Deep frying is not something I do a lot of anymore. Besides the general health questions around deep frying, it requires a bit of time and work. You have to maintain the oil in the fryer, and keep the unit clean. Having that much oil sitting around in an appliance in the kitchen can also be a bit of a hazard. If that oil catches on fire, it will burn for quite a while.

However, there are times you just want to cook up some fish and chips, or some old time fried chicken and that is when you really need one. I have always had one of those round electric fryers in a cupboard for that once or twice a year I fried something. Lately, we have been frying more things so it was time to upgrade.

After reading many reviews I decided to go with the Presto Dual Profry Deep Fryer. Once I received it from Amazon, I set it right up to cook. The heating element sits right in the oil which is a real plus. This makes the heating much more responsive and as you probably know, proper temperature is the key to good frying.

The tub that contains the oil slides right out of the unit and is dishwasher safe. In combination with the removable element, it makes it very easy to clean.

The unit does come with another interesting feature and that is the magnetic break away cord. The idea is when someone trips over or pulls the power cord, it will snap away from the unit instead of splashing scalding hot oil all over the place.

The unit comes with a vented cover to help eliminate smoke and odor, but honestly I haven’t had a use for it while the unit is frying. When you use it during frying, food does not get crispy. There is even a label on the fryer top not to use it when frying foods that you want crispy such as french fries. The cover does however come in handy after your done frying and want to cover the grease to keep it contained and eliminate the odor all fryers have.

I cooked some home made french fries, onion rings, and beer battered chicken. Although it held all of the vege’s just fine, I found I could only cook one chicken thigh per basket at a time. Using two in a basket was a nightmare. I feel if the unit could hold more oil, that would not be the case.

This brings me to the only drawback on this unit. It only holds a little more than a gallon of oil. The oil is not very deep and large pieces sit a little to close to the heating element. I found my chicken much darker on the bottom than the top. If it held perhaps a half gallon more oil, this probably would not have been an issue. It isn’t a big deal, you just have to flip the food on occasion which can be a project when dealing with battered food.

All in all, I will give this unit four out of five stars and I am very pleased with it.