Gentle frying or low-temperature frying is an oil- or fat-based cooking method used for relatively fragile or starchy foods. While gentle frying is most notably used to cook fried eggs, it is also used for delicate fish, tender cuts of meat, sausages, and as a first step in fried potatoes.

Benefits

Low-temperature frying is useful if the frying fat scorches at higher heat levels (e.g.

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

), or if the frying fat has flavor that the cook wants to preserve (e.g.

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

). Overheated oils can produce unhealthy, even carcinogenic, compounds. In starchy foods, frying gently gives the starch in the food a chance to migrate and caramelize, producing a sweeter outcome. In fragile foods such as eggs, gentle frying prevents the food from scorching or falling apart.

Disadvantages

In deep-fat frying, if done incorrectly, low temperatures may substantially increase oil absorption, leaving the food greasy, soggy, and unappetizing. However, '' Cook's Illustrated'' developed a recipe where French Fries are left in cold oil for 25 minutes as the oil is slowly heated to , and this was found to contain 30% less oil than French Fries cooked by the traditional method with oil between .

Bibliography

{{Cooking Techniques Cooking techniques Culinary terminology Fried foods