It’s no secret that in the South, food is top priority, and that fried food is a favorite in Southern kitchens.  Fryers are an important addition to any Southern restaurant, as there are so many fried foods that are part of the Southern cooking tradition.  County fairs are famous for filling their fryers with such strange things as s’mores and cotton candy, and “chicken-fried steak” is something that has confused many a Northerner on at least one occasion.  Fried vegetables are ubiquitous on Southern menus, and there are many options for veggies to throw in the fryers.  The batter for vegetables in those fryers is fairly uniform, often consisting of an eggwash or buttermilk dip, coated with a flour or cornmeal mixture and some spices.  Her are a few of our favorite Southern deep-fried vegetables which are sure to keep your fryers full.

Fried Pickles
Battered pickles fresh out of the kitchen fryers are a Southern staple.  Almost any Southern barbecue menu will list fried pickles as an optional side, and some even include them on their burgers!  Many chain restaurants have them on their appetizer menus as well for variety.  There are two types of fried pickles: chips and wedges.  Chips are small, round, and thin, as they come from slicking the pickle crosswise.  Cutting the pickle lengthwise fewer times produces wedges, making for a juicier result.  Fried pickles are often served with blue cheese dressing, ranch dressing, or a similarly creamy sauce.

Fried Green Tomatoes
Made famous by the 1991 film of the same name, fried green tomatoes can be eaten as a side dish, or for breakfast or brunch!  They are a great way to use up end-of-season tomatoes.  Just thinly slice the green tomatoes, then dip them in seasoned cornmeal and fry until crispy.

Fried Okra
Okra is a vegetable that is a fryer’s delight.  The okra plant itself is actually a flowering plant, but its edible seed pods are what make it so deliciously famous.  To make fried okra, slice the pod crosswise so that each piece of okra is bite-sized.  The okra is then coated with a mixture of buttermilk, cornmeal, flour, and seasoning, and deep-fried.  Serve them with ketchup or hot sauce, or by themselves!

One of the most important things to do when preparing a menu is to keep your guests guessing, so consider dispensing with the usual ice creams or plain cheesecake.  Whether you are using your restaurant equipment to fry, grill, or bake your desserts, if you keep an open mind you can create unique menus year-round.  Below we’ve compiled a collection of unusual desserts for your restaurant equipment.

Fried Cookie Dough Bites
With restaurant equipment like Gen2 fryers, you can create sinfully fried delights.  One of our fried dessert ideas is fried cookie dough.  These little balls of sweetness satisfy even the most demanding sweet tooth.  Whatever you choose to coat your cookie dough bites with, be sure that it is extra crunchy.  (We recommend funnel cake batter and cornflakes.)  The contrast between the crunch of the shell and the warm, gooey dough on the inside is sublime.  Thanks to their richness, you only need to serve a few at a time.

Grilled Peaches
This dessert is simple and delicious.  Grilled peaches are a perfect summer treat.  Simply halve and pit the peaches, brush them with canola or grapeseed oil, and grill on your restaurant equipment grill until tender.  You can serve them alone, drizzled with honey, or with a side of yogurt, whipped cream, or ice cream for a little cooling contrast.

Fried Flowers
Though fried flowers are a seasonal dish, they made a unique addition to a menu.  Squash blossoms, orchids, roses, zucchini blossoms, and acacia are all popular flowers to fry, and the resulting dish has a delicate flavor.  To keep your flowers light, make sure that after you dip the flowers in batter that you shake off any excess to keep from masking the flavor.  Likewise, your oil should be sizzling but not smoking, otherwise the flowers may absorb too much oil.

Beetroot and Chocolate Cake
It may sound odd, but the addition of beetroot to a traditional chocolate cake creates a kick of sweetness that counters the bittersweet chocolate.  Adding crushed beets to a cake also has many other benefits: they moisten the cake, add a rich red tint, and retain some of their nutritional value.  There are also vegan versions of this cake recipe, which are useful for offering customers an alternative unusual dessert option.

Dessert Wontons
Wonton wrappers aren’t just for savory edibles anymore.  Use your restaurant equipment to fry up wontons stuffed with sweet things.  Any number of combinations is acceptable.  Try bananas and Nutella; a rhubard pie-like filling; peanut butter and jelly; walnuts, pears, and vanilla; raspberry jam and cream cheese; or peaches, pecans, and mascarpone cheese.  These hot, crispy treats make a great winter dessert.

As the winter chill blows in and the holidays are upon us, you’re probably wishing for some of that bygone summer sunshine right now.  If you’re feeling nostalgic for summer food, use fryers to recreate your favorite fried recipes from the county fair.  Yes, there are plenty of winter foods to satisfy your fried cravings (see fried stuffing on a stick), but there is nothing like a good old-fashioned summer treat to take you back to those warmer days.  And there is so much more out there in the fryers than doughnuts.  The Texas State Fair, for example, holds a contest every year to determine the best, most original food among the concessionaires, and most of the contenders—and almost all of the winners for the last seven years—have been deep-fried.  2012’s winners of the Big Tex Choice Award?  The trophy for Best Taste went to the “Deep-Fried Jambalaya,” and Most Creative was awarded to the “Fried Bacon Cinnamon Roll.”  Heat up the fryers this winter and take a trip to those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer with these crispy dishes.

1. Deep-Fried Cotton Candy
Never was there a more classic fair food.  This traditional spun-sugar treat is battered lightly in a funnel cake mix, quick-fried, and skewered.

2. Deep-Fried Oreos
Fryers all over the nation regularly fire up for this fair favorite.  It’s as simple as it sounds: Oreo cookies dipped in pancake batter and deep-fried.  Best served hot, the cookie itself becomes soft like the pancake surrounding it.

3. Southern Fried Pies
The fried pie has been around for over 100 years as a Southern dessert staple.  More like a turnover or an empanada than a slice of traditional pie, the fried pie consists of fruit filling wrapped in pastry dough.  They are served as hand pies, so pass the napkins.

4. Deep-Fried S’mores
The traditional campfire food is now even messier.  Using marshmallow fluff or flat marshmallows (yes, they make them just for s’mores now), assemble chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallow, then dip in sweet batter and fry.  You might ask for “s’more,” but your arteries might say “No thank you.”

5. Deep-Fried Samoas
Your favorite Girl Scout cookie has gone rogue.  The Samoa cookie (also known as a “Caramel DeLite”) is wrapped in a wonton wrapper and deep-fried to perfection, then drizzled with chocolate sauce, caramel, and coconut. “Be prepared” for a sweet, sweet heart attack.

Pop quiz. What do jelly beans, Kool-Aid, salsa, and Pop-Tarts have in common? If you answered they make for one heckuva late night snack, we could give you partial credit. The real answer, however, is that all of these outlandish snacks have been battered, breaded, and turned into delicious deep-fried treats with fryers.

What better reason to batter and fry everything you can get your hands on than football season? After all, football brings out the some of our best qualities: camaraderie, spirit, and competitive tackling. Might as well include creativity too. If you arm yourself with the correct restaurant equipment, you and your fryer will be the MVPs of every game. Take this Gen2 F5-LP Fryer for example. With a heat range of 200-400 degrees Fahrenheit and a 70-pound capacity, it can take on nearly any frying challenge – including a restaurant teeming with hungry football fans.

Here are our three favorite fried foods to serve at your restaurant’s next football watch party:

1. Chicken-Fried Bacon: You might be thinking one of two things. First, what kind of evil genius thought of such an atery-clogging concoction? Or, hopefully you’re like us and say, that is the most artistic use of a fryer ever conceived. What perfect way to break in my Gen2 fryer. So simple, yet so perfect. Why didn’t I think of it first?

2. Fried Avocado Bites: Because nothing says heart-healthy amino acids and folic acid like a little egg batter and butter. Pop some avocado slices into your fryer, top with a touch of cilantro-lime dipping sauce, and you’ll soon become everyone’s hero.

3. Fried PB&J: Have a special menu for the kiddos (and kids at heart)? Ready-to-order peanut butter and jelly sandwiches will be sure to please even the pickiest eater. But why stop there? Even kids with highly selective pallets deserve the chance to enjoy the bounty of a world-class Gen2 fryer. Fried macaroni and cheese balls, oreos, and cupcakes are sure to keep the pipsqueak population pleased.

What delicacies are you excited to make in your fryer this football season?

People in the food industry appreciate the confidence that comes with equipment like Gen2 fryers.To deep fry is to cook by immersing a food item in hot fat or oil. According to the urban dictionary, fried can also mean being mentally or physically exhausted, or the experience of being made fun of or humiliated. Certainly, chefs and line cooks across the country have had personal experience with each of these versions of the word “fried.” It can be exhausting to run a kitchen, putting out order after order of dishes, dancing around priorities, cooking times, kitchen activity, and customer demands. And fail just once, and you just might be “fried” by customer reviews.

In the world of restaurant equipment, nothing builds confidence and workability like Gen2. For example, the Gen2-F3-NAT natural gas Gen2 fryers earned the “Best In Class” award by Food Service Supplies Magazine. And, like virtually all of our Gen2 products, Gen2 fryers (including this one) boast our five star rating and our Editor’s Choice award.  Gen2 fryers have a cool zone for easy cleaning, range of 200º-400º and a stainless steel tank. The F3 also comes in an LP version. And if you are looking for something larger, the 70-pound capacity Gen2 fryers are also fitted for both LP and natural gas.

Gen2 also has a number of quality accessories available to customize Gen2 fryers to your exact needs. And like all Short Order restaurant equipment, we offer our Gen2 fryers at the lowest possible price and include free shipping. So don’t wait until you are completely fried from trying to meet customer needs while using sub-standard equipment; or worse, you are fried by a viral customer complaint. Choose Gen2 fryers–bring high quality and consistency to your kitchen and take yourself out of the fryer.

Durable, safe and easy to clean, Gen2 fryers are the top choice of restaurant owners across the country. Crispy golden french fries wrapped in paper. Crunchy fried shrimp dipped in tart cocktail sauce. Soft bits of dough fried to perfection and covered in powdered sugar. Doughnuts, fry bread, fried fish, fried chicken–these are the items customers come back for time and again.  If you’re going to reliably deliver the goods — the fried treats your customers demand — you’ll want the reliability of Gen2 fryers on your side.

If you’ve noticed, we’ve been featuring Gen2 products in the last few weeks. That’s because, when it comes to restaurant equipment, nothing compares to the consistent quality of Gen2. For example, the Gen2-F3-NAT natural gas Gen2 fryers were voted “Best In Class” by Food Service Supplies Magazine. This fryer, like all of our Gen2 products, has earned our Editor’s Choice award and 5 star rating.  With a stainless steel fry tank, a cool zone for easy cleaning and range of 200º-400º, these 40-pound capacity Gen2 fryers really do the trick. We also offer an LP version of the F3, as well as the even heftier 70-pound capacity Gen2 fryers, also fitted for both Natural Gas and LP.

Gen2 fryers come standard with everything you need to install a reliable piece of restaurant equipment. However, if more flexibility is what you desire, accessories are also available. And, like all the products we offer at Short Order, we offer our Gen2 fryers at the lowest prices possible and include free shipping! When most companies offer low prices, they make up the difference in shipping costs. That’s just not the way we do business here at Short Order. So where would you go for better quality at a better price? Frankly, we have no idea.

Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it describes. What better onomatopoeia than the word, “crispy?” Think about it–crisp, savory fried chicken, crispy french fries, crispy fried shrimp. The word “crisp” just makes your mouth water, doesn’t it? You hear the word and you can just imaging your mouth biting down on that morsel of fried goodness. So here’s the deal–whatever you fry, it has to be crispy. People smell fried food and they imagine the moment they hear the “crisp” and taste the juicy or gooey or fluffy interior of that tasty delight. So when it comes to the crisp, you have to deliver. And your restaurant equipment better be ready to perform.

Fortunately, Frymaster Fryers are the kings of crisp. At Short Order, we offer a wide selection of Frymaster Fryers, each with admirable ratings for their excellent performance. For example, the 4-star Frymaster Fryer GF14-SD-LP offers a gas, open-opt design with 40lb of oil capacity, precise controls and a deep cold zone. The features of this fryer are exceptional. And you get all that with free shipping and a low price. And let’s talk about filters. To get that unbelievably delicious, unforgettable fried taste, you need an excellent filter. Check out the Frymaster Fryer Filter PF50R, a portable fryer filter with 50lb capacity, reversible pump and casters. This Frymaster Fryers filter, earning our editor’s choice award for excellence, will make sure your oil is in top cooking condition.

With Frymaster Fryers, you can guarantee that your treats and morsels will come out smelling, tasting and sounding delicious. That’s because Frymaster Fryers make it their business to bring the “crisp” to your business. Proven over time to provide excellent, reliable performance, Frymaster Fryers are the trusted, proven and preferred equipment for restaurant owners across the nation. Frymaster Fryers deliver the crisp. And ultimately, isn’t that all you want? Frymaster Fryers — it’s the final word in crisp.

In the fast-paced world of food service, sometimes it can feel like you’re constantly in a race to the finish line. It helps to have restaurant equipment that can keep up. Natural gas fryers have the advantage of rapid heating, going 0 to 300º in no time. But just like race cars, a select few take performance to a whole new level–like the Gen2 40 pound natural gas fryers.

The Gen2-F3-NAT natural gas fryer from Gen2 tops our list of featured 40 pound natural gas fryers this month. Voted “Best In Class” by Food Service Supplies Magazine, this fryer has also earned the Editor’s Choice with a 5 star rating. This tube-type fryer has a stainless steel fry tank with a cool zone for easy cleaning. With a range of 200º-400º, the built-in high limit control keeps your fryer from overheating. This baby measures 15.5″ x 47.13″ x 30.25″, weighing in at a respectable 200 lbs. But your heart will be light as a feather knowing your crispy morsels will be perfectly fried every time at a pace that matches the speed you need. Among 40 pound natural gas fryers, this is one of the best.

With Gen2 40 pound natural gas fryers, you’ll fly through the breakfast, lunch or dinner rush, racking up complements from your raving customers as they bite into your perfectly fried bits or dough or juicy chicken. Because when the perfect ingredients, temperature and timing come together, magic happens. And despite the racetrack-like speeds of a busy kitchen., it’s that deep fried magic that will keep them racing back for more.

Greetings!

We are proud to introduce the ShortOrder Sound-Off! Each month, we will pick a restaurant equipment product category and break it down for you. Then, we’ll rank and review a few of the offerings in the category, so you’ll have the most information to make the best buying decision.

If, for any reason, you would rather not receive this email, feel free to unsubscribe from further issues – you will be able to choose to keep receiving the Now Serving Newsletter that you are currently subscribed for.

This month, we’re taking on the 40 lb deep fryer. The fryer is an essential piece of equipment in many restaurants. They can be found in a wide range of prices, so what’s the difference? You’ll need to look at construction quality and the recovery times to see which model is best for you. Some are really heavy duty, and meant for constant use and need quick recovery time. Others are less heavy duty, but suitable for your average restaurant. There’s no need to buy the heaviest duty, it might be overkill.

Check out our Buyers Guide on Fryers

Model

Rating

Performance

Features & Specifications

Gen2 Gen2-F3-NAT

5 Stars

- Temp range: 200-400 degrees F - High limit control shuts down fryer if shortning exceets max temp

- Stainless Steel Frypot - Tube Type Fryer - Cool Zone in Fry Tank - 2 baskets with plastic coated handles

Dean SR42G-NAT

4 Stars

- Quick heat-up time - Low idle cost per hour during slow periods - low gas consumption per load

- Cool Zone in Fry Tank - Tube Type Fryer - Stainless front, door, backsplash, aluminized sides - Stainless Steel Frypot

Frymaster GF14-SD-NAT

4 Stars

- Large heat-transfer area for even heat distribution - Open pot is easy to clean - Durable temperature probe

- Cold Zone in Frypot - Open Pot Fryer - 12″ x 15″ Frying Area - Stainless Steel Frypot

Vulcan LG300-NAT

3 Star

- Earth magnet to secure door - High limit control shuts down fryer if oil gets too hot - Large cold zone

- Stainless Steel Frypot - Twin fry baskets with plastic handles - Stainless Steel front and door, galvanized sides - Tube Type Fryer

Gas prices are skyrocketing; solar activity is at its peak and someone just won the Mega Millions in the lottery. With that and the daily troubles of life, you and your customers have enough to worry about. Of course, while seated in your restaurant, your customers only seem to worry about having a great experience and eating food that delights the soul. On your end, it’s not always that simple. Delectable foods often need a fabulous recipe, the right ingredients and restaurant equipment that create magic. When it comes to fryers for your establishment, Gen2 Fryers help make impending doom, the cost of petrol and winning numbers irrelevant.

Need proof? At Short Order, each of our Gen2 Fryers received a 5 Star rating and our Editors Choice. Don’t just take our word for it. Food Service Equipment Supplies Magazine voted each Gen2 Fryer “Best in Class” and all you need to do is check out what’s under the hood. Stainless steel fry tanks and door liners are impressive enough. Yet, the other features, such as the Invensys thermostat and built in Flue Deflector make the each one, including the Gen2 Fryer GEN2-F3-LP a solid choice. A full port drain and the fry tank ‘cool zone’ just add to the “hot” factor. What is really hot besides the oil is that Gen2 Fryers come in 40lb and 70lb capacity, LP and Natural Gas. Fryers aren’t the only Gen2 production that will make you feel less apprehensive about your commercial restaurant equipment purchases. From their amazing griddles to their assortment of range ovens, you need not concern yourself with the trivial thought of having the right restaurant equipment for the job.

Are you ready? This is the reality. The price of oil will probably always fluctuate and scientists will have varying interpretations of the Mayan calendar. You probably won’t win the lottery. Heck, it might snow tomorrow in Key West. But, at least when it comes to cooking deliciousness, Gen2 Fryers, griddles and ranges are one thing you don’t have to worry about.