What Oil to Cook With
It’s been about three weeks since I was first asked this question and I promised an answer in the form of a blog post.
Not for Cooking
The easiest way to determine if an oil is good to cook with is by using some simple elimination criteria.
1. Is it good for me?
This eliminates all hydrogenated, highly processed, and chemically produced oils.
Made by nature or Dr. Frankenstein?
If you need a Ph.D to make it, do not eat it. Anyone with arms can make Extra Virgin Olive, Coconut, Avocado, etc oils themselves just by pressing really hard. The more times pressure is applied, the less virgin it is.
Simply put, if you do not know what the plant the oil came from is do not eat it. If you are a botanist and can identify the plant, squeeze it until you get the oil and can cook with it.
If it requires chemicals to make it shelf stable do not eat it.
Here’s a short and nowhere near all inclusive list of oils to avoid:
Soybean
Sunflower
Safflower
Canola
Grapeseed
Rapeseed
Seaseme
Vegetable
Corn
Cottonseed
Peanut
Vegetable Shortening
*The list is not in any order. NONE OF THESE SHOULD BE CONSUMED BY ANYTHING LIVING
2. What is the smoke point?
There are plenty of oils (which is really just a euphemism for fat source) that are good for you that I do not recommend cooking with. Chief among these is olive oil. The less refined an oil is, the lower the smoke point is going to be. For olive oil that is around 400 degrees.
So what is a smoke point? It is the point at which organic compounds within an oil begin to oxidize, burn, and thus release smoke. More refined means less organic compounds to burn, and hence the higher smoke point.
These charred organic compounds are what is known as rancid fats. That name is sort of self explanatory. Things that are rancid taste bad and are given a pretty strong name for a reason: you shouldn’t eat them. They have many carcinogenic (cancer producing) and gut-irritating compounds that are obviously not good for you.
*This doesn’t mean never cook with olive oil, just save it for low temperature cooking.
3. How does it taste?
Once you get to this point you’re options may seem limited, but its really more liberating. You now have the opportunity to worry less about the source of oil and more about the actual ingredients that you are cooking.
The two best options are: Rendered Fat from grass-fed, grass-finished sources and Coconut Oil (extra virgin)
I buy my coconut oil in bulk from Tropical Traditions. Most brands of Coconut Oil sold in stores here are pretty expensive and in pretty small quantities. Buy a huge tub in bulk and use it for a long time.
Dear Guru, what entice you to post articles. This article was extremely interesting, especially since I was trying to find ideas on this subject last Thursday. mejor linux 2011
Sesame seed being in there is clearly a sign of racism.
I let you have your Rooster Sauce. Its a game of compromises Viv
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I was reading awhile back that to be labeled “virgin” or “extra virgin” it comes down to the acidity of the oil. Due to not being able to test if an oil has been pressed one time or twenty the U.S. uses acidity testing when labeling olive oil. There was an article posted a little while ago on this that gives some info its:http://www.living-foods.com/articles/oliveoil.html
Does that have merit? Thanks.
I was always under the impression that it had to do with how many times the olives had been pressed and not with the acidity.
From Wikipedia:
“Commercial grades
The grades of oil extracted from the olive fruit can be classified as:
Virgin means the oil was produced by the use of physical means and no chemical treatment. The term virgin oil referring to production is different from Virgin Oil on a retail label (see next section).
Refined means that the oil has been chemically treated to neutralize strong tastes (characterized as defects) and neutralize the acid content (free fatty acids). Refined oil is commonly regarded as lower quality than virgin oil; oils with the retail labels extra-virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil cannot contain any refined oil.”
Olive pomace oil means oil extracted from the pomace using solvents, mostly hexane, and by heat.
Please keep the info flowing about this!
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Wikipedia is an open source site that anyone can add to it with vey little knowledge. In a lot of the cases of oil quality in the states its just difficult to gage how many times its been pressed or if all being pressed are from the same batch. Lower quality oils can be refined down to lower the acidity thus allowing the ability to slap a “EVOO” on it.
The U.S. is not a part of the IOOC (International Olive Oil Council), so oils sold in the U.S. under “extra virgin” without meeting the accepted international standards.
Do the set standards and regulatory groups in place already in countries like Italy, Spain, Turkey, and many more make it a better option to get things that they imported? At least until U.S. regulations step up and you are actually getting “Extra Virgin”
The imported oils generally speaking have a stricter source of regulation. Not only are the Olive Oils from here grown in their natural enviornment, but they have a sense of cultural importance. These foreign producers generally know that people will pay for quality and keeping the reputation for that higher quality is vital for their reputation and profitability
This past week has had some good post on oils. Its always good to see whats out there. Keep’em coming.