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I tried to fry some sausages and it caused so much smoke to the point that I was worried it would trigger the smoke alarm.

Sausages used: Flinders + Co X Paw Patrol Chicken & Veggie Sausages

I preheated a stainless steel pan until I could observe the Leidenfrost Effect (saw this on youtube and thought I had to do it to avoid food sticking to the pan), added around 3 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil, took two sausages out of the freezer and placed them in the pan. As soon as I placed them in the pan, it started to smoke heavily.

What did I do wrong here? Should I have waited for the olive oil to start boiling? Should I have let the sausages come to room temperature first?

Epsilon
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1 Answers1

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Olive oil, particularly extra virgin olive oil, has a relatively low smoke point. It is not the best choice for frying. And your pan was far, far too hot for something that would need to cook for more than a couple of minutes.

You probably should have defrosted the sausages (no need for them to come up to room temperature though). It is possible to cook sausages directly from frozen, but it's trickier.

Cook at a way lower temperature. When a drop of water sizzles off the pan (rather than beading up on it) add the oil and thoroughly coat the bottom of the pan with it, heat a few seconds more, then add the (defrosted) sausages. They should cook at a low sizzle.

Note: Olive oil doesn't "boil".

Sneftel
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