Presto Cool Daddy - for food fried presto

Howdy pardners,

I been a hankerin’ to write about our new fangled Presto Cool Daddy Cool Touch Deep Fryer ever since I plopped down 40 greenbacks fer it at the Macy’s General Store well nigh a year back. . It were on sale and they give me a whoppin’ 15% discount off the sale price fer payin with a plastic card. Now ain’t that somethin’?

The missus deputized me to go on a hunt fer a new deep fryer cuz our old black Fry Baby was gittin hard to clean and it spit out burnin hot oil on her bare arms as painful as a rattlesnake’s bite. She was a fixin to make us some fancier vittles so I wouldn’t be chowin down so much on pork and beans in the winter time when the windows stay shut.

Well, one fine morning after shavin’ at the wash basin, I put on some clean duds and new britches, hitched up the hosses to the buckwagon, and moseyed into town to get the little woman ten yards of gingham and one o’ them hot oil cookers. As I was singin’ Red River Valley on the way, and keeping one eye open for hombres, I was thinkun’ I might get me a glass o’ sarsaparilla and maybe talk a bit with that young filly Miss Chris at the Old Spud Saloon.

THE GOOD

This Presto fryer has a clean, modern design - rounded, attractive, and functional. Its white body remains cool to the touch even while bearing a bubbling inferno in its heart. Its external dimensions are roughly 10.5 inches by 12” and standing almost ten inches tall. The removable nonstick surfaced removable pot has an 8 ¾” diameter, and the wire basket is a little less than 3 inches deep with a 71/2” diameter. The pot holds eight cups of oil or four cups of shortening. We just use oil because a guy certainly doesn't need to touch anything that’s shortening!

Pressing the large, grey button on the front pops up the hinged, removable lid to access the cooker’s innards. A light below it signals when the oil has heated sufficiently.
The frying basket has a comfortable exterior handle that folds up to lift out what you’ve been cooking.
On top of the fryer is a shallow compartment housing a mesh charcoal filter. It’s there to absorb frying odors and works quite well, even though I kind of like the aroma of sizzling potatoes. In my initial enthusiasm last March I bought ten extra filters from Presto. They’re all still resting in the original mailer. I think we’ll have enough filters.

Near the bottom of the fryer base is an adjustable temperature control, a feature I deemed desirable while shopping for a deep fryer. In practice Mrs. Spudman mostly keeps it set on 375 degrees; so it may be a feature one could live without.

We enjoy the taste of food prepared in the deep fryer. Mrs. Spudman has used it to cook such foods as fries, tater tots, onion rings, breaded shrimp, scallops, breaded fish fillets, and fish sticks.
The food is crisp and tasty but surprisingly not oily. Cooking time is relatively brief, and the cooker’s lid prevents oil from spattering on the cabinets and the arms of the chef.

It’s very convenient and painless to be able to lower the cold food into the hot oil with the lid down by using the exterior fold down handle. Messy, annoying splatter is thus eliminated.

For information about Presto products go to www.GoPresto.com . The site is easy to navigate and informative. You can learn about Presto products and the history of the company that was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 1905 as a manufacturer of industrial pressure cookers. I emailed the company today to inquire about getting a replacement instruction booklet for this fryer. Within two hours I had a response and a promise to promptly send a booklet at no cost to me.


THE BAD

There isn’t a whole lot not to like about this product. The white, plastic exterior shows fingerprints, mostly mine, but they wipe off easily with a damp cloth. The size can be a bit daunting, and a buyer might have to be creative to find a place to store it.
One problem we have is actually related to one of its best features, the hinged lid which is a protective barrier from the sizzling oil. Our cabinets above the counter top are low enough to keep the lid from opening fully. The Presto has to be positioned on the very edge of the counter to enable the lid to open all the way. This would be dangerous and foolish. We just make the best of the situation and try to deflect the lid with a free hand before it slams into the cabinet above. It certainly opens wide enough to be functional.

Some fryers have larger, rectangular baskets that hold more food. This might be something to consider before your purchase. For the spud family the basket with this fryer has been more than adequate.

The see through viewing window on the lid works great when the fryer is not turned on. When it heats up, trying to see the food is like looking through steamed pair of glasses.
This is not a useful feature.


THE UGLY

My job is to clean the cooker, and I find the chore tedious and time consuming. After waiting hours for the oil to cool, I lift out the pot and pour the oil into another container through cheesecloth to capture food particles. I find this to be quite a strain.
We keep the cleaned oil in a lidded container until the next use.
Then I fill the oily pot with soapy hot water and clean it. The hinged lid is removable, as is the filter cover. It’s a bit tedious getting into all the nooks and crannies, but not too bad. I have the hardest time trying to clean the glass window on the lid. It always seems to have smudges remaining no matter how many times I clean it. While discussing this review with her, Mrs. Spudman boasted that she had no problem cleaning the glass. Upon inspection I noticed the glass looked fine after she cleaned it last night.


Well, I been a working on this compewter contraption for too long now, so I better giddy up and shut it on down. If you like some fried grub every once in a while, you might want to git yerself one o’ these frying machines. The next time you invite the kinfolk over fer a shindig, you can serve ‘em fries and fritters that’ll make their faces shine and make you the talk of the town and even towns out yonder.