Gentle frying or low-temperature frying is an oil- or fat-based cooking method used for relatively fragile or

starchy foods Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets, ...

. While gentle frying is most notably used to cook

fried egg A fried egg, also known as sunny-side up is a cooked dish made from one or more eggs which are removed from their shells and placed into a frying pan and fried. They are traditionally eaten for breakfast in many countries but may also be serv ...

s, 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 churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

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

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...

). Overheated oils can produce unhealthy, even carcinogenic, compounds. In starchy foods, low-temperature frying gives the starch in the food a chance to migrate and

caramelize Caramelization is a process of browning of sugar used extensively in cooking for the resulting sweet nutty flavor and brown color. The brown colors are produced by three groups of polymers: caramelans (C24H36O18), caramelens (C36H50O25), and c ...

, 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 138°C (280°F), and this was found to contain 30% less oil than French Fries cooked by the traditional method with oil between 163° and 177°C (325° and 350°F).

Bibliography

{{Cooking Techniques Cooking techniques Culinary terminology Fried foods