Why falafels crack open when frying?
Same recipe for years: soaked ground fava with enough chick pea flour to bind, sesame seed, salt spice, baking soda.
Using thawed frozen portions of mix, sometimes get little cauliflowers instead of balls. Next try, same batch, perfectly fine.
They never disintegrate; just crack open after a minute in enough oil to cover.
I believe my uncrowded oil temp is stable at 170c.
Is this a temp issue between cold raw falafel and hot oil?
Maybe baking soda not distributed well, expanding too much?
I have thrown raw balls not entirely free of ice crystals into hot oil without it happening.
Seems so random.
Best Answer
Given the number of variables that go into producing one falafel this way it's hard to tell (temperature of the raw falafel, exact composition, ...). Assuming the recipe is always the same and the dough is not affected by environmental factors such as humidity and temperature, a couple of ideas come to mind:
- Do you always freeze them in the same freezer? Freezing slowly at relatively high temperatures might originate big ice crystals that, when fried, evaporate and crack open the falafel.
- Are the falafels always the same size? I guess bigger ones might break up more easily.
Pictures about "Why falafels crack open when frying?"
Smashed Falafel (no deep-frying necessary)
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