It's like a hot oil volcano! (Breville DF30)

Member Name: mumto3

Product:	Breville DF30
Date:	26/08/09 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It cooks chips

Disadvantages: The oil spills out - I keep melting the handle - It's difficult to clean

After an incident involving my Kenwood Deep Fat Fryer, my ceramic hot plate and my sons new found interest in the shiny knobs on the front of the cooker I was forced to buy a new deep fat fryer.

I have a love hate relationship with deep fat fryers in that I love the chips that come out but hate trying to clean the fryers. We had received the Kenwood Fryer as a wedding gift and as fryers go I was quite pleased with it as you could take it all apart to wash it.

I went to Argos to try and get another Kenwood fryer as they still sell the same model but there were none in stock. I tried about 5 other fryers but again none were in stock. I could have waited and gone back another day but my husband was doing his Saturday night culinary delight of Steak and Chips and refused to even consider oven chips even if only for one night. Eventually we found one that was in stock and that just happened to be the Breville DF30.

Initially I was pleased with the look of the fryer as it is stainless steel and black and looks very smart and professional. It has a lid but this is just a dust cover and isn't for use when the fryer is on. The handle folds away inside the basket to save space when storing and the controls are easy to see and operate. It took a full big bottle of oil to fill but the basket was bigger than the old Kenwood so I was hoping that we'd be able to cook more chips at a time! Pah! How wrong I was.

My husband does tend to get carried away when making chips and about half filled the basket then plopped them down into the boiling hot oil. The oil started to froth and bubble and then promptly spilled all over the top of the fryer out onto the ceramic hob and down onto the floor! I couldn't believe it!

I'm sure you can imagine the fun I had trying to clear that little lot up and it has happened at least twice since then without the same quantity of chips. I now have to stand and hold the basket just into the oil to avoid another accident. The other problem I have experienced is that as the handle folds away inside the basket I tend to switch the fryer on forgetting the handle and have twice ended up with a hot melted handle.

I would say the fryer is quite good at frying chips but I don't tend to fry anything else so don't know how well it performs in other areas. I wouldn't say it is very quick to heat up but about normal from what I have experienced with other fryers. It says on the box that it makes nice crispy chips but I wouldn't say that they are particularly crispy or crispier than my previous fryer could manage.

I think this fryer is currently for sale in Argos for £43.99. I didn't pay anywhere near this amount as I got it during a sale. I am counting the days until it stops working and I can get myself another Kenwood one. I am putting off cleaning it because I have no idea how I am going to manage that disgusting job as you can't put it in water like my old one.

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone as I think it is dangerous.

Summary: I hope it break down soon

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