# Can we talk about cooking oil? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [May 16, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493 "2022-05-16T12:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/1 "2022-05-16T12:34:19Z")
I can’t guess how many times I’ve seen recipes calling for something like ‘a neutral light oil’ or just ‘vegetable oil.’ So, does it make any real difference in the recipe which you use? Are some better/tastier than the others? Okay, we’re ruling out the oils that deliberately add strong flavors – no olive oil, no walnut oil, stuff like that – but is there no real reason to choose ‘vegetable oil’ vs ‘corn oil’ vs ‘safflower oil’ vs whatever? Maybe some cook ‘smokier’ or burn more easily or have a, well, greasier flavor? Does it affect the texture of the product? How many calories it has? If not, why all the varieties? Personally, I grew up with my mother always using ‘vegetable’ oil. I switched over to ‘corn oil’, mostly out of a prejudice against the ‘oh, heck, throw anything into that pot, no one cares about it’ nature of the name. Does that make any sense? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/2 "2022-05-16T12:51:21Z")
If you discount the flavored oils, I use two kinds. Canola for general use, and peanut for frying. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/3 "2022-05-16T12:53:47Z")
You already mentioned that some oils are flavored, but yes it is true that some are smokier than others. Here is a random table I googled: [https://www.masterclass.com/articles/cooking-oils-and-smoke-points-what-to-know-and-how-to-choose](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/cooking-oils-and-smoke-points-what-to-know-and-how-to-choose) As for having calories, I figure they are more or less pure fat, though “vegetable oil” tends to have less saturated fat than eg lard or butter or coconut oil. ETA I often buy avocado oil, olive oil, and grapeseed oil, but there is no special rationale behind it, beyond the fact I like the taste of olives and avocados and so on. You can also get oil pre-flavored with truffles or pepper, etc but you can also get those ingredients yourself. ETA2 I see that link describes peanut oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, safflower oil, and corn oil as being more “neutral” than walnut oil, coconut oil, and hempseed oil. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/4 "2022-05-16T12:58:58Z")
Corn oil will make any corn based dishes better. Olive oil is very flavorful and blends well with most other flavors, but EVOO is strongly flavored and even filtered is considered overpowering by some people who are not me. For high heat frying and deep frying I use canola oil. For more delicate uses I currently use sunflower seed oil to help boost the market for Ukraine’s benefit, it’s substituting for walnut oil and grape seed oil. In general, use what you like, I’ve never been slowed down by a lack of a particular oil flavor. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/5 "2022-05-16T13:29:45Z")
I use grapeseed or safflower oil for general use. They’re both neutral high heat oils. I don’t care for canola but probably for snobbishly biased reasons, I admit. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/6 "2022-05-16T13:36:50Z")
My general use oil is (refined) sunflower oil from the Ukraine. It has a clean, neutral taste and is perfect for all applications, including deep frying. I don’t like canola oil, as it has an odd, fishy (or something – it’s hard to describe) character to it. Something about it turns me off, though I’ll use it if nothing else is around (i.e., when I’m in someone else’s kitchen cooking, as I don’t have any canola at home.) I do like peanut oil, but it’s spendy. Very good for deep frying. Corn oil I use when I want a hint of a corny taste to something – it’s got this delicate _masa_ flavor to it that works well in Mexican dishes I cook. I also like frying breaded catfish in it. Olive oil I typically use for any kind of fried vegetable side dishes I make, and tend to use it more for Mediterranean cooking and nothing else. Mustard oil, which has a strong flavor, I use for certain regional Indian dishes. Toasted sesame oil I use as a finishing oil for stir fries and various East Asian dishes. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/7 "2022-05-16T13:42:05Z")
When frying up some grub for breakfast, I reach for vegetable, but only if it is oily in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/8 "2022-05-16T13:43:25Z")
Is there a difference between safflower and sunflower oil? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/9 "2022-05-16T14:09:59Z")
One of them is made from safflower seeds, the other is made from sunflower seeds. If you’re asking about the uses and flavors I don’t have that much familiarity but both are high temp oils. There are a lot of health claims about safflower oil that I’ve seen, but I’m not inclined to believe any of them. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/10 "2022-05-16T14:10:55Z")
Sorry. I assumed these were different words for the same plant. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/11 "2022-05-16T14:16:36Z")
There’s enough weirdly named stuff in the world to wonder about that. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/12 "2022-05-16T14:17:14Z")
I can’t say that I’ve noticed much difference between the “big 3” commercially sold neutral oils (corn, soybean, and canola). They have slightly different colors, but they’re all neutral oils, and corn and soybean have smoke points around 450 degrees, while canola’s is 400. They don’t perform any differently otherwise that I can discern. This is for the commercial, highly-refined products like you’d get in a gallon jug at Wal-Mart. The more boutique expeller pressed ones will retain a lot more flavor from the original raw material. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/13 "2022-05-16T14:20:34Z")
Though, reading Wikipedia, safflower _is_ in the sunflower family, so they are apparently related plants. Vastly more sunflower oil is produced. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/14 "2022-05-16T14:21:56Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The more boutique expeller pressed ones will retain a lot more flavor from the original raw material. Or sometimes the very cheapest versions. The grocery store brand corn oil is often a smelly mess, perfect for cooking corn. So much of what we consider the flavor of corn comes from it’s smell, and cooking with corn oil releases the aromatics we register. Steaming, grilling, baking, on or off the cob, ground, or whole, corn oil brings the corn flavor out. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/15 "2022-05-16T14:26:31Z")
Was just taking a look at that. Safflowers don’t produce that many seeds, so they’ll never get cultivated to the same extent as sunflowers. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/16 "2022-05-16T14:29:58Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > {…} I don’t like canola oil, as it has an odd, fishy (or something – it’s hard to describe) character to it. {…} ### _Abstract_ _Off-flavors, characterized by a fishy odor, are emitted during the heating of rapeseed oil in a fryer._ [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejlt.201500088](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejlt.201500088) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/17 "2022-05-16T14:59:25Z")
I’m no expert on oils, but I will say that I’ve pretty much standardized on good quality extra virgin olive oil as my go-to general purpose cooking oil. Maybe I have a different sense of what a “strong flavour” in oil is, but I’ve never found a good quality EVOO to be “strong”. A little while ago I picked up a bottle of avocado oil because a specific recipe called for it, and although it has a more distinctive taste I’m fine with it as a general-purpose cooking oil, too. That said, I don’t do a lot of high-heat frying. If I did I’d probably use peanut oil. The avocado oil was for a fried-fish recipe and worked fine without smoking on moderately high heat. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/18 "2022-05-16T15:25:28Z")
Years ago I chose grapeseed oil because it’s a higher heat oil, has very little taste, it’s supposedly a healthier oil (I forget why), and I can buy it in bulk for cheap. It seemed like it was the “Jack of all trades, master of none”. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/19 "2022-05-16T15:35:36Z")
My standard oil for high temps is peanut. For marinades and such, i use olive oil. For lower temp sauteing i use butter. If i am expecting guests who might have peanut allergies, i buy any vegetable oil that isn’t canola. Sometimes it’s okay, but sometimes it tastes terrible to me. Especially if it’s slightly old. Most of the “vegetable oils” are neutral enough that i don’t care much which i get, although i wonder if soy oil may be more likely to be contaminated with residual roundup or something. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493/20 "2022-05-16T15:44:21Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > If i am expecting guests who might have peanut allergies, Interesting. I’ve never considered possible allergies of people I cook for. I assume someone would let me know, and that’s never happened. We did have a friend come to visit us for a weekend. Her boyfriend (who we’d never met prior) had extreme allergies to dogs, cats, horses, birds, and the great outdoors. Poor guy was f’ing miserable, even with all the meds he took. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-talk-about-cooking-oil/964493.md?page=2)