What kind of oil do you use?

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Yes, 2 reasons to use avocado oil are the high smoke point and the neutral taste
 
I'm reading a lot of good info here. I may just have to try some duck fat after all. I better start going to the store more often so I can see how much some of this stuff is costing me , that my wife brings home,like this bottle of Avacado oil.
 
Okay, I can see a higher smoke point than say, peanut oil, being a theoretical advantage. But in practice I'm not seeing it, at least for the way I cook at home. I'm careful not to go near peanut oil's smoke point (around 450 deg.F) when deep frying, and even with a 30,000 btu wok burner, stir-frying doesn't really smoke the oil if you add food at the proper time.

A higher smoke point would be overkill, not to mention horribly expensive if I used avocado oil the way I do peanut oil for high-heat cooking. As it is, I buy peanut oil in gallon jugs to save money, because refined peanut oil isn't exactly cheap either. Taste is another thing, but I don't notice any objectionable taste with peanut oil for high-heat applications like stiry fry or deep frying. It seems to be a good match for the type of meals prepared that way.

The final issue is allergy pros and cons. A few people are allergic to avocados, and since the expensive stuff is cold-pressed, that might cause problems. From what I've been able to find out, refined peanut oil -- the kind I buy in bulk -- is safe for people with peanut allergies, because the allergens are in the nut protein and not the oil. At least that's what I've read, YMMV, standard disclaimers, etc.
 
DamageInc said:
If you are buying avocado oil for health benefits, you might as well just eat a damn avocado.
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I eat avocado aplenty, bought 10 at a time [emoji23], use the oil for the relatively high smoking point
 
Rice bran oil or butter for frying and sauté. Olive oil or animal fat for more specialized stuff
 
Olive oil for low temp frying in Western food. Ghee for high temp. Coconut oil for Asian food. It's quite hard to get pure peanut oil here. I use a bit of avo oil but I think I'm not a huge fan of the taste (even though I love eating avocado).

In my view, at at least as important as the smoke point is the oxidation point. This is where the fats oxidise, potentially leading to the quite dangerous oxidised LDL. It occurs at low temps in polyunsaturated oils, higher temps in monounsaturated oils and higher temps again in saturated fats. Smoking can be the result of fat oxidation but it can also result from oxidation of impurities in oils which are not highly refined.
 
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Olive oil if cooking medium to low heat and I want the flavor. Canola oil otherwise. I am cheap...
 
Avacado, Peanut, clarified butter, Olive oil and bacon fat in that order. Using much less Olive oil than I used to, not that there's anything wrong with OO.
 
Use lite olive oil. Make two sticks worth of garlic butter(plenty garlic)in the frig. can add fresh Tarragon, white wine, shallots, Spanish saffron, lobster base. possibilities are endless with garlic butter.

I am a fish eater like to grill or cook Salmon in a skillet. Can eat it just grilled or with a sauce. For quality bottom fish steaming Chinese style is best fish is moist and you get the full flavor. I don't care for breaded fish serve that crap to the masses. Even cheap fish will fry in skillet with a ginger sauce.

Trying to eat more healthy having a couple Kirin Ichiban first press malt beers think about it later:O
 
You realize that any olive oil that isn't extra virgin is also pretty processed? ;)
 
I prefer the lard that gets left behind from liposuction clinics. Best fat money can buy. Fat women are walking around making their own liquid gold and actually pay to have it removed.
 
Chef Doom said:
I prefer the lard that gets left behind from liposuction clinics. Best fat money can buy. Fat women are walking around making their own liquid gold and actually pay to have it removed.
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When I got to the clinic, I ask the doctor if I can keep the grease after the procedure. Any good doctor well let you have it without extra charge.
 
oivind_dahle said:
In you pans?

Heard a lot of different things about oil, and the most healthy freaks I know say that I should use grape pine oil or coconut oil. What do you use?
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Depends on what/how I'm cooking—usually either olive, grape, peanut, ghee or mustard oil. They all have different characteristics/tastes.
 
DamageInc said:
When I got to the clinic, I ask the doctor if I can keep the grease after the procedure. Any good doctor well let you have it without extra charge.
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Did you use it to make stir-fry chicken and vegetables? Or was it a soap making project?
 
Chef Doom said:
I prefer the lard that gets left behind from liposuction clinics. Best fat money can buy. Fat women are walking around making their own liquid gold and actually pay to have it removed.
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Since you have their consent does that also make it vegan ? [emoji10]
 
Paraffin said:
... From what I've been able to find out, refined peanut oil -- the kind I buy in bulk -- is safe for people with peanut allergies, because the allergens are in the nut protein and not the oil. At least that's what I've read, YMMV, standard disclaimers, etc.
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Unless you want dead guests / customers be real careful with that advice!

I don't know the medical truth to your statement, but my sister can usually tell if a restaurant cooks with peanut oil because her nose starts to itch / tingle as she comes through the front door. If she doesn't make an immediate exit, the next step is inhaler and epi-pen. I admit she is very allergic! (How allergic is she? One bite of a chocolate chip cookie made in a double batch with 1/2 Tbsp peanut butter led to a night in the hospital when she was in college.)
 
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Yet-Another-Dave said:
Unless you want dead guests / customers be real careful with that advice!
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Right, hence the disclaimers tagged at the end of the post. :)

I don't know the medical truth to your statement, but my sister can usually tell if a restaurant cooks with peanut oil because her nose starts to itch / tingle as she comes through the front door. If she doesn't make an immediate exit, the next step is inhaler and epi-pen. I admit she is very allergic! (How allergic is she? One bite of a chocolate chip cookie made in a double batch with 1/2 Tbsp peanut butter led to a night in the hospital when she was in college.)
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A restaurant like that might be using cheaper unrefined peanut oil. Highly refined peanut oil has no protein content, and (again as I understand it, standard disclaimers etc.) it's the protein in peanuts that's the allergen. That's also why peanut butter can cause an allergic reaction, because it contains the protein.

The FDA doesn't require highly refined peanut oil to be labeled as a "major food allergen" (source: Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA), with a specific exemption for highly refined oils. The the FARE site (Food Allergy Research and Education) says this about it:

*Highly refined peanut oil is not required to be labeled as an allergen. Studies show that most people with peanut allergy can safely eat this kind of peanut oil. If you are allergic to peanuts, ask your doctor whether you should avoid peanut oil.

But avoid cold-pressed, expelled or extruded peanut oil—sometimes called gourmet oils. These ingredients are different and are not safe to eat if you have a peanut allergy.
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Just passing this along for general information. The last line in the first paragraph above should be the operative one, for anyone severely allergic: ask your doctor about it.
 
Paraffin said:
... Just passing this along for general information. The last line in the first paragraph above should be the operative one, for anyone severely allergic: ask your doctor about it.
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Thanks! That is interesting.

If you have peanut allergies you should know your tolerance and ask about ingredients. However, if you are cooking with peanuts or peanut oil in any context it isn't obvious (e.g. PB&J's are obvious :) ) asking strangers to be sure would be a courtesy. Perhaps a life saving one.
 
Yeah... you really don't want to gamble with food allergies. I had a girlfriend who was almost killed because someone thought it was a good idea to throw some cashew nuts in a chicken-curry-salad.
 
I'm familiar enough with severe food allergies. Before we knew he had developed a late-life allergy to iodine, one night I made my Dad a shrimp scampi with some huge, freshly caught shrimp. He started having trouble breathing, and I rushed him to the hospital. That was a surprise because he had eaten shellfish all his life. It just came on late, and triggered by a large enough quantity of fresh shrimp. I've got a son-in-law with a shellfish allergy, and another relative with nut allergy, but we've established that peanut oil is fine for him.

My personal take on this, is that it isn't necessarily my job as a home cook to consider any and all potential food allergies in the absence of specific information from a family member or guest. If you've got a severe allergy, tell me about it and I'll avoid that ingredient.

If it's so severe that you can't walk into a kitchen where peanut oil is stored, or there are peanuts in sealed jars, or if it's the celiac thing that can be triggered by small amounts of residual flour (I do a lot of baking), then I probably shouldn't be cooking for you at all. We'll meet at a restaurant, or your house. Luckily our circle of friends and relatives don't have any allergies that severe.
 
I usually just use Olive oil and Coldpressed Canola Oil, I quite luck that one of my colleagues family lives in Italy so I get really quality Olive oil from the family farm. For steaks I use clarified butter which is awesome.
 
Anyone tried Nanohana oil? It is used in Japan and elsewhere in Asia. I watch Trails to Tsukiji on NHK channel. They eat the plant in the bud stage similar to broccoli and high in nutrition. The oil is said to be good for salad dressing and Tempura. Just checked the Japanese grocery store here has it going to buy a bottle.
 
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