Deep fat fryer

[theUrbanDryadsMum]

We have liked to do our own fish and chips once a week and have had several plastic electric fryers. After a while the oil gets to them and they get very sticky so I have coveted a stainless steel one. So imagine my delight when I WON one. Used it for the first time yesterday and guess what? I don't like it. You can't put a lid on it during cooking, so oil splashes everywhere and once the oil is out of it you can't get it clean. Not without a lot of scrubbing. Anyone used any of these before? Does it work for you?

I've got one. I was a bit surprised to discover the lid can't be used when cooking especially as it has a viewing panel . Have to say tho that it doesn't splash everywhere. Not sure about cleaning it...haven't tried that yet

I've never had any sort of fat fryer

too unhealthy and too dangerous (fire risk)

in theory

but so do chip shops fryers

both sorts are fire risks

I don't think deep fat fryers are any more of a fire risk than fairy lights. and fish and chips are nice.

anyway, I have a stainless steel one and I use it with the lid on. didn't occur to me not to (and I'm sure you can as it has a filter in it). maybe you can swap it for another one? mine is tefal if it helps.

...but it still gets sticky with oil sometimes.

I used to have one. it was one of the delongee (sp?) ones with the little tube with which to drain the oil to "make cleaning easy". it was a bitch to clean. Eventually I stopped using it because I could no longer be arsed to clean it. Then when we moved house I chucked it. I shall not be getting another one. Oven chips are now on a par with friend ones as far as taste is concerned IMO and much much healthier.

"oven chips on a par with fried ones"

have you had proper fresh chips lately?

Can I just ask what kind of oil you use?
Thanks for all your messages. There is no fire risk since there is a thermostat as well as a safety cut out. It specifically says not to use the lid during heating the oil and frying. I have done oven chips from real potatoes and they are nice but my husband likes battered deep fried fish beyond all else and since he has been poorly I like to indulge him

corn or sunflower. corn is better, dh says. can't remember why

Olive oil, 2 baths for crispy chips.

If you're going to deep fry anything an electrical fryer is so much safer IME. As a child I remember my setting fire to pans of oil on several occasions because she just forgot that it was on, went to answer the phone etc. She's not stupid or especially careless, but it did become a family joke about the number of times she tried to burn the house down Thankfully she eventually invested in an electrical one and fires have become a thing of the past, lol. All electrical appliances are a fire risk - even washing machines but nobody does all their washing by hand in case it catches fire do they?!

No, deep frying isn't exactly the healthiest method of cooking, but they can be jolly useful for things like spring rolls, prawn crackers etc which we occasionally eat. In answer to the OP we use vegetable oil.

Thanks for all your replies, again. I have now 'phoned the Morphy Richards helpline, very helpful ladies, but not really an answer to the problems. This is the only model that fries without a lid, so the vapour goes everywhere. She suggested filling it a bit less to deal with the spitting. As far as cleaning of the tank was concerned she suggested soaking it in hot water and detergent for half an hour, which I did with biological washing powder, ime the best stuff to use for stubborn stains. After half an hour I could still lift little lumps with my thumbnail. So it will have to go and we will probably go for another cheap plastic one and chuck it after two or three years. Anybody want a fryer?

maybe you should invest in a decent one. We've got this , not bad for #30. It is all dishwasher proof apart from the element too, so you can jsut chuck it all in there. We got a bit of build up on ours and jsut used oven cleaner and it looks like new again.

I've jsut checked the website and it is 50 on there, so that is a bargain. Plus they sell replacement baskets or bowls for #7.72 so you don't have to fork out for a new fryer if it does bugger up. I might order a new basket.

You know what Kelly, that's exactly the one I've got and you can't have the lid on while frying. We haven't got a dishwasher and we spent ages trying to get it really clean and failed, after one use.

They said it was £49.99 when we won it!!
We'll go on using our old one for the time being.

that is crazy. I've always had the lid on mine. Maybe I didn't read the instructions. Not done any harm though, so I'd jsut stick the lid on it anyway.
If you've got a friend with a dishwasher, I'd ask if you can put it through. I got this stuff from the ideal Home show which I cleaned it up with last week. Ours is over a year old, and this stuff brought up like new.

They said on the helpline that it would create too much pressure if you left the lid on, it says in big letters that it is for storage only, so I didn't dare. The stuff looks good, but is a tad expensive when bought on line. What bothered me was that it wouldn't come clean after the first use.
I think my dh is going to be happier if we use the old one for the time being and when it gets too minging we'll buy another cheapy one.