Agree fridge storage is best if you can spare the space. I keep the olive oil and vegetable oils out - the olive oil gets used quickly enough, and the vegetable oils are quite stable and not prone to quick oxidation. Nut oils however, I always refrigerate, as they are highly susceptible to rancidity (oxidation), sesame oil too.
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Most of my recipes don’t require a neutral cooking oil, but on the occasion I do bounce to grapeseed oil for specific tasks (seasoning cookware) or a recipe. I really like avocado oil and have been using that and my go to olive oil (Costco brand). Avocado wasn’t that bad to start, but its rise in popularity and the recent inflation has made hit the wallet. Since I do wok cooking, I always worry that the smoke point might get higher than I anticipated, so I’m going to switch over to more avocado oil, as long as I can afford it and keep the good EVOO for special uses.
If you have a Costco membership, they have much better prices for a tall bottle of avocado oil. Nothing like the giant jugs/cans of olive oil, but it easily eats the prices in the supermarket by far.
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Boy, I wish I saw this yesterday before I went shopping! I usually sauté and use olive oil. I buy, what I call frying oil, so infrequently I always forget what kind. This time I saw a blend of canola, soybean and sunflower and just went with it.
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I’m one of those people who find canola oil fishy smelling/tasting when heated. I also don’t like (anymore) corn, soybean, cottonseed. I sauté with Avocado, Safflower, Sunflower or Grapeseed. Whenever they are on sale I load up. For deep frying I use peanut oil or rice bran.
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i won’t touch any seed oils as many are already rancid when you buy them and/or they go off alarmingly fast. if you eat any kind of processed chips, crackers, cookies, etc. they already contain these oils so be mindful of that when balancing your intake. as do most fast-food menu items – including the buns.
my usual saute oil is olive oil but for high-heat or frying i will use peanut oil. i used to use coconut oil but it was “too” neutral if you understand what i mean.
i use animal fats as well, but chicken and bacon fats i render myself. of course, i do use butter, but mostly as a finishing touch these days.
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I am curious what you mean by the coconut oil. I guess I associate neutral with meaning not having a distinct flavor that might not match your dish or the intentions of your dish. I found the opposite with coconut oil. It made the few things I tried to cook with it sooo coconutty that I still have nearly a full jar of it sitting in my kitchen. Everything came out tasting like a failed Thai dish. To be fair, I bought a raw/unprocessed coconut oil, assuming it was a healthier option, but maybe that’s the problem.
It sounds like you bought unrefined coconut oil which is often labeled virgin. I keep both unrefined for when I want the coconut flavor and unrefined for when I want the properties of coconut oil but not the coconut flavor.
Many oils being discussed here can be purchased refined which taste neutral or unrefined which taste of the plant from which they were made. Two examples are peanut oil and sunflower oil.
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The neutral coconut oil will say “refined” on the bottle/jar. As I said, I can still taste and smell coconut when frying with it, but it’s faint and most people don’t seem to notice it. It definitely doesn’t taste or smell like virgin coconut oil does.
I have several cooking oils:
- Light sesame oil (untoasted), coconut oil, peanut oil, mustard oil - for various regional Indian / other Asian dishes.
- toasted sesame oil for Chinese
- Olive oil for salad dressing and Mediterranean and some bakes.
- Canola for deep frying (once in a while). Luckily we don’t find any off-taste in canola oil. I haven’t yet tried Sunflower oil for this.
- Ghee for some applications
- Butter for some dishes and baking.
I have not yet tried grapeseed or avocado oil. I read about Omega 3 vs Omega 6 but haven’t internalized (ha!) all the details. Some sources say that Canola oil, Olive oil, flaxseeds, walnuts, are good in this regard.
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I have the same issue, both my husband and I do not like the flavor of canola oil. I tried grape seed oil and had the same problem. I stick to olive, sunflower, peanut, and sesame.
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You screwed up in your second sentence.
The OP is asking for NEUTRAL cooking oils.
Oops.
i am personally well aware that there are “refined” and “virgin” coconut oils, sheesh. i pretty much never want my savory food to taste of coconut and will use coconut milk if i do.
i finally was finishing a jar of “refined” only to cook popcorn and it was so so bland, i just use it as moisturizer now.
I’m curious about mustard oil, but as it’s not permitted to be sold in the US unless it is labeled “for external use only” I’m nervous about trying it.
I chuckle when I see lots of containers of mustard seed oil at a Middle Eastern market I frequent. They are in the shelf with all the cooking oil. They are the only ones bearing the “for external use only” warning.
There is an Australian brand that is permitted to be sold for consumption in the US but it’s crazy expensive.
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I wasn’t replying to you about the coconut oil. I replied to @kobuta who was confused about how coconut oil could be neutral and mentioned buying what sounds like a jar of virgin, unrefined coconut oil.
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I use vegetable oil (from soybeans) as an all-purpose oil. I buy it in a large container and refill smaller bottles for easy pouring. Cheap and effective.
The other oils I have cost more and are used for a specific flavor/purpose.
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I personally go ahead and use the desi mustard oil that has the warning for U.S. markets, and so do most of my friends. It’s not my daily use oil, I have it less often and in small quantities. In the desi grocery stores too it’s sold alongside all the other edible oils.
Most desis who use mustard oil have been consuming it long term, and any detrimental effects the oil has any may be difficult to parse out compared to other things people consume / their lifestyle / genetics, in terms of conducting a personal calculation rather than a lab study.
I mean people eat lard and bacon, so how much worse can erucic acid be?
Here is another informative write up by food blogger and chemist Nik Sharma: https://www.seriouseats.com/mustard-oil-guide
He also consumes mustard oil.
I read that post on Serious Eats. That’s where I learned about mustard seed oil and the Australian version. As I was born and raised in the US, I don’t believe that I’ve ever tasted mustard seed oil. As I love mustard and mustard greens and I am always game for a new culinary experience, I’m curious about mustard seed oil.
Although I don’t eat lard, bacon (or any meat for that matter), I would probably try mustard oil if not for my husband’s squeamishness. He won’t touch any food about which he has, even far fetched, safety concerns.
I love ackee and salt cod. He won’t touch it due to the danger of under-ripe ackee despite my telling him that in the US ackee is inspected.
I think Nik Sharma recommended that brand with the euric acid removed. I’ve tried it and it’s great–I have also purchased the “not for consumption” brands from the Indian market. I’m not so fussed about the oil, but a lot of the brands are in plastic packaging and that grosses me out much more.
maccrogenoff, you should try it–it is really delicious. My favorite use is sauteing greens in it.
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