Eli5 why is frying not possible with water and boiling not possible with oil
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Fat can heat up much hotter than water. When you fry something, you’re using fat to accomplish two things:
1) To brown the carbohydrates by cooking at a temperature that is much higher than boiling; and,
2) To cause the water in the food to evaporate out. That water is then replaced by the fat you’re cooking the food in, which causes it to become become firmer and adds a fatty taste to it.
Water can’t get hot enough to brown food, so you can’t brown food by boiling it. When you boil food, steam from the boiling water forces itself into the food being boiled. This increases the food’s water content, in contrast to frying where the food’s water content is decreased.
In other words – you fry food to brown it and reduce the amount of water it has, which makes soft food crispy. You boil food to increase the amount of water that it has, which makes crispy food soft.
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