Extending the Life of Restaurant Cooking Oil

The Cost of Cooking Oil

Cooking oil is a big expense for many restaurants. With the many types and properties of virgin oil a restaurant owner has choices-choices that cost money and can affect the taste of fried foods. But once you’ve made your choice how do you extend the life of cooking oil?

Just like proper oil maintenance in your car keeps it running well and the cost of maintenance down. Proper oil maintenance in your fryers keeps fryers running well, your food tasting good and your cooking oil cost down.

So how do you get the most out of your cooking oil?

Saving Money by extending the life of your Cooking Oil

Frying temperature is typically 325-350 degrees F. Higher temperature can break oil down, cause them to smoke and produce bitter flavors. Regardless of your choice of oil, if it is not filtered regularly, food particles will break it down, altering the flavor of the food.  If you filter your oil regularly you can double the life of your oil!  That means cutting the cost of cooking oil in half.

All oils have to be disposed of at some point. Is it time to dispose of your oil? You can use commercial testing kits or you can use your sensory skills. Has the oil darkened? Are there signs of smoking or frothing? Does it smell or does your food taste different? IF any of those are true dispose of the oil.

Following proper maintenance procedures for cooking oil is more important than the cost and quality of the oil you choose.

Filtering your cooking oil

Myriad machinery exists to filter your oil. Some equipment takes all of the oil out of your fryer, filters it and returns it to the fryer. That is time consuming, dangerous and requires precious storage space.  Some fryers have built-in filters which work some of the time. 

We are very excited about a great innovation which can save your restaurant time and money!

It is the portable fryer filter.  You leave the oil in the fryer, place the portable filter in your fryer and filter the oil while it is in the fryer. It has a small profile so it takes up very little space in your kitchen.  D&W Alternative Energy has these filters in stock.  Call us! 609-902-5093.

Polishing your cooking oil

Polishing your cooking oil with safe additives can absorb surfactants, free fatty acids(FFAs) and carbon deposits which reduce the life of your cooking oil. Fryoil powders help keep your food tasty instead of oily.

Our next blogpost  will explain how filtering your cooking oil works and what it does for your restaurant.