Deep fryers make our lives so much easier! Without them, there wouldn’t be french fries in this world. Omg, I can’t imagine… But despite their awesomeness, deep fryers can be pretty dangerous, especially if you put ice them! Interested to know what happens if you put ice in a deep fryer? Keep on reading!
Can you deep fry ice?
No, you certainly cannot deep fry ice. The reason for this is that ice is solid water, of course. This means that it’s at an extremely low temperature, especially if it’s been frozen for quite a long time.
When it’s placed into boiling oil, it instantly melts. After that, it instantly boils, becoming water vapor very quickly.
Steam is much less dense than ice. This means that the same amount of molecules takes up a lot more space. The outward motion of those molecules leads to hot oil being spat out of the deep fryer in many directions, all at once.
While the melting and boiling process does cool the oil slightly, it’s insignificant in the grand scheme of things. So the oil is still boiling hot, leading to it being able to burn people and start fires very easily.
What happens if you put ice in a deep fryer?
If you place ice in a deep fryer, then the ice will immediately melt into water. This happens because the oil is a lot hotter than the ice, so heat energy is transferred into the water molecules within the ice.
When they have enough evergy, they change state into water. This is the same process that happens with an ice cube on a countertop, only much more quickly.
After the ice turns to water in the deep fryer, the hot oil is still much hotter than the boiling point of the water. To that end, the water would immediately boil and turn into steam. This means that it would expand outward very quickly, pushing the hot oil outward very rapidly.
This splashing, boiling oil would be liable to burn anyone stood near it, and should be avoided for proper kitchen safety.
The misconception of frying ice
The misconception that you can fry ice may come from the dish deep fried ice cream. Deep-fried ice cream is a ball of solid ice cream dipped in a thick layer of batter, before being deep-fried.
The batter protects the ice cream from the hot oil, meaning it’s still cold in the center even after the ball has been submerged in boiling oil.
In this case, you can deep fry ice cream, but you cannot deep fry ice. Even battered ice wouldn’t be able to be deep fried, since the ice would melt into water, and leak through the batter into the deep fryer.
Why does ice in a deep fryer explode?
The reason for this, quite simply, is that the ice immediately melts and vaporizes within the deep fryer that you’re working with.
When speaking about water, as we are here, the solid takes up a little more space than the water, but the gas (steam) takes up vastly more space than either the liquid or the solid.
This means that while the ice doesn’t technically explode as a bomb would, it expands outward very quickly.
While this isn’t technically an explosion, it functions as something very similar to an explosion, sending out a wave of force. This wave of force serves to push hot oil away from the steam, splashing it out of the deep fryer.
This can be seen when a large deep fryer is used in this context, with a relatively small amount of ice. One ice cube in a commercial fryer, for example, will melt and turn to steam on its own very quickly, leading to the fryer fizzing and hissing for a few minutes before returning, to normal.
If a large amount of ice is added, however, the cumulative effect is much greater. The ice will all rapidly boil and expand, leading the fryer to overflow and, in violent cases, explode.
What if you accidentally drop ice in a fryer?
Accidentally dropping ice in a fryer can be more dangerous than doing it purposefully. The reason for this is that accidentally dropping ice can lead to the oil slopping out of the fryer as the ice spontaneously boils – this poor combination can lead to burns on things that are simply sitting on the countertop.
The ice will instantly melt and then boil, becoming steam. The end result is that hot oil will be rapidly splashed out of the deep fryer, being slopped or exploded out and into the kitchen.
This is not only messy, but also dangerous!
Deep fryer safety rules
Here are some deep fryer safety rules you should know to avoid getting hurt!
1. Don’t put your hand in the fryer
I say ‘hand’, but really, I mean any part of your body that you would mind losing. The truth of the matter is that a deep fryer is an exceptionally dangerous piece of equipment, and putting pieces of yourself into it can result in you needing medical care.
Therefore, don’t touch the boiling oil within the deep fryer under any circumstances.
2. Don’t mix temperatures
As a general rule of thumb, keeping cold items away from the deep fryer is a good idea. When a cold item gets very hot very quickly, it can break or shatter. This would result in you having a boiling vat of oil full of potentially sharp shards.
3. Don’t add water
Adding water to a deep fryer is the worst thing you can do – the water will instantly boil, turning to steam and leading hot oil to explode out of the fryer itself. To avoid this, oil fires should be suffocated with a fire blanket, instead of being doused with water.
FAQ
What happens if you drop ice in hot oil?
The ice will instantly melt and boil, leading to an explosion of hot oil in your kitchen.
Can you put dry ice in a deep fryer?
No, this will likely be even worse than adding regular ice, since dry ice is so much colder. There would likely be an immediate explosion, as I’ve explained in this article.
What’s the top deep fryer safety rule?
This is a tough question to answer, since each cook will have a different response. We would argue, though, that the top rule ought to be never to add water to the fryer – this will instantly cause an explosion.
Wrapping it up!
There you have it! This is exactly what happens if you put ice in a deep fryer!
Deep fryers can be really useful in your home, but they can also be tricky to manage when things get out of hand.
Remember, never add ice to the oil in your fryer! And be careful when using it.