I Stand Corrected

Sort of. Someone who clearly knows more than a few things about fry oil wrote in over the weekend to say I missed a key type of oil degradation reaction in my Friday discussion: polymerization. Yes, it’s true, I did skip over it. The reason I did so, however, is because frying fat is so far gone by the time polymerization happens, it’s almost not worth bringing up. Anyway, that’s my excuse. The fact is I really don’t know much about fry oil polymerization, except to say that it involves various free fatty acids double- and triple-bonding to one another to form extremely sturdy and uniform 3-D shapes. Get enough of this kind of activity going and oil becomes, dark, thick and eventually solid. Most of the nearly impossible-to-remove stains on the outside of pots and pans are a result of this phenomenon: oil spills over the rim of the pan, meets the heat of the burner and whammo: instant polymer.

Good comment, the kind that keeps me humble. Sort of.