Frying oil

[bacon]

So we have been getting a lot of shrimp in the waters here lately, and I do love fried shrimp, but that all leaves me with a bit of a quandary. What do I do with the used oil? It seems like a waste to use it once and just dispose. If I was frying a chicken, I would use it a handful of times, but that sounds precarious with shrimp.

So what do y'all think? Any way to purify it and reuse? Can it be used for soap making (I know my wife usually uses olive oil for that)? What about for composting?

[vicker]

Filter it through a rag and reuse it. Restaurants that use fryalators us the same oil for everything. So do I. Several of my friends dump it after one use and drive me nuts.

Eta
I use part of an old clean tshirt laid in a sieve to filter mine.

[JLMissouri]

I would try to reuse it as much as possible, after you are done offer it for free on craigslist for someone who runs SVO or makes biodiesel. Can also be used in waste oil heaters or burn it in other ways. Also some people use it for bar oil on their chainsaws. Makes a good way to prevent rust on gardening tools etc as well.

Lots of uses.

[vicker]

As long as you don't get it too hot and scorch it, and filter the crumbs out, it is oil.

[gilberte]

After you cook your shrimp fry up some french-fries. Then filter the cooled oil back into the bottle. We use a fine mesh screen in a funnel.

[bacon]

Okay, okay. I will try to filter and reuse, but maybe I should still keep separate oils for savories and sweets...even if the potatoes take some of the flavor from the oil. The thought of a shrimp flavored doughnut makes my stomach turn.

Thanks for the advice!

[Harry Chickpea]

Could be a good use for a Berkey...

[Ardie/WI]

Originally Posted by bacon

Okay, okay. I will try to filter and reuse, but maybe I should still keep separate oils for savories and sweets...even if the potatoes take some of the flavor from the oil. The thought of a shrimp flavored doughnut makes my stomach turn.

Thanks for the advice!

We've never had flavor transfer. We filter the oil through a multi-layered cheesecloth mesh strainer.

[pistolsmom]

Use a coffee filter!

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Growing up, the fried chicken from the fish restaurant was always my favorite. I'm sure the oil had something to do with it.

[fixitguy]

My mom would filter it, then cook a piece of white bread in the oil to clean it.

[Rectifier]

Oil does denature with repeated heatings, especially if it smokes. It doesn't appear different but studies found it results in unhealthy compounds being created.

However healthy may be a side concern to the deep frying aficionado

Disposing of all that oil is why we don't have a deep fryer. I know some who pour it on grain and feed it to their critters.

[unregistered5595]

Deep fried coated meats/poultry/shellfish, don't seem to flavor the oil and I'd re-use it.
One time not to re-use oil, after frying jalapeno poppers. Ask me how I know. I grew the peppers in the garden. They were much hotter than expected. The french fries after that were intolerably hot. Thank goodness we didn't make donuts.

[||Downhome||]

Originally Posted by gilberte

After you cook your shrimp fry up some french-fries. Then filter the cooled oil back into the bottle. We use a fine mesh screen in a funnel.

This is what I do when Frying Fish and the taters take out any Fish taste of the oil.

[BlackFeather]

It has been a while but it seems that frying meat destroys the oil quicker than frying doughnuts. I used to have to change the chicken fryer oil once or twice a week, it was filtered every night, the doughnut fryer twice a week had the oil drained out, the bottom sediment cleaned out and the oil filtered and pumped back in. That oil only got changed every 6 months. Meat fats break the oil down quicker than flour products. As for me, I don't deep fry anything, I say its because it isn't healthy, but the truth is it seems like a waste of oil.

[suitcase_sally]

Originally Posted by pistolsmom

Use a coffee filter!

Coffee filters clog too easily. I tried it and it took well over an hour to filter 48 oz. of oil.

[unregistered5595]

Originally Posted by suitcase_sally

Coffee filters clog too easily. I tried it and it took well over an hour to filter 48 oz. of oil.

Sally, when I rendered tallow, I used my plastic coffee filter holder with a paper filter in it, and if I kept the tallow pretty warm, it didn't take a terribly long time. If I let the tallow come to room temperature, it took a long time. Cheese cloth might be porous enough to filter it more quickly.

[Rectifier]

When I used to render my own lard I used an unwanted pillowcase of fairly high thread count and it worked great.
"Cheesecloth" is usually too coarse to filter anything - it's pretty useless for any cheese-related tasks as well.
Surprised the coffee filter worked, I would expect it to clog quickly.

[||Downhome||]

I use a fine wire sieve, over a gallon jar/s and then let it settle out.

[vicker]

I use a regular sieve with a piece of a clean, old T-shirt, or similar rag.