Pitco Fryers, Frialators and Accessories

Pitco Deep Fat Fryers: What You Need to Know

Pitco fryers are extremely reliable pieces of commercial cooking equipment, which is important when dealing with high heat and sizzling oils all day long. Frying food can be tricky, as you have to deal with sediment falling off, cold zones, burning sediment, and maintaining continuous temperatures, often for long periods of service in a given day. Fryers also behave differently from most other cooking equipment, which can make it difficult for a new frycook to get the hang of it. Additionally, fryers can present dangers for operators, ranging from burns to kitchen fires.

Pitco fryers are one of the most popular fryer brands across the restaurant industry. The Pitco Frialator (often spelled as fryalator) came about around a hundred years ago, when the inventors discovered creating a cold zone at the bottom of the hot oil meant sediment wouldn't burn and impart undesirable flavors into the food.

Common Questions About Pitco Fryers

Why choose a Pitco fryer?

Pitco deep fryers are the original pieces of equipment that utilized a cold zone in frying food, which vastly improves the quality of the final product. Pitco has since elaborated on this technique to create some of the most efficient and effective fryers, or frialators, on the market. Preventing sediment from burning not only improves the flavor of your final product, it also increases the lifespan of the oil, as you won't have to throw nearly as much contaminated oil away. Fryer oil will overtake the cost of the fryer quickly, and if you can stretch your oil without compromising flavor, you can save yourself a significant amount of money over the life of the fryer.

Should I choose a gas or electric fryer?

Some operators are leery of adding a Pitco electric fryer, as natural gas has long been the preferred method of heating in restaurants. However, the source of the heat doesn't make much difference in the final product. Neither the gas nor the electricity are cooking your food – hot oil is. Your main concern should be how to heat the oil as efficiently as possible. In most restaurant equipment, natural gas is less efficient than electricity, as the heat from gas can't be directed as well, but this is less true with Pitco gas fryers because the oil can surround the gas tubes. Consider which utility is more affordable at your location and go with a Pitco deep fryer that utilizes this option.

What are open-top and tube-type fryers?

These are the two main styles of Pitco fryer and refer to the position of the heating elements within the fryer. Open-pot fryers have the heating elements beneath the entirety of the pot, while tube-type fryers have the elements running shielded through the oil itself. Tube-type fryers impart energy more efficiently than open-pot units because there's nowhere else for the heat to escape, but they're harder to clean than an open-pot style. Tube-style fry pots are best for high-sediment products, as the cold zone is large enough to hold significant sediment, while open-pot fryers have smaller cold zones. Ensure your cold zone doesn't overflow with sediment – if it does, the sediment will burn, degrading the oil and imparting undesired flavors into your food.