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Swan SD6040N 3-litre stainless steel fryer review

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Swan SD6040N 3-litre stainless steel fryer review

Pete Wise

Published: September 29, 2020 at 12:25 PM

5.0

A star rating of 5.0 out of 5.

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Deep-fat fryers give foods a wonderfully crispy, golden finish, and cook everything from chips to churros. Read our review of this countertop fryer from Swan.

Pros
excellent heating performance, produced chips with perfectly balanced taste and texture
Cons
oil spits at high temperatures, can be slow to recover temperature after ingredients are added

Swan fryer summary

Here it is: the best deep-fat fryer to emerge from our review of the best deep-fat fryers. The Swan SD6040N is a classic-style fryer made to perfection, combining excellent heating performance with handy features including a viewing window and air vent.

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What were our first impressions of the Swan fryer?

The vent in the top of the lid is a useful feature that’s sometimes lacking in deep-fryers of this style. It’s designed to help prevent the buildup of steam inside the fryer, and we’re glad to confirm we did not get a faceful of steam when we took the lid off to check on our chips.

We found setting up the SD6040N to be simple enough. Just be sure to click the handle into place in the basket properly, as getting this wrong will prevent the parts from fitting together as they should. The thermostat dial and indicator lights are nicely made and a pleasure to use.

This is a particularly handy fryer to store, relative to its capacity. Its boxy shape tends to fit easily onto shelves and work surfaces, and there’s a recess inside the appliance where you can stow the power cable. The packaging used with the SD6040N is reasonably good from an environmental standpoint, although the units can come with promotional leaflets in the box, which don’t seem entirely necessary.

How did the Swan fryer perform?

In our testing, this fryer got up to 130C impressively quickly. However, it did take a fair few minutes to recover its temperature once we’d added our chips to the basket. When we turned the dial up from 130C to 190C the fryer reached the higher temperature in about 4 minutes.

The chips we made with the SD6040N came out superbly. The batches were very evenly cooked, with each chip cooked thoroughly. In terms of taste and texture, they were perfectly balanced, with crispy skins that had just a hint of chewiness, and dense, fluffy insides.

One slight safety concern – the fryer boils especially aggressively at very high temperatures, which can cause hot oil to spit from it. We recommend approaching with caution. With that said, the lid and the handle mechanism of the SD6040N feel robust and fit together soundly, which is an advantage this fryer holds over other models of a similar design.

Swan SD6040N fryer specifications

Maximum temperature: 190C
Oil capacity: 3l
Food capacity: 1kg
Power: 2000W

More on deep-frying

How to deep-fry safely
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Best deep-fat fryers tried and tested
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This review was last updated in September 2020. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.