Cooking Fats And Health

new boy · 30 Dec 2016 at 22:09

Am I the only one confused by this subject?

A while ago, I read that posh olive oils etc are great cold, but bad for you when used in cooking due to their low smoke point, and that when oil smokes its bad for you cos reasons?

So I've been using rapeseed / groundnut oil for my roasting / frying

Now I see apparently that's bad for you cos reasons, and I should be using oils ultra high in saturated fat (which I've been told are bad cos reasons) such as coconut oil, and even lard because of reasons.

Well I've had enough. From this day on, I'll be using whatever fat the recipe traditionally uses. I'm a fan of the Mediterranean way of chucking tons of on oil on everything and roasting it, so cheap olive oil will probably be my go to roasting oil with rapeseed being my go to for frying.

Any thoughts? Am I missing some kind of absolute concrete proof that I should use certain oils for certain things?

Uther · 30 Dec 2016 at 22:30

We use olive oil almost exclusively now. Lard is supposed to be ok too believe it or not.

SPG · 30 Dec 2016 at 23:14

Coconut oil, (not the stuff mixed with other stuff)

Seemingly this has the best resistance to the flavenoids (i think) which is the stuff bad for you from cooking at temp)

~>Dg<~ · 31 Dec 2016 at 21:40

Uther said:
We use olive oil almost exclusively now. Lard is supposed to be ok too believe it or not.

some fats are good for you.remember all the oldies cooking with lard.people used to mock them now they like oooh its good for you

robj20 · 1 Jan 2017 at 13:32

Cook with the cheap vegetable oil (rapeseed) and a cold pressed rapeseed oil for salads.

Chips have to be done in beef dripping or I don't bother. Bacon gets a knob of butter near the end.

BeatSpec · 2 Jan 2017 at 12:29

As others have said, best to cook with butter, ghee, or coconut oil.

Avoid the rapeseed/vegetable oils!!

tom_e · 2 Jan 2017 at 12:31

I use butter and coconut oil.

robj20 · 3 Jan 2017 at 07:14

BeatSpec said:
As others have said, best to cook with butter, ghee, or coconut oil.

Avoid the rapeseed/vegetable oils!!

Why avoid rapeseed or vegatable oil. Cooking with butter is useless unless you like burning tastes.

FrenchTart · 3 Jan 2017 at 08:14

Frying with butter is great. For extremely long high temperature frying perhaps not but for most things (e.g. steak) it's awesome.

wozza2k · 3 Jan 2017 at 08:22

I used butter, sunflower/rapeseed oil, olive oil, goose fat or sesame oil dependent on what I'm cooking. Last time I had my blood work done it came back really good

One More Solo · 3 Jan 2017 at 13:21

Coconut oil has a ridiculously low smoke point compared to some - it's good for light frying maybe but not for stir frying or steaks. I tend to use rice bran oil for most things as it has a much higher smoke point. It has a very neutral taste so I add a bit of butter to finish things off if I'm feeling that way inclined.

I have loads of goose fat leftover from Christmas so might try that as an alternative for extra flavour.

D.P. · 4 Jan 2017 at 19:43

Extra virgin olive oil has a low smoking point but light olive oil has a very high smoking point,one of the highest.

Furthermore, for things like frying onions for a sauce then you want a low temperature so virgin olive oil is fine.

Butter is good. Yes at very high temps it will burn but that is actually OK, but t butter has a great caramel taste and is widely used in cooking. That is why butter is typically used for steaks, adds to a great taste

Coconut is OK to add a bit of coconut flavor to Thai dishes etc but has a low smoke point. Even then I will typically use the cocunutbbutter atvthe bottom of a can of coconut milk, that is what they use in Thailand etc.

FrenchTart · 4 Jan 2017 at 19:51

For the most part, a refined natural oil has a high smoke point. A non-refined (or "virgin") does not. Ghee vs butter, virgin olive oil vs 'light' olive oil, etc.