I learned something over the weekend. I was frying chicken on the stovetop and I could tell some of the particles were burning and I knew I would have a mess to scrape off later. A friend asked if I had any baby carrots. I directed him to the fridge in the bottom crisper drawer. A couple minutes later, he came over and dropped four of them into the frying pan. Fried carrots….cool! Then, he dropped the bomb. The carrots would prevent burning and thus… scraping later. What? I waited 62 years to find this out? Yep, it seems that the carrot acts like a magnet, attracting small brown bits that might otherwise burn and can even regulate the oil temperature. On top of that, carrots keep the oil clean and less prone to burning. It worked like a charm. My goodness, where has this trick been all my life and why didn’t my mom or grandma know about this?
A hint, you might have to switch out the carrots in between batches of food. Once the carrot is shriveled and a bit caramelized, you can throw it away and start with a new one. This trick is especially useful for deep-frying items with a lot of breading, such as chicken and fish. And that…is your KOFO cooking and science lesson of the week! Try it! You’re welcome!
