Thanks to all of you for the great information. I can always count on HOers to give me the scoop!
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I would choose a non-processed oil that could withstand very high temperatures and high smoke point so I could saute and brown at high temperatures.
I think the highest smoke point oil is safflower oil but it’s too expensive for everyday cooking so I use peanut oil. It has a high smoke point.
I’m sure you know that most supermarket olive oil is diluted or fake?Cooks Illustrated, New Yorker, and many publishers published it’s findings years ago. See https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/olive-oils-dark-side
The real thing is expensive and the only way I know it’s real is if I buy it directly from a producer in California.
I buy it currently form Organic Roots in CA and online.
I usually cook with half and half peanut oil and butter or just peanut oil, occasionally with olive oil.
I use sesame oil to finish many stir fries.
I have truffle oil for sprinkling on frites with crumbled bleu cheese. For other truffle uses I use actual truffles.
I love walnut oil and raspberry vinegar on a Bibb lettuce salad.
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I wonder if canola oil is to blame for the heated discussion of fishiness in Asian foods in another topic. I’m another one who finds it fishy-tasting (canola oil, not Asian food).
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I would sooner think it was fish sauce
I use the Australian one for some Indian recipes. I like it. It is definitely not a neutral flavored oil though.
My go to neutral cooking oil these days is Spectrum expeller pressed walnut oil. No flavor, comes in a dark green glass bottle, and survives well in my pantry without going rancid. I also buy avocado oil from time to time. I have olive oil for when I need it too. If the OP is looking for a neutral flavored oil and likes olive oil, many brands make a “light” olive oil, which refers to flavor and not calories (obviously).
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Vecchiouomo, I bought peanut oil for the first time after reading your recipe for mayonnaise on chowhound–both are good!
I also avocado oil.
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I agree about some olive oils are more light in flavour than others.
I use to buy a brand from Costco and fry my eggs without an olive flavour.
I haven’t been able to find it in a while at either Costco or my regular grocery store.
So not sure if they are still in business or bought out by some other firm.
Just so there is no confusion, light olive oils are labeled as such, and the use of quotes by Andarama are unnecessary. They are much cheaper than EVOO, and are completely neutral. The heat process in making them - after the first pressing- creates a very different product.
Of course, even in the world of EVOO, some are more peppery or more fruity than others.
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The olive oil that I use to buy was not marked as light.
Costco use to sell only 2 brands in 3 litre jugs at that time. Irini and Solon perhaps?
It was not the Irini as we did not like that one.
This was eons ago so not sure if I’m remembering the Solon correctly as the bottle looks different so not sure that it is the same product.
If it’s not a first pressing oil does it have minimal or no olive solids and, hence, a higher smoke point?
I recently got a bottle of grape seed oil for use in a very specific recipe I was making for a meal being cooked by someone else, ginger shallot sauce for his bo ssam. I used the rest of the bottle and found it good but not OMG good. Back to peanut.
In the US, mustard oil is banned as a cooking oil.
There’s an Australian brand that is approved for cooking by the Food and Drug Administration, but it’s expensive so I haven’t tried it.
That’s exactly why we use grapeseed oil chez moi. Because it’s not wow and it has a high smoke point. Its very neutral.
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the erucic acid in rapeseed, reduced by selective breeding, is what produced Canola…
I use/like safflower oil - neutral taste - relatively high smoke point - not expensive.
I use the safflower smoke point to indicate when the CI/steel pans are really pre-heated and ready to sear-a-beef…
Canola oil tastes fishy
to some people, especially when it’s heated. I’m one of those people.
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I like that it is neutral, but peanut oil and butter works with most of the proteins I cook and bulk peanut oil is cheaper than grape seed. In short, removing the taste of peanut oil and having a higher smoke point could be nice, but most of my cooking doesn’t need it. When I get to higher heat cooking it is usually just salt and wait for the Maillard reaction to enable a clean release. Adding butter at that point is chiefly for flavor and unctuousness. I was surprised that the recipe I was following for the ginger shallot sauce (and a zillion scallions) was so specific about grape seed oil.
I think so!
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random lard question: i bought a bunch to fry my fasnachts in, and went ahead and fried a half-batch (about 20 donuts.) I saved the lard and stored it back in the fridge. it’s still mostly white with just a little brown in it (either from heat or from contact with the browning donuts, not sure.)
my question: i’m assuming the potential re -uses for this lightly used lard are limited to frying other things (like say fried potatoes, for instance.) I can’t use it as an ingredient in something, but I can use it as a cooking fat, and keep using it until its color or odor are no longer appetizing. Correct?
