Crispy french fries, crunchy onion rings and juicy deep-fried chicken strips are staple indulgences at restaurants across the country. Mastering the art of frying to turn out delicious golden results can be key to attracting loyal customers. The process starts with shopping for the fryer best-tailored to your restaurant’s menu.

With so many styles, sizes and options to choose from it can seem hard to keep your head above the fryer oil when trying to make the best kitchen equipment decision. Here is a quick run-through of the three basic types of fryers and the advantages of each method of crisping your cuisine.

Tube fryers are the best option for preparing heavily breaded foods such as bloomin’ onions, fish, chicken and fresh foods. These fryers have a wide sediment zone or “cold zone” to collect crunchy particles that are lost during frying. Tube fryers are heated by gas burners that run through the tubes and warm the oil.

Open pot fryers are more versatile than the tube type and ideal for fries, jalapeño poppers, mozzarella sticks and frozen breaded foods. The deep cold zone design makes open pot fryers easy to clean. Both gas and electric compatible types are available. Gas has the advantage of immediate heat, but electricity is more environmentally friendly. Open pot fryers, regardless of their heat source, have a reputation for being a longer-lasting appliance than the tube variety.

Flat bottom fryers best suit free-floating food products such as funnel cakes, donuts, tortilla chips and taco shells. These shallow fryers have no sediment zone and are heated from below. Delicate foods will do well in a flat-bottom fryer, but they are not equipped for high-volume tasks.

Once you have figured out which type of fryer is appropriate for your restaurant it is time to decide how much tank capacity you need. Buying a “50-pound fryer,” for example, means purchasing a fryer that holds up to 50 pounds of fryer oil. A general rule of thumb states that a quality fryer can produce a volume equal to 1.5 to 2 times the weight of oil it holds. Your 50-pound fryer could produce 100 pounds of crispy onion rings per hour, under ideal conditions.

If you have additional questions about ordering fryers, fryer accessories, or other commercial kitchen equipment from Serv-U, feel free to contact us via phone at 800-797-3788 or click the picture of the customer service representative at the top left corner of each page of the site to launch a live chat.