How to use a Bravetti deep fryer with success

After my dinky Europro deep fryer I got at Big Lots proved too small for our recent upswing in the use of deep frying thanks to Angel Food Ministries orders, we decided a bigger model was necessary. Mom found one on eBay, but bid on it before doing research on it. Lots of consumers of similar Bravetti models (a lot of them Canadian owners) had the misfortune to run into these fryers and lots of people reported bad things happening. But there were some who reported good things and nothing but praise.

So far, a model we got with electronic temperature control has worked fine in the 4 times so far we have used it, and from my extensive 10.5 year experience around deep fryers, I have some things to offer other owners or future owners of Bravetti deep fryers. (Ours is a 3 liter model.)

When using the fryer, do not use the timer! You're trying to get this thing to heat up, and you don't need it on a timer when you're getting it up to speed. I don't use the timer anyway.

When you first turn it on, set it DOWN to the lowest temp it will go. It will heat up, but it will get there and not put a strain on your electric box. From my past experience, the huge commercial deep fryers would gently heat the shortening in small short bursts instead of just going all the way through. You should do the same. Get it up to that minimum temperature (about 150 degrees F), then step it up 10 to 20 degrees (when the green light goes out). If you have trippy weak breakers (like we do) we put the fryer on a low-use circuit and try not to blow a breaker. I've been able to step the Bravetti up to 350 degrees successfully without tripping a breaker in about 30 minutes or less.

One thing to look out for before using it for the first time is the position of the temperature probe. I think the most trouble people got from the Bravetti is due to the placement of the probe. Again, from my EXTENSIVE experience, you should not have any temperature probes near your heating elements! When we got this out of the box, I noticed the probe was snack up against the heating element! Bad! I noticed that the metal bracket that held the probe extended across the heating elements and had a spot in the middle with nothing in it. So before I turned this unit on for the first time for cooking, I worked the probe out of the bracket it came in and put it in the middle between and away from all heating elements. So instead of detecting the heat of the elements, it would be able to tell the true temperature of the actual oil.

Considering how well this fryer has cooked and produced not-greasy results, this was the right modification to make.

Ours has a black reset button in the back, and other people who reported problems noted that even after utilizing this button, their units stopped working completely. Another owner noted that there's a thermal fuse inside the control panel as well. I will keep that in mind should our unit fail to heat up.

The manual recommends not using solid vegetable shortening, but if you really want to, melt it ahead of time before putting it in the fryer. Not a bad idea, but I think we'll stick to liquid vegetable oil.

So there you have it, some helpful tips for you in case you want to consider a Bravetti fryer.