A question on terminology : "to fry off"

[Peripatetic Phil]

I notice that (?an ever-increasing?) number of people speak on this forum of "frying off" something, the most recent instance being "and am just using the wok to fry off dry ingredients".  Could someone more familiar than I with chef-speak please explain to me the difference between the verb "to fry" and the verb phrase "to fry off" ?

** Phil.

[fried]

What about 'tidy up' the English language is full of irrelevant prepositions. We like it like that, it confuses foreigners!

[goncalo]

We like it like that, it confuses foreigners!

Apparently it confuses the english literate too  :-X

[Peripatetic Phil]

What about 'tidy up' the English language is full of irrelevant prepositions. We like it like that, it confuses foreigners!

Well, yes, but my grandmother used to tidy things up, and I am reasonably sure her grandmother did so before her.  But my grandmother never "fried things off", and my mother never "fried things off", and I have never (as far as I know) "fried things off", so is this (a) a recent neologism, introduced to hoi polloi by the current generation of so-called celebrity chefs, or (b) is there a real difference between "frying something" and "frying something off" ?

** Phil.

[DalPuri]

Its definitely a chef term. Maybe it really means to fry out the rawness? as opposed to "fry until" or fry for a length of time. A shorter fry perhaps?
Similar to  when you cook "out" flour.

In cookery what does fry it off mean? Can u fry off herbs or do u need liquid 2 fry off?

The term "fry it off" simply means "to fry quickly" - herbs can be fried off, but only quickly to avoid burning.

Updated on Friday, February 03 2012 at 02:50AM GMT
Source: www.google.co.uk/.

https://www.stellaculinary.com/forum/general-cooking-and-recipes/general-cooking-questions/roast-fry-etc

http://www.network54.com/Forum/258202/thread/1204675905/How+do+you+%26quot%3Bfry+off%26quot%3B+tomato+paste-

[DalPuri]

After reading some of those quotes, cooking ahead of time makes sense for the origin.

Maybe its another americanism? 
Two words came to mind the other day, booda (Buddha) and sodering (soldering)    ;D

[Peripatetic Phil]

Interesting.  So it originally meant "to fry something in preparation" (i.e., ahead of time), and was then picked up by others who were unaware of its real semantics, thought it just a fashionable way of saying "to fry", adopted it to sound cool, and it is now a part of every would-be chef's vocabulary with a bastardised meaning (or no meaning at all, depending on one's point of view).  Ah well.

Incidentally, I just did some web-based research myself on the phrase, and several of the discussions are delightful, but I think this one is surely la cr