Presto CoolDaddy Deep Fryer - C'Mon Fry Me Up

I’ve never owned a deep fryer. Frying to me meant a frying pan with oil and sauteing. French fries, mozzarella sticks, chicken strips all went into the oven. That’s just the way it was done in my house.

We kept talking about getting a deep fryer, and when I had enough points in one of the reward programs, the Presto CoolDaddy Electric Deep Fryer was an option. We decided to get it and see how it turned out.

There were lots of reasons for me to like the Presto CoolDaddy Electric Deep Fryer. First of all, the frying part is completely enclosed. The basket which contains the food can be lowered into the oil with the lid closed. All of this prevents splattering and a greasy mess on the counter and all over the kitchen. The housing stays cool to the touch. No worrying about little hands (or big hands) burning themselves with the outer portion of the deep fryer getting as hot as hades. Finally, there was this nice viewing window that - in theory - would allow me to see the food as it cooked in the hot oil.

It was some time before I actually used the Presto CoolDaddy Electric Deep Fryer. It’s not that we weren’t eating great deep fried food, it’s just that others in my home had taken over the operation of the deep fryer and I wasn’t given the opportunity to use it for myself. We had a wide variety of great deep fried foods including chicken nuggets, French fries, mozzarella sticks, stuffed jalapenos, battered fish, etc.

We had problems with tater tots in the Presto CoolDaddy Electric Deep Fryer. They seemed to get all lumped together in one big glop of taters, rather than being nice and crispy little disks. We might have tried to put too much in. That’s one issue when you have a large family - the basket which holds the fool that goes into the oil doesn’t hold all that much. Frequently we have to do food in two separate batches. If we are doing something like chicken nuggets and fries, then we sometimes have to end up doing four batches in the oil.

Most of the food has come out pretty good, though. We store the oil in between cooking right in the Presto CoolDaddy Electric Deep Fryer. It needed some added to it after about the third use. We strained the oil once as well, and finally had to change it after doing the fish. The oil really seems to hold in the flavor and smell of fish when that’s cooked in the Presto CoolDaddy Electric Deep Fryer. I don’t know if that’s unique to this product or a common problem with deep frying.

When I was finally allowed to use the deep fryer for the first time, I learned a few things for myself. There’s no ON/OFF switch. The plug attaches to the back via a magnet and then the fryer is on. There’s an indicator light on the front. When it goes off, the oil has been heated to the temperature set on the dial.

Ah yes, the dial. I had fries which said to heat the oil to 400. The dial on the front of the deep fryer which sets the temperature of the oil only goes to 375. So anything that needs to be cooked above this temperature presents a problem.

I was also making chicken nuggets and these were a bit heavier in the basket. It’s neat that the basket slides up and stays out of the oil with the lid opened or closed. This makes it easy to load items in to be dropped in the oil. I can pull the basket up, open the lid, put in whatever I have to deep fry, close the lid, then lower it into the hot oil. If this works, it then prevents any splattering when the food is lowered into the oil. However, I found when I had the nuggets, their weight made the food on the bottom touch the oil and the sizzling and splattering started, although it was minimal.

While the window on top is another good idea in theory, I found it gets really splattered in short order and prevents me from really being able to see the food. It was back to opening and closing the lid to see how the food was doing.

The fries did cook, they just took a little longer. Could they have cooked better? Maybe. The outside was nice and brown and the inside seemed only just cooked. Getting the food out was easy. I let the cooked food sit so the majority of the oil dripped off, then the whole basket slid out and I dumped the food onto a plate with a couple of layers of paper towels.

When it was time to change the oil and clean it, it was extremely easy to do. Everything lifts out for easy cleaning. The outside is plastic and we wipe it down with a warm sponge after use. It stays looking great which is important since it’s ended up sitting out on my counter.

In general we’ve been satisfied with the Presto CoolDaddy Electric Deep Fryer. I think a lot of it has to do with basically getting it for nothing. If I ever have to purchase another deep fryer, I’d look for something larger with a bigger capacity. This says it has a six serving size. Realistically, I would say it’s more like for a typical family of four. I would also like the ability to deep fry different foods at the same time so I don’t have my dinner finishing at different times. I would also like to be able to heat the oil so it’s the correct temperature.

However, for my first deep fryer, I’m happy overall. This would be great for a couple who don’t fry as much food or even a family of three. I think it could be better, but overall it works pretty well.




© 2007 Patti Aliventi