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List Price: $112.50
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First off, this is my first deep fryer so I can not compare this to others which Im sure are very good as well.
I recived this Hamilton Beach deep fryer as a gift being I have been getting intrested in fried foods at home.
I really enjoy this fryer alot. It is built very well. Very easy to operate too. It heats up nicely and even has a timer.
Just a note, the timer dosn't turn off the fryer when done, which isn't a problem with me at all. The only thing I see is that the battery for the timer appears to be incased and cant replace if it goes out, but it really seems to be working perfectly.
This fryer is not only easy to set up and use, but cleaning was a major concern to me before getting any fryer. This thing is very easy to disassemble and clean.
Nice deep basket. I had alittle problem with my beer battered fish and chicken sticking to the bottom of the basket after I pulled a batch, but this has nothing to do with the fryer, its just learning the technique. I'm only stating this for anyone else intrested in purchasing a first time fryer. But the basket for this one is very easy to clean and pretty deep so you can get a decent load of food per batch.
The food fries up very quickly too. My chicken and fish come out cooked just right, staying tender and juicy by following the directions that accompany the manuel/recipe book that comes with this.
If I ever needed to get another fryer for what ever reason, although this is my first one, I wouldn't hesitate to get another like this. I am really very happy with this. Simple, gets the job done, and not alot of whistles and bells you never end up using.
Also, I have noticed it is insulated very well too. The metal sides don't get real hot, although I would never recommend trying to lift or move it when in operation. The oil really gets hot like its supposed to, and the cover is really nice keeping it all contained when in use.
Enjoy! :)
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I purchased this fryer, never having used one prior, because of its 12-cup capacity and for how easy to use it was made to seem. It has the timer, viewing window, claimed to be very simple to clean. While these claims aren't exactly untrue, with the money you're spending, these features are pretty standard. There are cheaper fryers that function more like deep buckets to put oil in but this is certainly several steps up from that. Though, the truth is that its just a basic fryer. Clean up (as you might imagine) is a bit of a pain if you're using this on a semi-regular basis. And, frankly, you NEED to use it on a pretty regular basis in order to get your money's worth. The 96 oz. of oil needed to get this thing going makes it an expensive novelty if only for occasional use. I do enjoy this fryer; it keeps its temperatures well, the green "ready" light also (possibly incidentally) lets you know where the temperature level is at, roughly, by flashing on when its reached its set temp. Its easy to set the temperatures, the guide that comes with this is actually really helpful on setting things to the right temps (the little cookbook section isn't bad either). One note on temps: the older the oil is the lower you'll want to place temps. Hamilton Beach's suggestions are helpful but not the law, play around with cook times and temps as the oil gets older. One interesting note about its quality design: I recently, softly dropped the lid and it is now permanently misshapen. Its felt solid otherwise, just odd such a small ding would leave a large impact on aluminum. Other than that, again, its easy to use, can be a great time-saver, but does just what it should for $50. I would disregard the bells and whistles and see it for what it is: an entry level fryer.
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Given as a Christmas gift to my daughter. She was very happy with the product stating it was better with cooking times than her last fryer. The "well" was deep enough to cook a family of five enough chicken at one time.
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i work at a deli that uses fryers all day. I decided to buy this one. I am throughly impressed by its design. i would reccomend this fryer highly to anyone!
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Got this fryer as a gift from my dad. I will let you all know that the oil pan is a deep 1/3 hotel pan so if you need to replace it just get one of those at a restaurant supply store and put 96oz of oil in it (2x48oz of canola oil at my walmart were 2.84ea).
Now about the fryer itself... the handle on the basket could be a little sturdier (so could the basket itself honestly) as the way to attach and detach it is to squeeze the forks together and lift/lower/insert/remove it. The little angles of metal that hold the forks could be a little longer so as to hold the handle a little more securely.Not a huge complaint by any means just a suggestion.
The only real issue I have so far is the cord. It's about 18" long and the magnets that hold it onto the fryer are so weak you could literally drop a hot wing on it and it would fall off. I know its there for safety but with such a short cord you almost dont need the magnetic release. Plus the actual plug portion where it plugs into the fryer is about 2" long with additional room needed to keep the cord from bending against a wall and causing it to disconnect. So as long as you can keep the back of the fryer 6" from the wall (probably a good idea in the first place) you will be fine.
Heating to 375 was almost exactly 10 min (for a gallon of oil thats pretty quick really)... cooking some home made chicken nuggets and some fries was quick and easy. Nuggets took 2-3 min and fries took 1-2min so all told I had a plateful of fries and nuggets in 15 min from turning on the fryer from a cold boot. Even with the ready light off 90% of the time while cooking the food still cooked quickly and was dry (as in not oily) when I sat down to eat. Dry food from a fryer is indicative of a high cooking temp so even if the oil wasnt 375 exactly while cooking it was still hot enough to leave the food perfectly cooked and not greasy. The fries and nuggets were crispy and just outstanding tasting... ate almost half a bag of fries (walmart seasoned fries are about 1.65 for a 2lb bag) in one sitting!
Overall this fryer is nearly flawless and only the two things mentioned above plus maybe some insulation around the oil pan to keep the sides cool to the touch keep it from being the perfect fryer. I used to be a fry cook in a popular restaurant in upstate NY and I really had no issues with this fryer once I got cooking (pardon the pun).
nov 30 2012 update: I still have this fryer and its still going strong. The element is covered in blackness but it still heats up just fine. The paint on the temp dial wore off in about a month but I just took a thumb tack and scored the lines for the different temps and if you know the top one is 375 and they go down by 25 deg per line you can figure it out... probably could have just used the tacks themselves to be honest and just stuck them in and left them. The only other thing that's gone wrong with the unit is the button for the timer recessed into the unit so far that you cant push it anymore. I suppose I could open it up and try to fix it but I only used the timer a couple of times while making fried chicken and I have other kitchen timers so Im really not concerned.
