The difference is that crispy food is only crispy while it’s hot/warm. Crunchy food is crunchy at cool or room temperatures. No one can tell me otherwise.
but crisps (or chips if you're american) are not crunchy tho, they're crispy, hence the name "crispy" (because it's crisp-like). crisps are still crispy at room temperature. crispy food is thin like crisps, crunchy food is thick like crackers. that's the difference
I’d personally define it based on thickness of the dehydrated layer. If the layer is thin (such as a potato chip or the breading on fried foods) then it’s crispy. If the layer is thick (like a well-fried fry/tot, a lot of nuts, hard pretzels, etc.) then it’s crunchy. This interplays nicely with the temperature theory because a thin layer is more likely to be created temporarily via cooking, leading to a lack of crispness when it cools as the rest of the food equalizes moisture back into the layer. Crunchy foods on the other hand are more likely to remain crunchy at room temp because they’ve been more thoroughly dehydrated. Just my best guess.
To use an example to set apart crispiness from crunchiness, let’s look at ice/snow. Long thing sheets of ice, are crispy, as they brake easily upon the tooth, and shatter into smaller pieces. Crunchiness, is like snow, or the ice specifically made to chew. It is a food item that is broken into small bits specifically by the Molars, and you can chew it just a little bit.
If I may make a recommendation. I'd think you'd enjoy Adam Ragusea's channel. He has some videos focusing on the science of food, sometimes has guest experts, does little food experiments, and just regular recipe videos. Great for random information on food and weekday cooking.
So about the oil, I don't recommend using cast iron to fry with at home. It's much better and easier to use a wok if you can. It's cleaner (the sides catch splatter), uses less oil (the corners of the pot is where you can't use the hot oil) and it's easier to control the food with a spider since you can scoop easier. Just make sure your oil is hot enough and account for the fact that the temperature will drop when you place food in the oil.
I think she just meant to use cast iron cookware, not a cast iron skillet. Woks are still commonly made from cast iron, and the Dutch oven she was cooking in is also made from cast iron, so you can still get the great heat retention of iron in a high sided, large volume vessel
This only works if you have a way to cook with a wok, which means a gas oven. Most people have an electric stove which does not really work with a wok, and a few have managed to move on to an induction stove which...I have no idea if it will work but I highly doubt it. At least not with any rounded bottom ones. Really, if you have a gas stove you should probably upgrade, but I would agree, woks are wonderful if you sadly can't.
I personally think of crunchiness as the concentration of individual breakage sounds that occur when applying pressure to (e.g. biting) something and crispiness as the degree of inflexibility. It sounds more complicated than it does in my head, but that is what comes to my mind when describing food. So for example, fries should be crispy but not crunchy, bell pepper strips should be crunchy but not crispy, and tortilla chips should be both.
I'd say crunchiness is the quality of how hard a dried food is to chew. More crunchiness definitely leads to more crispiness, but too much could lead to an undesireable hardness when eating
My definition is crispy is just the exterior. Like chicken skins. Its dried and loud on the skin but soft and succulent on the inside. Crunchy is all the way through. Thats how I personally differentiate the two
A long time ago, I worked at a gas station with a Chester's chicken. I think it was one of those that hadn't completely given up yet, so it was still edible. They always taught the employees to double-fry, though never told them _why_ that makes it better.
The 2nd time for French fries is called the, "shock fry," and that's when the oil temperature is raised to 375F. Places where they specialize in fries can cook the fries the first time all at once in the morning, and put them up to drain where they'll stay warm, and shock fry small orders throughout the day. I don't believe fries foods are only crispy when they're warm, but just like your baguette shouldn't be put in a plastic bag, once the internal moisture level equalizes with the outer layer you won't find it crispy.
The most crispy/crunchy "fries" are roast potato fries from the oven. Adam Ragusea has a good video on oven fries. It takes longer, but most of that time is unattended where you can do other stuff (for the rest of your meal), and you don't have to deal with the dangers, stink, and oil waste of deep frying.
Crispy is the outer, crunchy is the inner. Here's a ""sushi"" place technique for hour-long crispy: mix eggs, milk and cornstarch, batter your food in that, coat in panko, fry: it insulates inner moisture.
My parents would keep used oil in the deep fryer until it was too dark and then replace it, and that a while because we didn't fry every week. The fritters we made in the used oil were definitely better than from a fresh batch.
I have heard/read that re-heating the same oil again and again causes it to build up molecules which causes cancer. I personally don't reheat same oil more than 3 time. Is re-using the same oil 5-6 times really ok?
The breakdown of oil *does* create potentially toxic molecules, but you'd probably have to consume a LOT of these molecules to cause a problem. If you're only eating fried food occasionally, it's not something I'd worry about!
At 4:18 I saw the doodle with pink hair and said to myself, hey that's the guy for Gastrofisica I'm really sure! And look for the credits to see it was him!! Happy to see he's working in minute food!
So I guess this is why convection ovens are better than standard ovens when it comes to activating that "crisp"? Because the movement of the hot air increases the dehydration of the surface of the food?
Actually I LOVE soft french fries! Whenever I buy fast food fries or get them to go from somewhere, I seal up the bag nice and tight to lock in all the steam and soften and hydrate them. SO GOOD!
Crunchy goes throughout the food. Nuts for example. Crispy is on the surface. Also a magnitude, good (thin ) chips are crispy while bad ones are crunchy.
Wait really? Well you are definitely gonna enjoy them. They go quite well dipped in a seasoned ranch dressing. If you get it from a restaurant they will serve it with a dipping sauce so you needn't worry
FRICKLES omggggg I really want some now 😭 Crispy is crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. Crunchy is...well...crunchy all throughout the food (chips are a prime example)
Great tips to finetune my frying crispy making skills. Especially the double frying & adding a cup of leftover oil for the next batch. Thanks! :) However I find the real challenges for crispy making magic is for food in the oven like oven fries, or appetizers. I haven't always been successful in making crispy food in the oven. Even when following the instructions on the packaging. Is there a trick to oven crispiness? And is it better to defrost food before making it cripsy or put frozen food directly in the hot oven?
The same two basics apply - the better you can dehydrate the surface of the food and create air spaces, the crispier food you'll get! Convection (if your oven allows) is very helpful, since the air moves moisture away from the food more efficiently. Cooking hotter and/or longer also helps (although beware of *overcooking* the food, since crispiness doesn't matter if something is burned!).
I thought that reusing oil wasn't great because it builds up trans fats (depending on the specific oil and cooking temp)? Idk exactly how much is made with frying, but it's definitely a thing
Crispy foods are an aural experience -- kind of a white noise from the carb matrix fracturing. Crunchy foods are felt via vibrations transmitted via the teeth and jaw into the middle ear.
I don't know why, but I've always disliked crispy food. When I was a kid, I'd ask for "extra squishy" fries because I hated the harder, crispier ones. I don't like breaded fish, crunchy tacos, and I very much dislike a hard crust on pizza. Fried chicken, potato chips, and onion rings are just about the only crunch I can handle.
I wonder... the part about the dehydration and empty spaces... would that mean that freezing and defreezing food (and wipe it for all escaping moisture) would help to achieve crispness/crunchines?
My 2 cents to the debate... Crispy implies airiness while crunchy implies structure and density... You can have a crispy crunch (like a kettle chip) but you cant have a crunchy crisp... (great video. i'm a fan :))
The more you reuse oil, the more dangerous it becomes to your health. I came across this info earlier today listening to a video on oil smoke points and current scientific data on the safety of oil relative to their smoke points. I think it was an Adam Ragusa video.
3:20 What about dumping in some "empty" batter and frying it? You just pour in the batter that's left over and fry that, then throw it out. Won't that result in surfactants which will make the food crispier?
I enjoy crispyness when it's a side effect of preparing delicious food, but I really have to say my sense of hearing is somewhere far behind my sense of taste, smell and touch and even seeing when it comes to flavor. My biggest pet peeve is those large scale breadings, it's more popular in fast food now and I'm not sure if it's because it's cheaper or because of the crispyness obsession but I loathe it. Awful texture, it distrupts the spread of flavor on the tongue, sometimes it's so hard you're not sure if you just bit on bone (looking at you KFC). It's horrible.
1:16 wait... You guys fry the food... Fully in oil.? In a...pot? Not pan? Not with the thinnest line of oil possible, that still covers the entirety of the bottom?
crispy: food that's supposed to be eaten hot, like fries, korean fried chicken, onion rings crunchy: food that's supposed to be eaten cold, like chips (the bagged one), granola, cookies etc but that's just my non-native English speaking view
