How to Pan-Fry
Pan-frying plays short-stop between sautéing and immersion-frying (deep-frying). With pan-frying, you get a deep browning of your food and thus a nice, intense flavor.
Typically when you pan-fry anything you'll want to dredge, bread or batter it (see the section on breading if you haven't already). Coating your product with some form of breading will seal it, preventing the food's liquid from getting out and keeping the oil from getting in, making it greasy.
Safety Notes
If you're not going to dredge your food before pan-frying it, make sure the food is as dry as you can get it. When wet food hits hot oil it will spatter, sometimes a lot more than your pain threshold will approve of.
Basic steps to pan-frying:
- Prepare the food to be pan-fried. You should typically try to make anything you'll be putting in the pan at the same time, the same size.
- Heat your fat in a heavy pan, you'll want to estimate it so that when you add your product the oil will come up one-third to halfway up the side of the food. Make sure it doesn't come up past the halfway point.
- Add the food, you should really use tongs for this, being careful not to poke any holes. If you tear up the breading on the outside the oil will seep in, making your food greasy.
- Fry your food until well browned on the one side, then use your tongs to flip it, being careful not to spatter the oil.
- Once the food is fully browned on both sides you can remove it and place it on some paper towels to drain before serving. However, if you're using food that's too large to get fully cooked before it's fully browned, you'll need to finish cooking it by another method, most commonly pan-braising (see section on pan-braising).
