Submitted by Low-Candidate-6028 t3_123bx25 in explainlikeimfive
Low-Candidate-6028 OP t1_jdu45c6 wrote
Thank you so much for these helpful answers!!!
So, to clarify:
-does the temperature of the oil turn it into saturated and trans fats?
-why is the calorie count higher? Is it bc the food is immersed in such a large amount of oil?
Thank you!!
azuth89 t1_jdu6rbp wrote
Saturated va unsaturated fat is basically about whether that particular fat is a solid or a liquid at room temp. There are multiple varieties with saturated generally being less healthy because it raises the "bad" cholesterol. They don't change from one to the other with temperature, though some can change with chemical alteration.
Trans fats in cooking MOSTLY come from plant based fats that have been altered to be solid at room temp, like saturated fats. They do occur naturally in small quantities in some meats. They are cheap, shelf stable and for awhile it was thought the plant based fats might be healthier than animal based frying fats all of which made them appeal for fast food frying and such. Turns out they hit that "bad" cholesterol (LDL) worse than even natural saturated fats.
Cooking oils and other things to fry in are basically just pure fat. That makes them VERY calorific and if your fried food picks up much of any of it it will have more calories in turn. Carbs also crisp nicely when fried so you tend to see a lot of added breading in fried foods or frying of inherently starchy things like breads and potatoes which are already pretty calorific to start with.
Gigantic_Idiot t1_jduwahb wrote
>-does the temperature of the oil turn it into saturated and trans fats?
At the conditions used for normal cooking, no. Oils can be turned from unsaturated to saturated, but it requires temperatures, pressures, and reactants that aren't available for normal cooking.
>-why is the calorie count higher? Is it bc the food is immersed in such a large amount of oil?
That is exactly right! The way frying cooks food and makes it crispy, whether pan, stir, or deep frying, is to bring the oil to a high temp. 375°F roughly. This is significantly hotter than the 212°F boiling temperature of water. So whenever the water in the outer layers of a food meets this hot oil, it immediately flashes into steam. This rapid expansion of gas creates pockets that the oil can flow into. With shallow frying methods, such as pan or stir fry, there isn't enough oil to really fill up these pockets. But with deep frying on the other hand, the food is in a pool of oil, meaning all those little pockets can fill back up and absorb a ton of oil.
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