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I love to deep fry food using canola oil. It's actually healthier and more certain than pan frying, especially when dealing with food that needs to be cooked thoroughly before eating, like poultry and fish.
I have a small round fryer that does a good job but it's a NIGHTMARE to clean. The oil reservoir is gritty, so everything sticks to it very well a major annoyance. It's also difficult to dump the oil without spilling.
Enter this deep fryer. So far I've got no complaints, it's very easy to fry the food, and the basket is a very nice touch that my old fryer doesn't have. One minor nitpick is the basket I just raved about; I wish it were more "mesh" than "fence". Meaning I wish the holes were a lot smaller, so it would act as an effective crumb catcher. That would make the unit a lot easier to clean, and I can see how that might get to be a problem in time. But again, it's a nitpick of mine.
Update 12/28: Ok, I've got complaints. First, the filtering is poor. It will leave the smell of fried-whatever all throughout your place. I've got an el-cheapo $40 fryer that I replaced with this, and the cheap one does a better job of containing that odor. I know this is like some industrial-type stuff so it's to be expected, but I can't keep buying Oust like this.
Secondly, I was right about wanting the mesh. I've fried a couple of times and already there's a nice brown coating on the bottom. IT bothers me, because if they just went with a mesh-style basket I wouldn't have this problem.
Third, it takes WAY too long to heat up. I'd say plan on about 10-15 minutes prep time. Hate to beat a dead horse, but el-cheapo was hot in a matter of 3-5 minutes tops.
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I've been using this fryer for about six months and so far it has worked very well. I have no other experience with fryers like this so nothing to compare it to but I do have a lot of small appliances and as far as cleaning and maintenance and storage this unit is better than most. It is easy to disassemble, clean, and to pour the oil out if you like to filter and reuse. The basket is serviceable but I've noticed some rust forming on the handle screws despite that I hand wash everything. It may not fare well in the dishwasher even though it says you can put it in there (another reviewed had a bad experience--I haven't tried it). The handle is a tad flimsy but mainly because it folds in, a nice feature, so I'm okay with that. Other than that everything is solid and well built. The basket hooks onto the rim to allow the food to drain but the bottom can still touch the oil if the unit is at the MAX oil mark. I like the fact that it holds exactly the amount of oil in a typical large jug (1 gallon) you find in the grocery store.
Features: Digital temperature control sets one of 4 fixed temperatures: 300, 325, 350, 375. A (loud) beep lets you know when preheating is done. Magnetic power plug easily detaches from back to avoid yanking on unit if something snags the cord. Built-in 30 minutes timer--just a timer--it doesn't shut off the unit or anything like that. Basket folds up for easy storage inside fryer. Easily disassembles for cleaning. Vented lid to prevent oil splatter.
Cooking: Oil heats up in a reasonable time (10-15 minutes) and allows you to prepare the food while waiting. It seems to maintain temperature well based on its own internal thermometer. I'm learning that deep frying is a bit of an art so you may have to experiment before you get that perfect, golden brown, cooked throughout result.
One final note--this unit pulls down a lot of energy so you may not be able to use other high-energy devices while this one is on (electric skillet, rice cooker, or basically anything that heats) as it will overload the breaker. Of course this will depend on your individual kitchen and, if you have this same issue, you can always work around this by using a plug on a separate circuit.
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I purchased this Presto model after some research. Why this model? First off, 1800 watts is pretty much the maximum electricity that can be handled by a household 110v outlet. More watts would need a 220v line. Next, bigger capacity of oil, say 12 cups means more oil to heat with relatively less wattage. Now, for my evaluation of the unit. The outer shiny metal container that holds the cooking pot is thin metal with some sharp edges. It could be made thicker, but that would add to the cost. Replacements from Presto are cheap. If you want a better one, have your local metal fabricator build it for you or do it yourself in a tech class. The basket is adequately sized and I have cleaned it several times including in the dishwasher with no rusting. This too can be purchased from Presto inexpensively. Also note: food can be cooked without the basket if desired. The cooking pot is heavy duty metal, will last for years and no food residue sticks to it. It is dishwasher safe, however I clean it in the sink. Oil levels are marked into the sides of the cooking pot. The lid is filtered and vented. I do not use the lid when cooking as I believe over time it will accumulate a certain amount of oils that may be difficult to clean, so I just use it when the fryer is not in use. The control panel and heating element with thermostat is an integrated unit. The electrical cord magnetically connects to the unit. This units fits well into the enclosure and pot. The digital thermostat allows temperatures in 25 degree increments from 300 to 375. Red light means heating, green light means at the selected temperature. I purchased and used a cooking thermometer for deep fryers/candy to verify the temperatures of my unit. In fact, from room temperature to 375 degrees took 18 minutes to heat the oil. I use this as prep time for my food. The temperatures were accurate and reheating after cold/cool food were submersed was quick. Now, until food is placed into the fryer, because the heating element is large, oil in say the back may be 360 degrees while oil near the front is 380 degrees. This is because of how oil convection currents work and the location of the thermostats. But when food is in the fryer, the bubbling of the cooking makes that a non-issue. I have cooked fresh calamari, fresh chicken, fresh fish, potatoes, frozen shrimp. All came out fabulously just like in a restaurant. The timer on the unit control is a big plus. I would advise to keep the control panel from splatter to place some clear plastic over it. For cleanup, I unplug, remove the basket to cool and then remove the control unit/heating element to cool. I wipe it clean with paper towel. The next morning, I remove the cooking pot and pour the oil through a strainer lined with cheesecloth to recapture my oil for additional use or discarding. Cleanup of the cooking pot and basket is easy in the sink with dish washing detergent. Food residue never sticks. Cleanup takes me 10 minutes. I you don't overload the basket with too much food, you too will enjoy excellent results.
Honest reviews on Presto 05462 Digital ProFry Immersion-Element 9-Cup Deep Fryer
I was initially quite impressed with this unit. Since I have experience using commercial deep fryers, I recognized the nice features built into this unit. 1800 watts of heating power will bring the oil up to temperature in about 15 minutes, and should be big enough to recover quickly after you slowly drop a basket of raw material into the oil. That, however, was not my experience.
After cooking two small batches of battered tenderloin nuggets, I allowed the oil to get back up to temperature, which took about eight minutes, and then dropped a basket load of steak fries. In a matter of moments the "ready" light went off, and the oil never did get back up to temperature. By the time the fries were browned enough to lift, they were pretty oily.
The real bummer, though, was after straining the oil and storing it away, I broke down the unit and placed everything except the heating unit into the dishwasher. At that point, I was satisfied enough with the performance of the fryer I would have kept it and figured a way to get around the slow recovery time on the fries.
But, later, when I opened the dishwasher to take the clean unit out and reassemble it for storage, the basket was completely rusted over! All of the other parts were just fine, but the basket was a great disappointment. So, I have returned that otherwise nice unit, and am now back on the market.
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We have used this a total of twice as of my writing this review. It looks amazing and has worked well.
While looking for a fryer I ran into a bevy of complaints and I want to address a few of those.
Odor: When you fry food, it smells. You can help prevent this by using a good oil such as peanut oil. Warning, it doesn't completely prevent the smell but it brings it down several notches in oily odorific intensity. The fryer does come with a vent built into the lid. All it is is a metal mesh one. This doesn't do a lot for filter out the odor. BUT! Most foods you cook are going to require that you leave the lid off of the fryer because of condensation built up on the lid. So, it's not going to matter if you have a HEPA filter built into the lid, when you cook, the odor is going to be there because your lid is going to be sitting on the counter.
Basket: One reviewer pointed out the relatively large holes in the basket. Well, I don't know but every fryer that I have seen has this larger mesh thing going on. Heck, even back in the day when I worked in food service our baskets had fairly large spacing between the mesh. On top of that, a lot of times depending on the size of what you are cooking for example chicken, corn dogs, donuts, etc. you won't actually use the basket.
Heat time: All I can say on this one is yeah, it takes longer to heat up than our old Fry Daddy, but it does have about 4 times the oil in it.
Temperature: So far each time we have used it, we used a candy/oil thermometer to check the temperature, and so far when it gives you the green light for cooking, it has been up to temperature.
Ok if anyone can think of anything else, I'd be happy to add it to the review.
I would definitely recommend this fryer.
UPDATE:
3/12/2013
So, we've had it for a while now and still like it well enough. I haven't tested the temp lately so I can't say if it is still reaching temp and what not, but I haven't noticed any changed in cooking quality. The one negative thing I have to say about it is that our lid has gotten warped and will not lie down flush as it should. Now, it's not that big a deal since I only use the lid to store it and not for when I am cooking, but it's a bit disappointing. Granted, it's probably my fault it got bent, possibly when I moved.
