Circle of Tony C’s around the french fries and that should end the ceremonial… Every chef knows there are unbreakable rules in the kitchen. But what happens when you actually break those rules? Do the deep fry gods rain fiery oil upon you and your families? Or are they just arbitrary myths, pedaled from chef to chef, just waiting to be busted. To find out, we’ve assembled a highly-trained team of serious culinary professionals to put them to the test. Because this is- Myth Munchers. Hey. Hey. Hey. That was very light. I’m proud of you. I’ve kind of calmed down since the last flu shot. A light touch. Are you ready to bust some deep frying myths today? Yeah. Here’s the thing a lot of people at home, they’re afraid of oil combusting killing their entire family, burning down their home, everything that they’ve ever worked for. But I’m telling you, that only happens a couple hundred times, and it’s mostly on Thanksgiving and deep frying at home is safe and fun as long as you know what the rules and the myths. So you ready to get into it? Yeah. So into it. Yeah. Don’t deep fry turkey- Deep inside. On your college apartment balcony like I did. Speaking of college. It’s back to school. Speaking of college- Rascal. It’s back to school season. That’s why we’ve got “Josh’s Back-to-School Basics,” lunch table edition and first up, establish dominance using your wits and grace. Right now it’s a weird time to bully kids because in my day you just threw ’em into a locker. You know what I mean? But now you gotta launch sort of an online smear campaign like the Russians did in 2016. You know? So get savvy with it. Then, pick the right crowd. Don’t limit yourself to just raccoons. I know what you’re thinking. You go to school, have a big old gang of raccoons following you around, That’s the way to go. But no, try and get some people friends, right? They’re all cool. Then hard boiled eggs. Put ’em all in your bag. The smell, it’s pheremonic. People will come running to it. Oh my god. People like that. Then do gum. All the cool kids, all the mean kids at you. You know the kids that you see on the side of the street, you just, you just cross the road because you’re like, I just don’t wanna walk through that pack of children hanging out outside the Wawa. The last time it happened to me was on the Jersey Shore, so it was outside a Wawa. Julia and I crossed the street. Anyways, we wouldn’t have had to, if we had gum. Do you feel informed? Who makes these? Where’d the other thing go? Of all of the incoherent things that you say when you talk about these poster boards, I think that was the most incoherent. I don’t think so. I thought it was very coherent. Deep frying myths. Here’s what we’re busting today. They say you gotta use a thermometer, whatever the hell that is, to measure the oil temperature. Honestly, it’s a good idea. But we have been telling people to get thermometers for a long time, and so many of you haven’t. Like 99% of you haven’t. So we’re gonna test out if you really can just guess. So that’s why have thermometer versus the chopstick method, which is a common method versus Josh. And I’m gonna get in there with my freaky deaky methods and see if I can beat the thermometers the modern day John Henry scenario. Then what do you do with the food after it’s out of the fryer? Do you have to use a draining rack, a specific tool for it? Or like “Binging with Babish” said, do you put it on paper towels or do you do what I do? Which is you throw it right into an oven on a cookie sheet, because I’ll explain later. Then, they say you can’t fry in olive oil and you gotta use something like peanut or canola oil with a higher smoke point. Finally, they say you gotta use a deep fryer, ’cause that’s the name of the tool, a deep fryer. But we’re actually gonna test out what happens when you use a deep fryer versus a cast iron pot, which people say holds heat versus just a normal pot. See if there is any actual difference. Do you have any questions about all of that? I wanna go back to the gum for a second. Go ahead, yeah. So what is it about the gum that makes it so that you can cross the street? Because then I have gum to hand to the children and the gum has nicotine in it, and then the kids get addicted to nicotine and then suddenly I’m their leader. We’re gonna guess which of these myths is going to not be a myth at all, and in fact be a truth. And then whoever guesses the most myths that are actually truths wrong has to act like a raccoon. Nicole, we have three pots of oil in front of us. Cute. We have nine dough, little donut holes that we made. Cute. We have two chefs. Yeah. And one figurine of of me in jorts the perfect male body. So what we’re doing right now, these donut holes need to fry at 350 degrees. That’s right. Anything lower, they’re gonna absorb a ton of oil, anything higher and they’re gonna burn. Burn. Before they’re cooked. Yep. You are gonna be the thermometer keeper. I am the thermometer keeper. Then I’m gonna use the two janky methods, both of which I employ, but one of ’em that I really believe in to try and guess the temperature. Nicole’s what’s gonna happen is I am going to guess when these are at exactly 350 degrees. You’re gonna guess? I’m gonna guess, and then I’m gonna turn my back and you’re gonna put the thermometer in, and you’re gonna read how close I was. Okay. I’ll consider this myth munched If I get within 12 and a half degrees. Huge, 12 and a half degrees, all right. 338 to 362. All right. 337 and a half to 362.5. Okay. The half is for all the betters out there. I’m not gonna say anything. I’m not listening to Nicole. What I’m going to do, take a wooden chopstick and I’m gonna shove it against the bottom of the pot. And if I see vigorous bubbles, that means it’s ready to go. I see vigorous bubbles. I see vigorous bubbles, too, would you like me to temp check yours? No. I believe this oil is currently at 328 and I’m gonna wait 10 seconds. I want more vigorous bubbles. Hmm, interesting. Now, on the other one, I will take a pinch of flour. This is similar to my buddy’s grandma’s method where she spits in the oil. I swear to God she does that. She goes- I’m sorry, you have a friend that spits in the oil. Her grandma goes and puts some spit in her fingers and flicks it in the oil to see if it sputters. Oh! And then she knows. Interesting. Grab some flour. Okay, that’s getting nice and sizzly. That is 331 degrees. Okay, let’s see if Josh has- Not yet, but I’m not, that wasn’t my guess yet, 331? But you’re just, you tell me. Okay. Hmm. 300 and what was it? I said 331. 331. Okay. I need it to go a little bit. Okay, very good, very good Josh. It’s not yet done yet. I will now revisit with the chopstick. The bubbles have gotten smaller. I need to jack the flame up. Okay, jack it. Jack it, boss. I am jacking it up. Jack it up. This oil. Don’t tell me Nicole. Okay, I won’t tell you. I’ll just tell the fine people at home. I believe this oil is 339 degrees. Okay. And I will drop in my donut holes. Okay, okay. These are frying pretty hard. Okay, now let now let me get some flour in here. Okay. This is too hot. I need to cool it down. I need to drop a couple ice cubes in there. I’m kidding. Do not do that. No, don’t ever do that. Do not do that. Do not do that. Do not do that. Do me a favor, don’t ever listen to him. I’m shutting this down as this oil has gotten up to 357 degrees. Nicole, can you temp check it? Oh yeah, three…what was that? Tell me- It’s gotten up to 357 but now…yes I did. Okay, okay. How are these guys doing? Uh-oh. Hold up. These are, these are burning. That oil is hot, wasn’t it? Yup. That oil is hot wasn’t it, oh crap. It was. Oh shoot. I’m at a good spot. Yeah, that’s fine. And, and again, our oils are on such different heats that I literally have no idea where mine’s at. When I add this in, that does look like it’s very vigorous. I want it to like sink a little bit more. I’m gonna move these to the chopstick area, if that’s okay. Yeah, yeah those will be bad. Those will be bad. If you wanted just a visual of these, this is what we’re, what we’re working with. I’m just gonna show you what happens. Oh, okay. It’s just, it’s just raw dough in there. Okay. It’s raw dough in there. That’s what happens when you mess up with the chopstick method. But not Josh’s foolproof flour thermonuclear efficient- All right. Well mine are frying up pretty nicely, you know- I’m gonna go in one more time with the flour. I believe this oil is at exactly 352 degrees- Oh yeah? Which means I’m going to drop these in. Oh yeah, three, what was that number again? 352, baby, calling it. All right. 351. 350, it’s at 348 now. Okay, I’m gonna tell you what it is now. No, not now. After I drop the donuts in, because if you tell me now, I could still chicken out, not drop the donuts. Okay. Okay. I was talking to the people, Josh. I’m so sorry. I was talking to the people right now. Nicole, what was the temperature? 371. God dang it. Son of a biscuit. We love to teach, you know, instinct, but sometimes science works better than than instinct. So just go with it. But I can tell if a woman’s pregnant or not. You can? Just by instinct. Not science. Okay, smell. Am I pregnant? Yeah, you’re having a baby that’s made of lavender. Yum. If you’re still on the fence about deep frying Sporked has an incredible recommendation for an air fryer. It’s a Ninja air fryer. It’s actually one that I purchased. Can’t wait to use it. It’s Jordan’s pick. And if you wanna learn more about it, go to sporked.com to learn more. Josh, that oil is so hot. We already know how the inside of the chopstick one looks. It’s a little bit gummy, a little bit doughy, a little bit sad. It’s a little bit under, I’ll say. Now let’s check out your flour method. See if that did anything. It did look a little light. Sometimes you can kind of It looked a little blonde. Ah, raw dough. Yeah, a little raw. You son of a biscuit. A little raw. Let’s see what this one is. Okay, that’s pretty cooked inside. What’s up? May I have some of yours? I messed up my donuts because- Of course Josh, I’ll always share with you. Because I have too much hubris. So we learned that thermometer is definitely the way to go when you’re frying things. So I guess. This myth munched us! This myth munched us! These donuts are too hot. Hi everyone. It’s me and Lily. And we’re best friends. We’re BFFs. BFFs. And it smells like shrimp. Guess why? ‘Cause we’re making shrimp. We’re frying shrimp. Lily, what are we testing? We’re testing what is the best way to rest your fried food ingredients. And the people say that rack is the best idea but we’re also gonna try out paper towel and oven. Oven is Josh’s crazy idea where you put it in a 200-degree oven. And the idea is that the oil just kind of dehydrates. Yeah, I don’t know. He said it reduces steam and the hot things stay hot, which means they’re crispy. Yeah. And then rack, apparently, Josh also told us that in the first three seconds after it comes outta the fryer, the oil absorbs into the breading. So with a rack, they, or no- we do, we’re trying paper towels because the paper towel people are like, well, when you put it on a paper towel, it absorbs the oil out, which means that the frying doesn’t get soggy. The the crispy outside doesn’t get soggy. That was so clear and concise, Lily. Yes. Up top. We explained it right. What can I do? Do you wanna put it in the egg and then I’ll- Well, the egg’s all the way over there. I’m gonna hold the egg bowl for you. Okay. All right. Teamwork. Yeah yeah yeah. So do you want me to put ’em all in here? Just do what you feel is right as a chef. Lily, I need your help. I need, this is a team effort. This is joint, this is, we’re friends. We’re BFFs, remember? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. It seems like it’s, I’m just gonna put ’em all in. Frick it. Yeah, frick it. Frickin’, frick ’em, frying. As long as they’re all the same. Yeah, well they’re all coated. So I’m gonna get in here. This is, how are you doing today? I’m good. How are you. Doing good. Okay. Let’s try putting them into the oil. We gotta do ’em all in is- Wait, should we temp check the oil? Yeah, let’s temp check the oil. Okay, okay, okay. I’m taking off a glove. No way. Holy frick. Okay. Okay. Should I take one off too in solidarity? Or is this… Yeah, I feel like we’re not friends if you don’t take one off. Okay. Left, left glove coming off. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Just for friendship’s sake. It’s not moving. Okay. It’s, it’s- Okay. It’s 352. Guys. I can, come on. No, come on. 360. I can tell. I can tell. I can tell. No, you can’t. Stop. That’s exactly 312 degrees. What are you? It’s 370. Okay. Oh, that was so- You splashed. No you splashed. Like, I… Oh, it did get on my thumb. Are you burning? It’s okay. Okay, so- I’m taking the glove off. We are gonna fry these up and then we’re gonna put them onto our trays and then we’ll be back. What she said. Friendship. So our shrimp are almost ready to pull. Also, we forgot to mention the reason that we’re doing shrimp is because shrimp have a lot of moisture inside of ’em. Just like me. Okay. And so we wanted to really test like how the moisture and the friedness interact with each other, with all three of our different methods, so. Keep that batter crispy. Let’s take these out. Goodness well. Okay. Well it’s harder to- Just- I trust you. Okay. I can’t get, I’m, I’m sorry I’m struggling. Yeah. I’m really whiffing right now. I guess I could have left it in the thing. No, it’s okay, it’s okay. I respect your decision because you’re my friend. Okay? And I believe in you and I trust you. And I’m taking ’em out. 90 seconds, chef. Going in the oven. Josh method. Keep warm. Alexa Those are gonna suck. Set a timer for 90 seconds. Nevermind. One 1000, two 1000, three 1000. People at home. It’s been 90 seconds and we’ve decided to bump our timeframe up to three minutes because 90 seconds isn’t long enough to wait to eat a shrimp. Pull the shrimp. Oh my God. Our additional 90 seconds have passed and it is time to eat this shrimps. And we didn’t have time within that three minute timeframe to move the deep fryer So I will be reaching over it to partake. Do we go now? Which one do we start with? Rack. Rack. Are you dipping first? I kind of wanna go one bite. No, I wanna go naked. Wow. I love shrimp. It’s moist. Batter’s pretty crispy. Could be crispier but pretty crispy. Okay, I’m leaving mine in this corner. Don’t touch it. Best friend. Okay, next one. Paper towel. Paper towel. I think this is a little bit crispier. I’m gonna do the smell test. Does it smell like shrimp? It didn’t do anything. Great. The smell test has never failed me before. The Josh method. I love that throughout these myth munchers, we’ve just started adding Josh methods as one of the myths. Like what’s the why don’t we just try the way Josh does it just to see. And I don’t think it’s ever worked. I already see like oil kind of just a little soggy right here. Yeah, I see the soggy oil. Oven, oven. Oven ain’t it. Okay. I’ve come to my, do you have a… Whisper in my ear what you think. I don’t wanna sound dumb. Okay. Do you feel like so? I feel like so. Okay. We, we’re the best friends are in agreement. The paper towel is shocking, it is better. Yes, I agree. It is like, I think with the rack you do get a little bit more like the oil is staying there and it is seeping in a little bit into the batter. And there might be also something with like the steam that you’re getting from below. Just from the hot shrimp. Paper towel just soaks it up and it stays nice and crispy. And we did let these rest for three whole minutes like we said before, multiple times. Also, Also, I think with a paper towel you’re kind of like already like cleaning the plate. So I mean, you could just stick this back up in your cupboard after and don’t even have to clean it. That is so true. Oh my god. Up top. Your high fives are too high. Well it’s called a high five, not a medium five. Because paper towel is better, that means this myth has been munched. This myth has been munched. You look like a school boy with your hair like that. Like young. Oh yeah, I am just a little school boy on my way to kindergarten. I don’t know why I turned German in that. Nicole, we’re, we’re testing out oils. Huge. They say that you cannot fry in olive oil. Yeah. I’ve heard of this. What is that about? What is that about? Well, they say Nicole, the smoke point, that is to say this point at which oil starts smoking, thus creating free radicals, which are the enemy of antioxidants. That’s right, it’s not pro-oxidants. Is that true? Free radicals. Yeah. That’s the thing we’re not gonna give like health advice here. What about, you know that band that the New Radicals? Yeah. ♪ You only get what you get. ♪ Yeah. That’s the same exact thing as what we are doing right here. So we’re testing canola oil, which has a very high smoke point, well past 400 degrees. Peanut oil, which I believe has a slightly higher smoke point, we’ve been frying in peanut oil for forever. We sure have. Canola oil, to me, once it gets past smoke point about four to 450, you start to get a bitter taste. Olive oil. I believe that that gets a super, super bitter taste because you took it past that smoke point. This is an extra virgin olive oil. Tends to be, once you hit 350, it starts getting a little funky. It’s why a lot of places recommend that you do not even saute on super high heat with olive oil. You only do it on low heat or you do it as like a finisher. That’s true. Nicole, do you know what makes extra virgin olive oil extra virgin? It’s the first press. Yeah. Yeah. I thought you were gonna make a sex joke. It is. We’re using calamari because we like to eat fried seafood. Yeah, big fan. And sometimes we just do things for us. Yeah. But also like if you’re frying donuts in olive oil, that’s gonna be a different taste. Olive oil is a much stronger taste, but olive oil is a strong taste. Should I just drop ’em in boss? That would be good. Into olive oil? Yeah, drop them in the olive oil. Olive oil is the perfect temp. About 370. I’m gonna pull that out. We’re gonna see what happens. We’re using an equal part. Where’s the Tony Chachere’s? Oh my No. Okay. Sometimes you just gotta put it right in the oil. Okay. Should I drop this? Yeah, drop them in. That oil is 360. We can drop them in canola as well I don’t think there’s the same amount here. Is that okay? Yeah, it’s fine. We’re testing to see if you taste the burnt oil flavor is really what it is. I’m gonna pull these. These are looking nice. Nice. Do you lemon immediately? I do not lemon immediately. All right. We’re just gonna keep that in a heap in the middle. But did you know that you would’ve got a lemon? ♪ If you didn’t go Toyota of Orange? ♪ All right. This is just going right in the pot with the bare hands. Whoa. That’s a lot of oil. It’s gonna overflow! It’s not gonna overflow. I’m a professional. All righty. Would you like to anoint with more Tony C’s? No? Ay-ay-ay. ♪ Tony Chachere’s blesses our squid. ♪ Try the olive oil first. Let’s try it. Do you want a ring? Here. No. Are you a wings…or are you a rings or, or tents? Rings. Rings? I like tents. You tasting any bitterness in that olive oil? A little bit. A little bit. But I also don’t hate it. You know what I, I mean? Yeah. It’s not it’s not off-putting at all. If I think too hard about it, I feel like I can taste it. But that said, if I’m eating calamari- I’m not thinking. I’m not thinking that hard. I’m kind of just reaching and like, eating it like popcorn at a movie theater, except I don’t even like popcorn. Peanut oil. This is my typical favorite fry oil. Okay. Much more neutral taste. Now that I’m tasting it. There is a very, very distinct flavor coming off the olive oil. Which makes sense. Distinct. ‘Cause olive oil is a very heavy flavor. Totally. Yeah, the olive oil, I mean it really tastes bitter and objectively bad compared to the peanut. Okay. What the hell it’s like a ring pop. What happened? Suck the squid, huh? Ow. I burned my arm. Tastes like foot. What? Has like a footy taste? A taste of footiness. I, I don’t like canola oil. I’m realizing Me neither. It doesn’t taste good. It doesn’t taste good for frying, searing, pan frying, maybe. But. Canola oil really has a heavy fishy smell. And if you’re smelling something, you’re also tasting it. I mean that wasn’t even what this is about. But I’m, I’m gonna continue to fry in peanut oil. I freaking love peanut oil. Olive oil, you can fry in and it doesn’t taste bad bad. It works. No. But that said, the myth is that you can’t fry in olive oil. That’s right. That’s right. I believe that to be true. I mean it’s very, very aggressive. It kind of sucks and this is way more expensive than something like peanut oil. Right. So you know what that means Nicole, this myth munched us. This myth munched us. And I’m munching these squids in olive oil. Ew. Consider me munched baby. Hey YouTube fam. Before we get to our last myth to munch, I’m gonna tell you about a little episode we did recently. It actually means a whole lot to us, It’s called Spice Wars. It’s out. Me taking on another chef, we’re eating ghost peppers, I got snot running everywhere, cursing, you know, like a dang sailor. And we put a lot of heart and soul in this episode. It means a lot to us. If you could go watch it, that’d be super huge. So click outta this video. Whoa. And then go ahead and watch that video before we all explode from this oil. Speaking of exploding from oil. Uh-oh. The final myth we’re testing, we’re testing do you actually have to use a deep fryer or… Can you use a very not dangerous cast iron pot or just a normal sauce pot? And what we’re actually testing here is to see how much oil temperature drops. There’s another fantastic food creator named Adam Ragusea who did a video about why you should never deep fry at home why he never deep fries at home. Because he said in a restaurant they have industrial sized fryers that hold so much oil that the temperature never really drops. Whereas even in one of these at home you’re getting a temperature drop. So we’re gonna see with three different sorts of apparati, how much the temperature actually drops when you drop in some frozen french fries, which will drop oil precipitously. So, we’re getting these all to 375 degrees, The recommended oil frying temperature from Ore Ida, auto parts, the french fries Okay, so I’m dropping in at 397 here Yeah, yeah. I dropped in at 397. Stir it around. Take the temp of the oil, see where you’re at. So I got a 28 degree drop in oil temperature. What did you get Nicole? I was at 351 and I started at 370. So 20. So you got 20, I got a 29 drop. Wow. But that make sense ’cause you can hold more oil in one of these giant bains, right? What’d you guys get? 20 drop. 20 drop. You got a 20 drop? I got a 20 drop. You both got a 20 drop. And so what’s gonna happen when your oil temperature drops? That basically gives a chance for more steam to escape, creating more pores that more oil soaks into. What you really want to do with deep frying food is you get effectively a fat seal on the outside and then that traps the steam in. Ooh. Bingo, bango. You go quick. My oil’s now at 308. It’s just dropping. I even, I cranked that up a little bit. You even fiddled it? I even fiddled it and again it dropped more. But again it’s like a thermostat If you crank it up, it doesn’t get hotter. Like you drop your thermostat to 53 degrees, it doesn’t blow colder air, it just blows air for longer. Wild. If you could start the Gregorian chants as I draw a protection circle of Tony C’s around the french fries And cut! I almost died. Great. That’s the best fry in the world. Never had a better fry than that. Cast iron? This one that the oil dropped the most but went right back up. Much crispier. I feel my very…that fry sucks. Oh now this is the best fry in the world. It’s so hot my eyelashes are coming off. Normal pot. Let’s remember that one. Yeah. Well that’s good because we’re just testing to see if a deep fryer you need it. Arguably no. Deep fryers, even if they hold more oil, the coil doesn’t get hot enough to raise your temperature back up. So you’re gonna get a bigger drop. So immediately that makes these two better. There’s no difference between cast iron and normal pot. If anything, normal pot might be better because it’s more reactive. I agree. Right? It takes longer for cast iron to change temperature. And so all you’re trying to do is affect the heat of the oil, right? Not the surface temp. So cast irons can take longer, this can be more reactive. Jack the oil back up. You have to babysit that a little bit. Use whatever pot you got as long as you do it safely. Smother the fire. Don’t throw ice cubes in it. Trevor. Alright, does this mean we have to stop using deep fryers on the show? Never. No, it’s so easy. Too easy. So much easier. Turn it on. On three, one, two. That myth’s been munched. Munched! Myth munchers. Yeah. Yeah. We learned a lot today. We found out that you really do need a thermometer to accurately measure the temperature of oil. At least if you made the chopstick method, you can’t tell if the oil’s hot enough, but boy can you not tell if it’s too hot. Then the Josh method turns out I am just arrogant, full of hubris and I suck. And it did make our food worse. Donut holes didn’t cook through. Then we found out you don’t have to use a draining rack. In fact, you kind of have to use paper towels. It does let the oil actually absorb instead of just sitting in the food and letting air flow and steam. And again the Josh oven method did prove to be the worst. And then we found out, but Josh’s favorite oil peanut won. That’s great. Olive oil really does get bitter and it has an incredibly strong flavor when you fry with it. Also it it, it like might lead to bad health stuff. Who knows man, we’re not doctors yet. Yet. Canola oil just kind of tastes, tastes like feet. Tastes like feet sometimes. Then we found out you don’t have to use a deep fryer. In fact, using a deep fryer can actually cause your oil to drop more in temperature versus using cast iron or a normal pot. ‘Cause you can crank the heat on that. Whereas the deep fryer’s heating coil does not heat very fast. So myth munchers. What’d you guess? I said thermom. I said paper towel. I said nut. And I said cast iron. I got three right. Shoot, two. Trevor, what’d you get? Thermometer, paper towel, canola, and deep fryer. I got two. Yeah, it’s not bad. Nicole? Hey, what’s up everybody? I guessed thermometer, rack, peanut oil and it really doesn’t matter. I got two. Josh. Josh. What’d you get? Josh? Josh, oven, peanut, deep fryer, Gilbert Arenas walk off. Josh. I got one right. I got the peanut oil, but then man’s hubris got the best of ’em again. And turns out I don’t know as much about deep frying as I thought. Ew. So, you get you have to act like a raccoon, AKA yourself. That’s right. Go. Go eat outta the trash, boy. Boy raccoon. I hope y’all learned something about deep frying today. I hope if you’re encouraged to deep fry in your own home, do it safely. Don’t get a bunch of oil in an open flame and always smother fires. Happy shrimping. Even home chefs deserve top tier cooking tools. Head over to sporked.com for the best kitchen appliance recommendations.