Why does cooking splash oil?

Many people who cook for the first time have this lament: they have prepared everything, but when pouring the oil into the wok, they still have all kinds of worries. The biggest concern is oil splashing, which can cause personal injury if not promptly addressed. So why does oil splash when cooking? What are some tips to avoid this phenomenon in life? Let’s find out together.

Why does oil splash when frying?

When frying food with frying oil, the temperature is relatively high (usually between 160 and 200°C). When food containing water is put into the pot, the water temperature suddenly rises and vaporizes (water boils at 100℃ and produces steam).

When liquid turns into gas, its volume expands, which creates greater pressure on the surrounding oil. As a result, the oil explodes and splashes.

How to cook without oil splashing?

Oil is most likely to splash when there is water in the pot. Wait until the water dries up before adding oil.

When frying vegetables, the oil in the pan often splashes out easily. Just sprinkle a little salt in the hot oil to prevent the oil from splashing out of the pan.

When stir-frying meat dishes, you can use the "hot pan and cold oil" method. That is to say, heat the pan first, then pour in the oil, and then put the vegetables in before the oil is hot, so that they will not be splashed.

Choosing high-quality oil for cooking can also avoid oil splattering when cooking to a certain extent.

There are various types of oils on the market at present, and some unscrupulous vendors may add water to the oil in order to make huge profits. If you buy this kind of oil to cook, even if the pan is burned dry, it will still explode. Therefore, when buying oil, it is better to go to the supermarket to buy oil with guaranteed quality.

Cooking Tips

1. All ingredients to be fried in the pan, whether they are shredded, diced or cut into pieces, must be cut into the same size so that the ingredients can be evenly fried in a short time.

2. Put the ingredients that are difficult to cook into the pot first, stir-fry until slightly hot, then add the ingredients that are easy to cook into the pot and stir-fry evenly until cooked, then remove from the pot.

3. When cooking, it is best to control the oil temperature below 200 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, there will be no explosion when the vegetables are put into the pan, which avoids fat denaturation, reducing nutritional value and even producing harmful substances.

4. In fact, when cooking some vegetables, such as eggplant, try to avoid cutting them into pieces with a knife. Because after the eggplant is cut, it will no longer absorb oil and the oil cannot penetrate into the eggplant. The best way is to break it into small pieces by hand.

5. For vegetables that are not easy to stir-fry quickly, such as kidney beans, green beans, and celery, you can blanch them in hot water before putting them into the pot.