Olive oil, for health and flavor, I understand, but it burns at a low temperature. When it comes to higher temperatures, which oil is healthiest?
This claims olive oil. Something like although it smokes, the oil that is still there in the pot and used for cooking is more stable.
That’s kind of like asking “what is the best tool?” Different oils are good for different uses. I like peanut oil for stir-fries and general high-temperature cooking.
410F is not all that low; about 40F less than many others. If you’re doing general sauteeing and keep the burner at a reasonable level, it shouldn’t burn. You probably wouldn’t want to use it for deep frying because of the cost, but it could be done. For me, it’s a matter of what sort of flavors you’re adding to the food. Not everything needs the strong flavor of olive oil.
But how healthy is peanut oil compared to others?
It’s very healthy compared to motor oil.
Eh, I think it’s in the middle, health-wise? Here’s an article that says it’s pretty healthy.
I think in general though, the important thing is to use oil sparingly in a healthy well-rounded diet, and not worry so much about which oil is marginally healthier than which other one. Except for hydrogenated oils (trans fats) that are not good in any amount.
I like grapeseed. Neutral taste, high smoke point.
Some supermarkets only stock it in annoying cute little boutique bottles, but I can usually find 32 oz bottles reasonably priced around these parts.
Second choice for the same applicable reasons is safflower oil.
Canola for stir frying, Olive for most other ordinary cooking.
I use peanut oil for most high temperature stuff, and olive oil, butter, or duck/goose fat when i want the oil to add flavor.
The only oil i actively avoid is canola oil, which tastes nasty.
I have both extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil on hand and use them almost interchangeably. Avocado oil typically has a higher smoke point than olive oil and a milder flavour.
The avocado oil was originally for a recipe for a particular style of fried fish, but I’ve found it to be a versatile and tasty general cooking oil.
I use sunflower for almost everything. I don’t care about “health.” How much freaking oil are you typically using? Olive oil I pretty much only like as a finishing oil or as the base to some Mediterranean sauces. I do not like it at all as a general oil.
I hate canola oil. I don’t like generic “vegetable oil.” I do like peanut oil. I like corn oil as well, from time to time. I also like lard for certain dishes.
Costco ghee is the bomb!
Grapeseed oil is the best for high-temperature cooking, if you don’t want to add any flavor, but it’s quite expensive.
I mostly use olive oil, butter, or (hang onto your seats) canola oil in cooking. I can’t taste canola oil in a cake, for instance.
My wife keeps quite a few on the shelves, but Goya Olive and Mazola Corn are the ones I most often have to restock.
I pretty much only use olive oil, for example I fry my eggs with it every day, but my wife uses canola oil for occasional frying purposes.
I can. And it significantly detracts from the cake. Enough that i might decide not to eat that cake. Enough that I’ve thrown out cookies because they tasted like canola oil.
Also, cakes usually have butter as their primary oil, and if they don’t, i miss the buttery flavor.
We were using sunflower oil for a while, when we ran out of peanut oil, and stuff stuck to the wok. It tasted fine, but we went back to peanut oil when we finished the bottle.
Ghee is freaking awesome. But it’s pricy, and if i refrigerate it, it gets so hard that it’s a nuisance to get out of the jar. And if i find refrigerate it, i don’t always get through the whole jar whole it’s still fresh and delicious. And butter works for most dishes that i want to taste buttery.
I do have a jar in my fridge. It’s terrific for popping popcorn.
Ghee is pretty easy to make— just melt and brown some butter in a pan on medium heat, and strain out the milk solids with a bit of cheesecloth.
If you make ghee with browned butter, it can have a caramel flavor, which can be nice in sweet applications. I make ghee over lower heat, and cook it just until the bubbles stop rising from the bottom - those are steam bubbles; gotta get the water out of the butter or the ghee will turn rancid. Strain out the milk solids. At that point you could keep a container of ghee out at room temp - it will be soft and resistant to staling for a l-o-o-o-ng time. After all, this stuff originated in hot climate, like India.
I have both the plain ghee and the caramelized in my house.
Oh, and olive oil is the only other fat I use, and I use a lot of it - love the flavor and the health benefits.
Dan