why does oil make things crispy when fried?

Answer 1

Alot of the time the food is dipped in flour. FLour has a weird reaction to heat, and gets crusty

Answer 2

This the correct answer; Deep fat frying is considered to be a dry heat method of cooking.
The reason is that when you place an item that contains a lot of water like a potato or a chicken leg into 375 degree oil , the water immediately turns into steam which expands rapidly pushes its way out of the product.
As long as you have enough energy in the form of heat to keep t that expanding cloud of steam active and surrounding the product oil can't get in and you wind up with a dry crispy product.
If you lower the temperature of the oil , the energy of the steam will decrease and oil can and will get into the product.

Answer 3

I believe it is because of the high heat. Oil is very dense and so it takes a great deal of heat to get it to "boil". That super heat removes much of the moisture out of what it cooks making it crispy.

Answer 4

Could be the nature of bonds which the oil creates into the frying substance. I guess there is some chemistry involved; otherwise why water would boil and oil would fry!

Answer 5

when deep frying ,the item is dropped into oil that has begun to smoke,this is a high temperature enough to cook without burning,this high heat dries out surface moisture resulting in crispness,batter or crumbs make it even more crisp.

Answer 6

Oil has to be really hot. It thus then dry up the moisture from the substance which results to crispness.

Answer 7

Its hot enough to cook all the water out of the outside coating quickly.

Answer 8

Maybe because it doesn't evaporate. "Oil is thicker than water".