Company: Heat and Control

Website: www.heatandcontrol.com

Equipment Snapshot: Heat and Control delivers another 2-Stage French Fry fryer system out of its Hayward, USA manufacturing facility to make batter coated French fries. The system includes a 2-Stage French Fry Fryer, integrated batter application system, enhanced oil filtration management system, Oil Mist Eliminators that have been customized to meet battered product exhaust conditions, the KleenHeat heat exchanger that combines the incineration of fryer exhaust pollutants with high-efficiency oil heating, and complete access platforms.

The French fry and potato products market has experienced heavy investment in manufacturing capacity in recent years due to rising global demand, with recent export figures from Europe and United States reaching record levels. Consumer attitudes to the potato are changing and french-fries are gaining popularity, with batter-coated French fries becoming one of the potato industry’s hottest products.

Coating fries with a clear batter has many benefits including preservation of a crisp texture however the delicate batter coating generates tremendous quantities of fines and constantly threatens to bond individual fries into unsaleable clusters. The Heat and Control system uses a unique two-stage fryer system alongside smart oil management to solve these problems. The first stage fryer sets the batter coating, while stage two completes the cooking.

In Stage One of the fryer, oil flow controls both product dwell time and fines removal. Oil velocity matches the speed of incoming product to prevent damage to the batter coating as product passes through the fryer in a single layer. To assure each French fry receives the same cook time, a unique oil inlet maintains equal side-to-side oil flow. The inlet also directs fines out of the fryer to prevent damage to oil and product quality. 

With the batter coating firmly set, French fries are more heavily loaded into the Stage Two Fryer for final cooking. Multiple zones of oil inlets and outlets maintain a consistent average cooking temperature despite changes in product load. Fines are quickly removed at each zone to minimize oil degradation.  Multi-zone frying also lets processors customize cooking conditions for different cuts of coated and uncoated French fries.

Along with Heat and Control’s renowned oil filtration system that maintains precise temperature control, fast fines removal, and rapid oil turnover, special design features have been added to address the problems associated with fines and exhaust outcomes common to frying a battered French fry products. Notably the Oil Mist Eliminator has been customized to ensure efficient removal of oil emissions from fryer exhaust. The system also includes flexibility to process both batter coated and standard French fry products by utilizing a rail mechanism that moves the batter coating system in an out of the line where required.

Heat and Control builds French fry and formed potato product fryer systems with capacities up to 70,000lbs/31 metric tons per hour and supplies complete lines including potato unloading, storage, processing, seasoning and coating applicators, conveyors, weighers, inspection and packaging equipment, all supported by post-sale service and technical support.