Fried foods without the oil!

The world of food science has come up with the radiant fryer, which purports to be able to create the consistency and taste of fried food without dumping it in a fry-o-lator.

Food processing engineer Kevin Keener, Ph.D., of Purdue University, has invented an oven that exposes food to infrared light in order to cook it faster — meaning the oven can apparently reduce the amount of oil and associated fat by 50 percent.

“It will cook the inside,” Dr. Keener explained. “It will cook the outside and create that crust just like it would in hot oil immersion frying.”

The news story shows his product in action. It looks like a series of baskets that pass in front of a bank of infrared lamps. Apparently the small version of the oven can produce 300 dozen donuts in an hour.