cooking @ home

If you’re relatively new to cooking — or not so good at it — you definitely must read this. And even if you’re an experienced pro, you too will no doubt find a few bits of information here that will surprise you. One thing for sure, when it comes to talking about cooking oils there is a surprising amount to say.

Don’t think so? At first glance it seems pretty short and cut and dry. There’s margarine and butter. And then there’s the oil you put in your frying pan, usually called vegetable oil. The end. Right?

Were that only the case. Ok, think about just this one element: What about olive oils? Oh, right, butter, margarine, vegetable oil and for some “Italian” flavoring olive oil. The end. …. No?

What about the oil dressing on your salad? What about flavored oils for, say, Asian food? What kind of oil burns at low temperatures? What oil is good for deep frying, say, french fries? And what about the dozen or so different cooking oils? How do they differ? What do they taste like? Why are there something like four kinds of olive oil and which is best for what? What’s the difference between refined and unrefined oils? Why does the saying “hot pan, cold oil, food won’t stick” work? When doesn’t it seem work? What about the health issues regarding saturated fats? Unsaturated fats? What is trans fat? Which oils have which? Is margarine or spreads actually worse than oils? Can some oils or fat lower your chance for heart disease? What do I need to know about oils and “smoke point”? What about flash and fire points? …

Have you said “uncle” yet? Ok, so we agree then; there is a lot to know about oil after all. Think about this too. Without cooking oil, there’s no oil, no butter, nothing but animal fat and raw meat. Everything would stick to everything and we would eating foods, meat, veggies, anything either raw, on a stick over a fire or boiled. There would be no cakes, no pies and only flat bread. After all, what would them together? Ok, you get the idea. Oil is a not an enemy, it’s a necessary thing we use each day and is found in most if not all of our foods each day. That said, let’s jump right in and learn more about cooking oils.

Health, Oils and Cooking Fats

It’s impossible to talk about cooking oils without talking first about fats. That said, the entire “fat thing” is very important to health, and therefore, it could be it’s own article or series of articles right there. Because it’s important, we’ll touch on it. But for in-depth reading on this subject there are other places that have gone into great detail and research. For now, the highlights or the “Cliff Notes” you need to know start with: There are four kinds of fats, saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and trans fat.

In short, what we know today is all the stuff they used to tell us about fats … toss that out the window. Most of it was not true or not fully understood. Proof of that an eight-year study where eating a low-fat diet did not prevent heart disease, breast cancer nor colon cancer. It didn’t even do much for weight loss. It turns out some fats increase chance of diseases and some fats actually lower the risk of disease and the key is to substitute good fats for bad fats.

Remember these basics: LDL is often referred to as the “bad” cholesterol. HDL is often called the “good” cholesterol. Saturated fats and trans fats are bad. Trans fat raises LDL. Saturated fats are worse, raising both the LDL and the HDL. Unsaturated fats, both polyunsatureated and monounsaturated are good fats. These lower LDL and raise HDL. The direction(s) you want to go.

Under “good” then comes the following oils: olive, canola, peanut, corn, soybean, and safflower among others. Under bad comes most margarines, vegetable shortening, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, and even butter. Also, with one odd exception, cooking oils do not contain trans fat, where as shortening and stick margarine made of 70% soybean oil have the highest trans fat. (For some of you, this probably turns your world upside).

More info you may not have been aware of: butter has the highest saturated fats of anything out there with the exception of coconut oil; and palm oil comes in a close third. Meanwhile cooking oils and various other combination margarine-type spreads all come as having the lowest amounts of saturated fats. (Remember though some of these spreads still do contain trans-fat where as the oils do not.)

Certainly shows cooking oils are overall the best way to go. For this article, we’ve explored fats enough now and will go on to other areas. But if you’re interested in more details and charts they can be found at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Note, obviously, all oil is 100% fat. Despite the various differences in oils, one thing is a constant. All cooking oils contain 120 calories per tablespoon. Also, fatty acids are required for good health in some measure. If we had zero fat in our diet, we would not be able to metabolize fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E and K in our bodies. In cold climates, greater amounts of dietary fat is required for greater survival.

Refined and Unrefined Oils

In researching parts of this topic I found some places will go into long explanations of the differences between refined and unrefined oils, detailing what types of heat or cold-presses or whatever went into these. Does the average cook need to know three pages on this? No. So, simply, this is all that matters:

Unrefined oils have a low smoke point, below 320°F. Anything that low you can’t use for deep-frying and you also have to be careful you don’t make your frying pan too hot. These are used for light sautes, low-heat baking, salad dressings and sauces primarily. They tend to be made to impart flavor, such as dark sesame oil which is used heavily in Chinese, Indian and other Asian cooking.

The refined cooking oils are the all-around ones we think about most when it comes to cooking: olive oil, canola oil (rapeseed oil), peanut oil, vegetable oil and the rest. Good for low to (depending) deep-frying and which usually impart no, little or slight added tastes to a dish.

Oil Flavors, Cooking Uses, Smoke Points

One thing we’ll leave out of this article — or rather, just touch upon — is the technique of deep-frying for two reasons: It really is a “specialty” in many ways and there are so many things you need to know specifically for that process, that all of that will be dealt with in a separate future article just on deep-frying. So other than “smoke point”, we’ll pretty much stick with basic cooking, pan frying and oven baking when we talk about oils.

I can’t totally avoid talking about deep-frying though or some things wouldn’t make sense. One often deep-frys around 375°F. So a cooking oil at 400°F is not desired for deep-frying because the oil can easily rise that 25° quickly, even with a careful eye on things, and that’s it, burnt oil. So even though a smoke point of 400-410°F might sound good in theory as they are over the level for cooking — they are actually for me and most cooks too close for comfort and should not be used for deep-frying nor for high oven baking.

Unless otherwise mentioned, oils listed below tend to have a smoke point of 450°F.

Olive Oil. Starting out with this one since it’s the one that has all those different sub-types. Extra virgin olive oil has the lightest taste and the lowest smoke point at around 406°F. Virgin is slightly more robust. Extra light has a high smoke point. The lightest work best in salad dressings and good for cooking with a slight taste. The “heavier” ones are often too strong for simply putting on foods that are not cooked or even those that have been cooked; they are best used in the cooking and only if you want a robust carry-over flavor. Myself I use only a single type of olive oil for everything, extra virgin, and that keeps it simple.

Safflower Oil. Clear and nearly flavorless. Often used in salads as it doesn’t solidify when chilled. Good for all cooking. All purpose.

Sunflower Oil. Light flavor. High in polyunsaturated fat. All purpose.

Canola Oil. Similar to safflower. Mild flavor. 400°F smoke point. Often the least expensive and also the lowest saturated fat at 6%.

Peanut Oil. Very subtle flavor and scent, can impart a nutty, roasted flavor. Doesn’t absorb nor transfer flavors. Excellent all around oil. Contains 18% saturated fat, the highest among oils (though low compared to margarines, butter, lard and vegetable shortening.) A cook might need to consider if anyone eating the food has a peanut allergy is a singular drawback to an other-wise excellent oil.

Corn Oil. Nearly tasteless. All purpose. High in polysaturated fat it’s often used for salad oils, mayonnaise and put in margarines.

Soybean Oil. Very mild. All purpose. Almost 80% of anything labeled vegetable oil as an ingredient in a commercially manufactured product contains this oil.

Vegetable Oil. A blend of different refined oils that is designed to have a mild flavor and a high-smoke point. That said, it’s no higher than any of the other oils.

Food Sticking in the Pan — Part One

I’m taking this right off, as I couldn’t explain it better. This comes from the Office of DOE Science Education and Division of Educational Programs (DEP) of Argonne National Laboratory.

“Question – There is an old saying in cooking, “hot pan, cold oil, food won’t stick.” It is a true statement, but I can’t come up with a plausible explanation as to why. Why does food tend to stick to a pan if the pan and the oil are brought to the proper temperature together?

“[Answer:] A small amount of oil added to a very hot pan almost instantly becomes very hot oil. The oil quickly sears the outside of the food and causes water to be released from the food. This layer of water vapor (”steam”) lifts the food atop the oil film and keeps it from touching the hot pan surface. If the oil is not hot enough, the steam effect will not occur and the food will fuse to the (too) cool pan surface.”

Food Sticking in the Pan — Part Two

What happens when, for whatever reason, you seem to have done things correctly and the meat is sticking to the pan?

I’ve read this in one place and I’ve since heard this on television a few more times. To quote chef Tom Colicchio from his book “Think Like a Chef” on the section where he explains the proper way to pan roast: “Brown the food on top of the stove, in a pan with a small amount of oil, at about medium heat. [...] Don’t worry about the food sticking to the pan during this step. If you pat it completely dry first, use only medium or medium-high heat, and be patient, the food will release itself from the pan when it’s browned.”

Try it. The chefs are right. I put this to the test a month or so ago when I was making my braciole recipe and since it was going into the oven after a nice sear in the pan I was not using my non-stick pan but one of my anodized aluminum ones that would be able to withstand the oven heat. In other words, a plain old pan. I put it on medium-high, poured in olive oil, took my braciole rolls and put them in. When I thought it was time to lift and turn them, they all stuck. So I remembered this and “left them alone”, meaning I would come back every minute or so and lightly see if I could move them with my tongs. When I got resistance I stopped trying. Finally, they would let go on their own accord. I’d give the steak logs a quarter turn and repeated the process until they were done and ready for the oven. In short, it worked, to my amazement, it actually worked.

So there you go. Except for deep-frying, there you have nearly everything you need to know about cooking oils. Hopefully you’ll find this of value next time you’re in the market and trying to decide what oil to purchase for what purpose, and hopefully that parts about “sticking” will help you become a better cook too — especially those of you new to cooking — and not leave scads of seared meat clinging to the frying pan or wondering why the oven is smoking because you used the wrong oil for your high-degree baking!

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