Cooking oil can and does alter the texture, color and taste of fried food. Done properly, and with expert cooking oil filtration equipment, it affects it in delicious ways! But specifically when the oil should be changed or filtered gets more at the personality of the operation. That is, the oil change-out and filtration program really becomes a part of the recipe, flavor consistency, and, ultimately, the brand and reputation of the store. There is no “one-size-fits-all” quantitative test to say that it is time to discard the oil.
Every time the fryer is used, some of the oil is lost to the food. Auto top off ensures consistency from batch to batch.
In the end, consistency is everything. And don’t think of consistency as it relates to time; rather, it is about volume. For example, if the average week’s chicken sales volume is doubled over the Fourth of July week, then filtration and change out intervals are doubled up as well.
Successful operations invest a lot of resources training their employees how the product should look, taste and smell. But that’s asking a lot. Automated equipment such as Frontline’s EZ Oil fresh oil distribution system and our Direct Plumb® waste oil equipment can be programmed for auto top-off and auto filtration as a way of enhancing consistency.
You see, every time the fryer is used, some of the oil is lost to the food. Auto top off ensures consistency from batch to batch.
At the same time, the composition of the original oil necessarily underwent a chemical degradation during frying operation. This can be measured by determining the TPM (Total Polar Material) of the oil. The short on TPM is this: Frying leads to the formation of compounds in the oil that are more polar than the triacylglycerols of the fat. Collectively these are called total polar material (TPM), and the mass concentration of TPM is used as an indicator of the quality of frying fats. When TMP volume is too high (as determined by the store), it's time to change the oil.
The “smart” part of Frontline Smart Oil Management makes it easy to Monitor, Measure, and Manage (M3) the data on your fresh oil supply and the volume of the oil you use, change, and collect in any given time period. You can track it all online, any time 24/7. The optional M3 system works in concert with all Frontline’s fresh oil and waste oil systems.
