Food Cost Calculations

[AmithS]

agreed oil plays an important part in the costing of fresh chips. i have been trying for a while now to get a good indication of fresh chips costing and it is difficult as it varies with every pocket. because of the way you peel each pocket etc...

do you have any experience with chip white ? i believe it keeps your chips lasting longer before actually frying them.

I think Steers uses chip white

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

Most chip manufacturers use chip white. It does keep them probably even for 2 days but in turn affects taste and damages oil.

The alternative is to keep covered in water. Then dry off and blanch. Blanch chips in morning for whole day.
Blanching(160) cooks them. When the order comes whack tehm at 180
Always blanch enough, that way temperature control is kept. problems coem when you suddenly run out and they start cooking from raw at 180

[AndyD]

Chip white is used only before blanching usually. I don't think it's a taste or quality thing, as far as I know it's just to stop discolouration of the chips between slicing and cooking.

Shortening gives better tasting chips than sunflower or rape oil. Shortening is usually a white solid at room temperature and doesn't degrade as fast at cooking temperatures but it's more expensive. Palm oil is quite popular nowadays but it's a saturated fat which is considered less healthy and causes high cholesterol according to some but it handles highish cooking temperatures.

Fryer temperature calibration is important. If the oil is overheated then it's lifespan decreases very rapidly. Foods with batter or flour coating that ends up in the oil also reduces oil lifespan. Filtering oil periodically during the day can profoundly increase it's lifespan. Old oil or overheated oil breaks down on a molecular level and eventually becomes very unhealthy and mildly poisonous, not to mention it tastes foul as well.

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

The whitener is used to stop discolouration but in turn affects the taste, marginally. The chips get cut and then dusted with the whitener which eventually gets absorbed.

Oils that solidify cause a problem with blanched, ie frwsh chips. the oil solidifies when they cool and absorb. Chips taste crap. If you want to use fresh chips then a pure oil.
If you use frozen chips then you can use blended oils.

i ran some oil testing in our restauranst with chips only and as a result moved to pure sunfower oil, found it lasted longer.
With blended oils you also cant tell the quality, any perosn can make blends. Basically the lwoer the price the more water and crap is in it!!!!!!!!

[AndyD]

....The chips get cut and then dusted with the whitener which eventually gets absorbed.

I think we're talking about 2 different products, I've only seen the liquid one one you add to the water.

[AmithS]

If you guys dont mind me asking, what fryers do you guys use?

I have 20 liter floor standing, 6kw per phase with a max temp of 180 on the dials !

[mariecoleman]

Yeah I agree with the above statement. There are lost of things to consider when you do some food cost calculations. Plus, food factoring sometimes varies depending upon the item. Meanwhile, Wages in the U.S. have been stagnant for some time. But prices keep going up. That is especially true of food costs, the one thing we can’t go without. Crop shortages, global warming, political bickering and a weak dollar are all fighting against your flat-line paycheck. Nothing left to do but to economize.