Open-pot Fryers
If you are cooking french fries, hash browns, or frozen foods that don't use wet batter or produce large amounts of sediment, an open fryer might be perfect for your needs. These fryers have burners outside their vats, making them easy to clean, and the V-shaped bottoms of the vats reduce the amount of oil in the cold zone. More
Open-pot Deep Fryers: What You Need to Know
Open-pot deep fryers heat oil from outside their pots, rather than within the oil. This creates an easy-to-clean setup but reduces the size of the cold zone. Because open-pot fryers have small cold zones, sediment buildup must be kept to a minimum. If too much sediment builds up in an open-pot fryer, the sediment burns and imparts an unpleasant flavor to the rest of the oil, then onto the cooking food. This makes open-pot fryers ideal for low-sediment foods, such as fries, hash browns, and frozen food. Read about choosing the right deep fryer with our deep fryer buyer's guide.
Common Questions About Open-pot Fryers
What is an open-pot fryer?
Open-pot fryers are deep-fat fryers with a frypot that narrows down to a drain at the bottom and do not have tubes running through them. These are best for low-sediment fried foods, as sediment doesn't have a cold zone in which to rest. They're easy to clean as well, so they're great for busy restaurants cooking lots of french fries or frozen foods.
What is a cold zone?
In tube-type fryers and – to a lesser extent – in open fryers, the cold zone is a portion of the frypot at a markedly lower temperature than the cooking area. The cold zone always is in the lower portion of the fryer so sediment can fall to the bottom and rest in the colder oil, rather than stay in the cooking heat where it burns. Burned sediment can impart negative flavor to your freshly fried food, so a cold zone is important when frying sediment-heavy food. However, if you don't have much sediment in your frying food, an open-pot fryer is easier to clean and can utilize a larger volume of the total frypot.