Let’s face it: we like frying, who doesn’t like it? Let’s forget about the quality of the fried foods, let’s focus instead on the idea of ​​frying per se. Crunchy food, tasty also thanks to the oil or butter, the golden breading (I hope for you that you imagine it golden and not brownish) and uniform, fried in batter. There are so many reasons to love stir-fries. However, there are many problems associated with the fried foods themselves. The choice of oil, which often exceeds the smoke point, the amount of oil that penetrates into the food if frying is not done in a workmanlike manner, the fact that, if frying is not to be demonized, eat all fried foods. days is certainly not possible.

All these uncertainties can be overcome thanks to the faux fry technique , which is a cooking method that allows you to fry without oil, using the characteristic oven cooking. In fact, even in the oven the food “fries”, in the sense that it sizzles: to do this, the oven temperature must be between 180 ° and 200 °.

Other techniques for frying without oil are: the use of dextrose , which however must be used with a particular technique and the foresight to dry the frying with absorbent paper, a lot, otherwise the result will be sweet. Also, frying in sugar doesn’t seem like such a healthy choice; the use of air fryers, so called because they use up to eighty percent less oil.
Understand that compared to these techniques, the faux fry method is safe and suitable for everyone.
It can be used for foods to be breaded, both sweet and savory, of all kinds. However, it cannot be done with liquid batters.

The oil for the faux fry: the oil for the faux fry is very little, and you can even avoid it altogether. The choice is yours. If you use oil, it is good to choose an oil with a high smoke point: peanut oil, olive oil (not extra virgin; or high quality extra virgin with low acidity), ghee or butter clarified, non-extra virgin coconut oil (max 180 °). Apart from “non-extra virgin coconut oil, the others allow cooking up to 200 ° in safety.

The procedure: first prepare the vegetables, meat or fish (or fruit) to be fried. In a bowl, make a batter like this: Beat 2-3 egg whites (depending on how much stuff you need to cook) with a pinch of salt and a tablespoon or two of oil or melted butter. Alternatively, if you do not want to use eggs: chia seed gel or flaxseed, which is obtained by macerating the seeds in a little water (until the seeds are covered) for a few hours, until they create a gel. Otherwise, plain plain or vegetable milk mixed with oil will do.
Dip each piece in the batter, remove the excess liquid and pass it in the breadcrumbs.

The secret of the faux fry is the breading . The breading must give the crunchiness. Here are the ideas:
mix crumbled wasa slices or a handful of all bran cereals or a handful of whole grain breakfast cereals with two or three tablespoons of breadcrumbs, spices to taste and chopped herbs. Other additions can be: wheat germ, almond or walnut skins (if you use them often, keep them), oat or wheat bran, crushed oil seeds, such as flax seeds, pumpkin seeds (one tablespoon is enough). In sweet fries, the breading can be a mix of all bran, coconut bran and flour, sweet spices such as cinnamon, almond skins or walnuts. Once you have created your mix, pour it into the mixer and chop everything up well, but not too finely.
Finally, after dipping each piece in the batter, roll it into your mix. Then place each piece on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

What happens? The oil of the batter in cooking passes a little in the breading, making it crunchy, as if it were fried in oil.
The oven, as I said, must go from 180 to 200 °, but no more.

The variations are many and allow you to indulge yourself. The result is often superior to frying with oil!