Which cooking oil?

Liberty__Belle

Just wondering what is the healthiest oil to cook with.

I have heard olive oil, rapeseed oil and coconut oil are all good but I don't know the difference between the benefits and which one I am better off using.

twerg_85

olive oil has a lower smoking point, so for high temperature cooking, rapeseed might be better.
Having said that, I use olive oil for pretty much all my shallow/stir frying. Sunflower oil or rapeseed might be better for deep frying, but I don't do much of that so can't really help.

F.

Seaneh

I have a little system.

Birgin and extra virgin olive oils are only ever used for dressings, ever. Too strong and overpowering for frying anything, will totally mask theother flavours.

I will sometime sweat things in olive oil (not virgin or extra) or cook stuff from low to medium heat with it.

Anything past medium heat, rape seed oil is your friend because it's neutral and has a really high smoke point.

Depending on the dish, I will use rape seed oil regardless (stirfries, most meats etc) as it's neutral tasting, has less saturated and more mono and poly unsaturated fats than any other popular cooking oils. It's high in omega fatty acids and, most of all, it's neutral (so important i mentioned it twice) so the flavour of your food comes through, not the fruitiness of an olive oil.

I'd use rape for a lot of dressings too, mayo especially, mayo made with olive oil is rancid.



So in short.

Sweating stuff for say, most italian foods, late press olive oil (but not extra or virgin), frying at high heat (steak, stir fry, etc) rape seed oil.

jeanadamz

We are using palm oil at home. I bet its healthy since my mom uses that a long time ago. She's the one who had a better known at those stuffs.

Seaneh

Palm Oil is pretty unhealthy to be honest. Very high in saturated fats.

Orla K

Use coconut oil to cook with, use olive oil cold and stay clear of rape seed oil as it's very unstable.

Palm oil and saturated fat isn't bad for you have a read of this thread

Have a look here too

Swiper the fox

Seaneh wrote: »

I have a little system.

Birgin and extra virgin olive oils are only ever used for dressings, ever. Too strong and overpowering for frying anything, will totally mask theother flavours.

I will sometime sweat things in olive oil (not virgin or extra) or cook stuff from low to medium heat with it.

Anything past medium heat, rape seed oil is your friend because it's neutral and has a really high smoke point.

Depending on the dish, I will use rape seed oil regardless (stirfries, most meats etc) as it's neutral tasting, has less saturated and more mono and poly unsaturated fats than any other popular cooking oils. It's high in omega fatty acids and, most of all, it's neutral (so important i mentioned it twice) so the flavour of your food comes through, not the fruitiness of an olive oil.

I'd use rape for a lot of dressings too, mayo especially, mayo made with olive oil is rancid.



So in short.

Sweating stuff for say, most italian foods, late press olive oil (but not extra or virgin), frying at high heat (steak, stir fry, etc) rape seed oil.

First of all mayo made from olive oil is certainly not rancid but could be expensive if you use a good one, I have read this before but it is total rubbish, I've done it a couple of times and it is fine.
Olive oil will mask other flavours when using it in the frying pan? Do you think your being a bit precious here?

Toast4532

I use olive oil. I get the 750ml bottles in Dunnes (dunnes stores brand, green bottle, red label I think), it's just under 5 euros and lasts for months.

The last bottle I bought, I bought in April and it's still over half full.

Dizzyblonde

I use olive oil for anything Italian, and sunflower oil for everything else. I don't fry a lot so I don't use a huge amount of either. I was going to buy rapeseed oil a few weeks ago until I saw the price of it :eek:

I buy my olive oil in Aldi, it's about €3.99 a bottle and really good quality.

Seaneh

Swiper the fox wrote: »

First of all mayo made from olive oil is certainly not rancid but could be expensive if you use a good one, I have read this before but it is total rubbish, I've done it a couple of times and it is fine.
Olive oil will mask other flavours when using it in the frying pan? Do you think your being a bit precious here?

Mayo made with olive oil is disgusting.
One of the first things we did in our larder class in the culinary arts course I did was make mayo.
The lecturer (a chef with decades of experience) made two batches first, identical recipies except that one was made with olive oil and one with a neutral oil.

He made us taste both. Everyone in the class agreed, the one with olive oil was vile.



As for olive oil masking or over powering other flavours, it does.

It has a very strong, fruity taste and is totally out of place in a lot of foods.

Seaneh

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I use olive oil for anything Italian, and sunflower oil for everything else. I don't fry a lot so I don't use a huge amount of either. I was going to buy rapeseed oil a few weeks ago until I saw the price of it :eek:

I buy my olive oil in Aldi, it's about €3.99 a bottle and really good quality.

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254918067


That is rapeseed oil.

It's €2.09 a liter.

You can get lakeshore Extra Virgin cold Press for €3.99 for a half liter, more expensive but less processed and Irish.

Dizzyblonde

Seaneh wrote: »

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254918067


That is rapeseed oil.

It's €2.09 a liter.

I'll get it in Tesco then! I must have been looking at a posh brand
Thanks.

Seaneh

It is labelled as veg oil, but it's made form rape seeds, says it somewhere on the package too but you'd have to look for it.

Alun

Lidl's "vegetable" oil is rapeseed oil too.

Swiper the fox

Seaneh wrote: »

Mayo made with olive oil is disgusting.
One of the first things we did in our larder class in the culinary arts course I did was make mayo.
The lecturer (a chef with decades of experience) made two batches first, identical recipies except that one was made with olive oil and one with a neutral oil.

He made us taste both. Everyone in the class agreed, the one with olive oil was vile.



As for olive oil masking or over powering other flavours, it does.

It has a very strong, fruity taste and is totally out of place in a lot of foods.

I'm guessing everybody agreed because thats what the chef wanted ye to, vile is an exaggeration for sure.
As for any cooking oil overpowering whatever else is in a frying pan, I don't even think engine oil would do that. How much of the stuff do you use?

Seaneh

Swiper the fox wrote: »

I'm guessing everybody agreed because thats what the chef wanted ye to, vile is an exaggeration for sure.
As for any cooking oil overpowering whatever else is in a frying pan, I don't even think engine oil would do that. How much of the stuff do you use?

No, we agreed because it is vile.

A good olive oil has a strong fruity flavour, in most dishes it is totally out of place.

It also has a really low smoke point and gets very bitter past a medium high heat (even highly processed oilve oil does).

Swiper the fox

OK Seanah, we're both determined to have the last word on this. On the frying thing I will concede to a degree if it is something like mushrooms, Aubergine or similar absorbant vegetable, not for meat though, the kitchen might be full of smoke if you try to cook a steak or Tuna or scallop for example in olive oil but the flavour won't be adversely affected, this is my experience, butter is the only oil to have a big effect on the food which it is used to fry/saute call it what you like, as i suggested earlier i think you are being a bit precious in a "foodie" way to suggest that olive oil will mask all other flavours.

Now mayonnaise, I will concede that olive oil is not the best oil you can use and does come through in the mayo it is not "vile" or "rancid", it is perfectly fine for whatever purpose you want to use mayonnaise. It is sometimes the only oil i have in the house and while it isn't terribly cheap to make mayo this way it is grand.

No offence.:)

Orla K

Seaneh wrote: »

A good olive oil has a strong fruity flavour, in most dishes it is totally out of place.

Getting off the point here but that's wrong, it depends on the type of olive used, I have a bottle of really good olive oil and it has a more nutty/peppery flavour really nice on a salad.

If you do a taste of a few different types of olive oil, it's really noticeable.

Also lard for mayo!!:P