Is it possible to freeze my own 'oven-fry' crumbed food items?

Question

I cook quite a lot for a less able person, who would find it impossible to shallow fry the fish-cakes I make for her, but who would be quite capable of taking them from frozen, or defrosting them, and baking them in an oven.

The ingredients (fish,potato,seasonings) are all cooked before frying, but the crumb (flour, egg-wash, dry breadcrumb) is not.

I imagine the commercially available oven-bake fishcakes have been treated in some way, in particular introducing fat, somehow, so the result of baking them is reasonably similar to the result of frying your own, and, of course, safe.

Has anybody any experience of preparing their own 'oven-fry' crumbed items that work in a similar way to the shop-bought ones?

Answer 1

I have experience with 2 methods:

• The "parfrying" method:

  • Heat your favourite deep-frying oil to 175°C (350°F)
  • Fry the crumbled food items until the temperature drops below 175°C (on most fryers: until the red temperature light goes on, on some: until the green temperature light goes off)
  • Let the items sit above the oil until 175°C is reached again
  • Fry them again for about 20 seconds

• The "parbaking" method:

  • Pre-heat your oven till 150°C (300°F)
  • Put the items on parchment paper
  • Spray them with a little bit of your favourite oil
  • Leave them in the oven for 10 minutes
  • Take them out of the oven, turn them upside-down, spray the other side, put them back into the oven¹
  • Leave them again in the oven for another 10 minutes

Whichever of the above method you've used, your items are now ready to freeze (I always use the fast-freeze section of my freezer while they're still hot, but YMMV) and can then be re-heated in the oven at 175°C for 20 minutes if unfrozen or 35-40 minutes if frozen.

_{Note ¹: This is to ensure your oven is closed and stays at 150°C while you're turning them upside-down.
Note ²: The above method is for items about 2 thumbs in size. If your items would be smaller, (e.g. little balls), diminish the times above.
Note ³: Maybe there is a professional term for "parfrying" and "parbaking" but I'm not aware of any so just these as an analogy to parboiling, without the water... ;-)}