  One member expressed that he "would really appreciate a 'guide' on how to 'relatively' safely pressure fry in a pressure cooker at home."  Great thought in one respect.  Easier said than done on another.

A noble goal, but getting a meeting of the minds as to what constitutes such a guide can be challenging.  I would like to at least suggest a start to accomplishing such herein and ask others to freely contribute to such an effort.  I would think it best to simplify the effort somewhat by parceling out or dividing the pressure frying process into its various parts at first, and getting various thoughts and comments from all interested parties on this website and elsewhere.

And I suggest beginning -- just beginning -- by giving advice, thoughts and comments on just the very start of the pressure frying procedure, i.e. the chicken pieces are breaded and ready to be dropped into the oil . . . from dropping to covering the lid.  Home equipment will vary and we may need to talk about the nuances of some along the way, but for the time being, let's try to reasonably cover this first step.

[btb]

Continuing with some thoughts on pressure frying . . .

The frying pot is ready:  Most agree that it is not reasonably possible to use the lard or Crisco-like fat that the Colonel used in the early days, so we most likely will use a type of oil, of which there are many kinds.  Olive oil is out of consideration, we all know that.  My preference is for peanut or vegetable oil, but others may prefer sunflower, corn oil or combination of other kinds. There are some other kinds out there, too, but such are not readily available to most of us. Thoughts?  (Later it would be nice for many to talk about storing & use of the oil thereafter)

Level of oil in the pot: Such is very important as one doesn't want to deal with an overflow of hot, burning oil flowing over the stove top after dropping in all the chicken pieces.  As a GENERAL rule, one should IMO not fill higher than 1/4th to 1/3rd of the way up the interior of the pot.  And even after that, with no more than 1/2 of the oil up the side with the chicken added in the pot.  But many or most pressure fryers will have a FILL MARK clearly indicated inside the frying pot, so one should adhere to filling no higher than that mark.

Heat source:  Most of us will rely on a stove top source that will either have an electric or gas burner.  Use of and regulating such can be a real, real challenge, however, (as well as a hit and miss) with such heat sources.  Errors in use of these heat sources are frequently the reason for over or under cooking of the chicken in the fryer.  The use of the Induction Heater as used in Roberts YouTube video available elsewhere is worthy of much consideration and interest.  (Am considering putting it on my list for Santa or Father Christmas.)  What are others' experience?

[btb]

Temperature of oil before dropping chicken:  This is a subject of many different thoughts that I have seen. I think Sanders recommended from 375 F to 400 F.  I followed that for many years, but have come to conclude that that is very excessive.  I don't think they do that today. So I had then found 350 to 360 F to be better.  Most recent experience has persuaded me that around 325 to 330 F is best (as the Kuramo mfgr and others seem to recommend).  As I expressed elsewhere on another site, one of the greatest fried chicken restaurants that I ever came across cooks their fried chicken at only 280 F.  I haven't tried frying at that temp yet, however.  What have others experience been?

Temperature or heat adjustment of chicken after cover has been put on (to be covered in subsequent posting)

Timing (before covering) after all chicken pieces have been dropped in: Herein is another great diversion of thoughts and opinions.  Sanders original representations were to fry dropped in chicken from 1 to 2 minutes before covering their modified pressure cookers.  The original Chicken Bucket instructions recommended similarly.  Many opinions support doing such for about 2 minutes while others cover and seal the pressure fryer immediately upon all the chicken being dropped in.  What have others experience been?

In the last few days I searched the internet that supposedly showed KfC chicken cooking process and I saw NONE of which didn't immediately put the breaded chicken down into the oil and close the lid without letting the chicken fry for any length of time uncovered. None showed any time for the so-called need to brown the chicken.  BUT admittedly, what I viewed was with the newer, super sophisticated round or square, multi-level pressure frying machines.  Others experience?

So the next step if there is any interest or if others think that there should be other things covered in this first step review, will cover things to consider after that pressure fryer COVER is put on and the chicken pieces proceed to cook . . . .

[Ken_Griffiths]

This is my own personal ‘generic’ Pressure Frying Cooking Process:

Step 1
Heat your chosen oil/fat in pressure fryer to 375-400°F (I use 200°C/390°F) using high temperature (heat/flame) setting. Stir oil/fat during heating process to get correct temperature throughout.
Step 2
No more than 5 minutes before frying, dip the chicken portions into approx.1/2 pint skimmed (non-fat) milk and egg white, thoroughly whisked, (room temp. 35-40°F) drain each portion and then roll and coat in the seasoned flour. The breading needs to be pressed onto the chicken carefully to form an even talcum powder-like thin, but extremely thorough, coat. It should not be a thick ‘cloggy’ mess.
Step 3
Immerse breaded chicken portions (no more than 4oz each in weight) in the oil/fat distributing them around the pot, so they do not touch each other. Start a 9 minute countdown timer. Move the chicken about with long-handled spoon/fork etc. Do not over fill the pot with chicken. I recommend the following...

4 litre/quart fryer - 4 (or 5) chicken portions per batch

6 litre/quart fryer - 6 (or 7) chicken portions per batch

8 litre/quart fryer - 8 (or 9) chicken portions per batch

etc...

Step 4
At 7min 30secs remaining, cap the pot tightly, ensuring no leaks at the main seal. Leave heat on high setting until jiggler begins to dance (This usually takes around 1 minute from capping the pot - give or take a little). Then reduce heat enough to keep the pressure constant and jiggler moving. Stoves/pots vary so I will just call this ‘medium heat’.
Step 5
At the end of the full 9min cooking, remove pot from its heat source and get the pressure down as quickly (but safely) as possible - remove lid and get the ‘nice golden brown’ cooked chicken portions out the oil... again it’s important to do this quickly and safely as possible otherwise the chicken begins to absorb the oil as it cools. If the chicken is not in a basket, I recommend using a ‘spider’, or large slotted spoon, to remove the chicken.
Step 6
Let the chicken begin to cool on wire rack at this point and take photographs for ‘test’ purposes. If you like the chicken breading a little crispy, then when cool enough (80°C/175°F) you can eat it, but if you prefer a softer stickier texture to the breading then see the next few steps.
Step 7
Good for small batches: Place the very hot cooked chicken asap into a lidded container, like a Pyrex casserole dish, for example. Keep the chicken portions separate from one another and raise them so that they are not touching the base of the container by using either a wire rack, or perhaps crumpled aluminium foil. Keep the container lid on tight, but turn the portions over after 10 minutes... I usually turn them a couple of times. When chicken temperature is down to 80°C/175°F it is ready to eat or you can transfer to a rack in a warm dry oven (also 80°C/175°F) until ready to eat. (Keep turning every 10 minutes) This will soften the texture and improve feel/aroma/taste.
Step 8
Good for larger batches and an alternative to step 7 above: Before breading/frying, heat a domestic oven to 90°C and (using care) place a bath of boiling water into oven-proof tin/container, placed near to the base of the warm oven to generate steam. (Steam Bath). Put the hot cooked chicken from the fryer onto a rack in the upper part of the oven, keep portions separate and try to ensure steam can get to all parts of the chicken breading, rotate every 10 minutes. After 20 minutes remove the steam bath and let steam out of oven and rotate chicken again and turn temperature down to 80°C/175°F. Let the chicken sit in dry heat for 10 to 20 mins, continue to rotate and keep warm until ready to eat.

Hope the above detail of the process that I currently choose to use, may prove helpful to others new to, or perhaps considering, pressure frying their chosen seasoned chicken recipe.

[jameslick]

That is a nice guide Ken! What do you do to get the pressure down after 9 mins? Sorry might be a stupid question, I have never pressure fried before but i have a Megafesa star coming in the mail

[Ken_Griffiths]

Oct 26, 2020 20:52:49 GMT jameslick said:

That is a nice guide Ken! What do you do to get the pressure down after 9 mins? Sorry might be a stupid question, I have never pressure fried before but i have a Megafesa star coming in the mail

I just lift the jiggler with the tip of a fork which sits/stays in place (counterbalance) and just before the pressure is completely at zero, I begin to release/remove the lid and use a spider/wired draining spoon to remove the cooked chicken from the hot oil as quickly (& safely) as I can.

[Ken_Griffiths]

Just to also answer one of the other questions in the thread, I never fill any cooker pot ‘more than’ one third with the cooking oil... so a pot that holds say 4 litres liquid, just as an example, I would choose to use around 1300ml of oil, but if I can use less oil, whilst still ensuring the (not bigger than 4oz) chicken portions, can still be fully immersed, then I will opt to use the lesser amount of oil. One third capacity however is my personal chosen maximum limit.

[Helen]

Oct 27, 2020 13:51:51 GMT Ken_Griffiths said:

Just to also answer one of the other questions in the thread, I never fill any cooker pot ‘more than’ one third with the cooking oil... so a pot that holds say 4 litres liquid, just as an example, I would choose to use around 1300ml of oil, but if I can use less oil, whilst still ensuring the (not bigger than 4oz) chicken portions, can still be fully immersed, then I will opt to use the lesser amount of oil. One third capacity however is my personal chosen maximum limit.

For symmetric cooking pots this fraction is about right (1/4 to 1/3 of frying medium.) But for asymmetric pots e.g. Belly-style pressure cookers, the height of the frying medium becomes more important. Generally, this is considered a more useful safety measure.