# Oil - what kind for general use?



## TheNoodleIncident (Nov 25, 2009)

need some oil advice....im going to Whole Foods, and they have pretty much every kind you can imagine

we use very little oil in our house, so the one bottle i get will need to be used for all general purposes....it needs to have a high smoke point since it will occasionally be used to sear steaks and other things, and will also be used to saute veggies and other stuff....i dont mind if it imparts some flavor, but it cant be over powering...id like one that is as healthy as possible.....it prob wont need to be used as a finishing oil (ill get some EVOO for that), but i may occasionally use it as a base for salad dressing and vinaigrettes (though not too often)

ive heard about grapeseed, safflower and other interesting ones....i want something different like that, but dont want to waste my money (not cheap, that stuff)

anyone use anything they really like?


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## Robo410 (Nov 25, 2009)

canola is a good neutral all purpose oil, with monosaturates like olive oil which are healthy.  It is made from the rape seed, grown in Canada thus Can ola.


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## Andy M. (Nov 25, 2009)

I agree.  My all purpose oil is canola.


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## TheNoodleIncident (Nov 25, 2009)

yeah, i actually have some canola on hand....was looking for something a little different....i love trying new things....


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## mcnerd (Nov 25, 2009)

My favorite nowadays is GrapeSeed Oil and I'm hoping the price comes down eventually.  Its more versatile that Olive Oil.


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## Uncle Bob (Nov 25, 2009)

If you only use small amounts of oil... try the Safflower for something different...


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## Andy M. (Nov 25, 2009)

Canola, corn, safflower are all good choices.


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## Selkie (Nov 25, 2009)

For a high smoke point, almost nothing beats peanut oil. That is what I blend in small amounts with my all purpose safflower oil when I want to do things such as rub down a roast or chicken wings for a high temperature crispy crust. It does have a discernible flavor, so I only add it as I need it and not generally.

I will also keep coconut oil on hand to mix a tablespoon or so with my general purpose safflower oil when frying potatoes. It really adds a fine quality to them!

I use a safflower oil-peanut oil-seseme oil blend when cooking Asian dishes.

I use olive oil-garlic oil blend when basting the outside of chicken or turkey just before roasting.

For myself and the way I cook, there is no single answer, but safflower is the base for much of what I do.


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## Wyogal (Nov 25, 2009)

I use canola and evoo.  (rape seed is also grown in northern North Dakota, not just Canada, although most of it probably comes from there)


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## acetone (Dec 21, 2009)

I use extra virgin olive oil 99% of the time. I use peanut oil or sesame oil sometimes for recipes, and coconut oil only if I'm trying to fry an egg.

I never use canola oil, mainly because I'm scared of it. I read many internet sources, and the majority of canola oil produced has been processed like crazy (thus, destroying the fragile omega-3's), and then added with chemicals for deodorization. The end result is an oil that has many chemicals that are bad for your health. The only kind I would buy are cold-pressed canola oil, but unfortunately, they're more expensive than extra virgin olive oil.


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## Selkie (Dec 21, 2009)

My understanding about oils are, unless you are going to use olive oil on a salad or in making salad dressing, or anything where direct taste of raw oil is an issue, using extra virgin olive oil for things such as frying, is a waste. Regular olive oil serves very well for many applications without the expense of using extra virgin or even virgin olive oil.

For pizza dough, rissoto, sauteeing, basting pre-baked fowl, etc. regular olive oil has worked fine. But then, I have to be cost conscious.


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## babetoo (Dec 21, 2009)

Wyogal said:


> I use canola and evoo. (rape seed is also grown in northern North Dakota, not just Canada, although most of it probably comes from there)


 
me too on both


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## SnickersMom (Dec 22, 2009)

I read the same things about canola oil.  I use olive oil and grapeseed oil.


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## Max Sutton (Dec 22, 2009)

*canola oil*

I use *canola oil* for cooking. Extra-virgin olive oil for salads,etc. is the only other oil that I use in my kitchen.


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## jennyema (Dec 22, 2009)

I use extra virgin olive oil or peanut oil.


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## Robo410 (Dec 22, 2009)

acetone said:


> I never use canola oil, mainly because I'm scared of it. I read many internet sources, and the majority of canola oil produced has been processed like crazy (thus, destroying the fragile omega-3's), and then added with chemicals for deodorization. The end result is an oil that has many chemicals that are bad for your health.



It is always wise to check various scare tactic internet messages at sites like snopes.com.(debunking urban legends)  I have now seen 5 articles disclaiming this information. One always has the choice to believe what one likes, but canola is safe.


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## linicx (Dec 26, 2009)

I like peanut oil. I use the xxx virgin olive oil for salad dressings. I do't use any oil very often, but when I do I fry and drain.


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## philso (Dec 30, 2009)

as with many others, canola for frying & extra virgin olive oil for most everything else.


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## Alix (Dec 31, 2009)

acetone said:


> I never use canola oil, mainly because I'm scared of it. I read many internet sources, and the majority of canola oil produced has been processed like crazy (thus, destroying the fragile omega-3's), and then added with chemicals for deodorization.



Acetone, try to expand your research a bit. Canola oil is not only safe to use its better for you than many of the alternatives. (Corn oil for example) Canola oil is pressed like many other oils, and the color comes from the blossoms of the flowers which are bright yellow. Canola fields are gorgeous in the summer. 

The "scare stuff" on the Net all has a purpose, please do check places like snopes.com and other reputable sources for a full spectrum of information. It sounds like you are getting scared about a lot of stuff unnecessarily and thats a tough way to live. 

I use canola for anything that requires frying (higher smoke point) and olive oil for things like salad dressings and '"finishing" types of things. I've used grapeseed oil as well, but its too pricy for me to use regularly. Ditto sesame. So canola and olive are the two I use.


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## CharlieD (Dec 31, 2009)

Our Sam's club sells extra light olive oil that is good for tasting and also for high heat frying, or so they say. I love it.
Personaly I do not like canola because it smells like fish oil to me if used in frying.


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## Tom421 (Dec 31, 2009)

Clarafied butter, peanut, or ev.olive for me. Can't beat butter for eggs.


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## Tuscan Chef (Jan 30, 2010)

Olive oil. That might be because we have it produced here of the best quality.
When we use it fr frying to increase smoking point we add a nut of butter or lard.


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## justplainbill (Jan 30, 2010)

Tuscan Chef said:


> Olive oil. That might be because we have it produced here of the best quality.
> When we use it fr frying to increase smoking point we add a nut of butter or lard.


Olive oil also used to be employed in Italy (e.g. Livorno) to top off large jugs of wine.


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## linicx (Jan 31, 2010)

I like peanut oil as it does not appreciatbly alter the taste of the finished product. I tried to eat a fried egg I prepared using an olive oil based margrine.  

After that day I naver again used olive oil for anything except salads. That was 8 years ago. I still don't.


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## radhuni (Jan 31, 2010)

We use mustard oil as all purpose oil due to its high smoke point.

Mustard oil is also good for health but you may not like its typical pungent odour.


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## Barbara L (Feb 1, 2010)

My every day oil is canola, and I use olive oil for salads, etc.  Jennyemma gave me some sesame oil awhile back, and I liked that for fried rice.

Barbara


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## velochic (Feb 3, 2010)

radhuni said:


> We use mustard oil as all purpose oil due to its high smoke point.
> 
> Mustard oil is also good for health but you may not like its typical pungent odour.



I had never heard of mustard oil before this.  That's why I love this place.

Does it have a very strong mustard flavor?  Is that what makes it pungent?  I'm not a fan of mustard, but then again, I don't really like olives, either, soooo.... 

For the OP - my all-purpose oil is olive oil.  Not extra-virgin.  I buy it by the gallon at Costco.  We don't deep-fat fry anything, so very high temps are not a huge issue here.

The other all-purpose is ghee (clarified butter), that I buy from my favorite Indian grocery in quart jars.  Now, though, I might have to look for mustard oil!


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## mcnerd (Feb 3, 2010)

I find a preference for GrapeSeed Oil over Olive Oil.

Olive Oil Vs. Grape Seed Oil | eHow.com


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## Tuscan Chef (Feb 4, 2010)

*canola and Mustard*

Could it be that Canola oil and Mustard oil are the same oil, just a different name?


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## Tuscan Chef (Feb 4, 2010)

*Olive oil versus all other oils.*

I find interesting how some information on food is known only in the region where that information is positive and when is negative, it's not known.
Here, probably because of pride (or sciovinism!) everyone considers the health of Olive coming, beside other things, from the natural way it is extrated.
It's an olive paste juice that is pressed, and basically at low temperature. No chemicals.
As far as I'm aware, all other oils are extracted using chemical extraction plus several high temperature passages and steam to ease extraction and clean the paste.
The widely used extractor is hexane. Again it's known here for typical shoe maker disease but it's worldwide known as the "drug of the poor people" sniffing glue.
Yes, hexange is taken out from oil and recicled, but who knows that it's well done.
There are now on the market seed oils that are pressed. Usually organic oil seed.


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## Selkie (Feb 4, 2010)

I believe several brands of Grape seed oil are cold pressed just as is olive oil.


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## Tuscan Chef (Feb 4, 2010)

*coldpressed grapeseed oil*

Yes there are, not the cheap ones. Here is something that could be found in organic shop or specialty shop and costs about the same if not more than olive oil, it might be different in the US.


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## Alix (Feb 4, 2010)

Tuscan Chef said:


> Could it be that Canola oil and Mustard oil are the same oil, just a different name?



I don't think so, (not in Canada anyway) although mustard seed and canola seed belong to the same basic family. Any mustard oil I have seen has a very strong odor and flavor; canola oil has neither a strong odor nor flavor. Same family, not the same stuff though.


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## radhuni (Feb 5, 2010)

velochic said:


> I had never heard of mustard oil before this.  That's why I love this place.
> 
> Does it have a very strong mustard flavor?  Is that what makes it pungent?  I'm not a fan of mustard, but then again, I don't really like olives, either, soooo....
> 
> ...



No, it don't have strong mustard flavor, but another kind of pungent odor  (we love that typical odor ).

It has much higher smoke point than all purpose ghee, and also better for health.


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## radhuni (Feb 5, 2010)

Tuscan Chef said:


> Could it be that Canola oil and Mustard oil are the same oil, just a different name?



Canola oil is prepared from pressing the seeds of _Brassica campestris, _whereas mustard oil is prepared from_ Brassica nigra._


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## Selkie (Feb 5, 2010)

WOW! Say those names fast three times in a row!!!


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## Alix (Feb 5, 2010)

radhuni said:


> Canola oil is prepared from pressing the seeds of _Brassica campestris, _whereas mustard oil is prepared from_ Brassica nigra._



Thanks radhuni, I didn't think they were the same thing.


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## GB (Feb 5, 2010)

Selkie said:


> WOW! Say those names fast three times in a row!!!


Brassica campestris
Brassica campestris
Brassica campestris

Brassica nigra
Brassica nigra
Brassica nigra


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## oneoffour (Feb 5, 2010)

I am about equal distance from Italian, Asian, and Indian markets. Plus local supermarkets. Found you MUST always read the labels. You can buy straight sesame seed oil or they slip you sesame flavored soy oil. The same is true of mustard oil and chili oil. The latest issue of COOKS ILLUSTRATED has an article on oils. We usually get EVOO first cold press from the Italian market in a 3 liter can. Have our salads with it and balsamic vinigar. Have vegetable oil (soy), peanut, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, canola, real sesame, real mustard, and real chili oil. I think there maybe some corn oil on the lower shelf by the distilled white vinegar. Butter, ghee Crisco and bacon fat are in the kitchen. For a chili the mustard oil and chili oil kick flavor. Butter and a drizzle of olive oil for eggs is fine but then sometimes eggs are in the pan after bacon. What do you rub on a turkey before cooking butter or oil?


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## JohnL (Feb 5, 2010)

My every day oil for frying is canola or corn oil. I also have peanut oil for high temp, EV olive oil for finishing and flavor. I've wanted to try grapeseed oil, but can't justify the cost.


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## Andy M. (Feb 5, 2010)

JohnL said:


> My every day oil for frying is canola or corn oil. I also have peanut oil for high temp...



Actually, canola and corn oils have smoke points in the same range as peanut oil.

I have found every source of smoke point temperatures for fats differs a little from the others.  There seems to be a consensus that these three oils are in the mid 400s for smoke points.

A lot depends on how much an oil has been refined.   A highly refined peanut oil, for example, will have a higher smoke point than a less refined peanut oil.


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## oneoffour (Feb 6, 2010)

Hey Andy wondering about that refinement and the effect on smoke point. Given that putting salt in to water raises the point at which it boils. What if salt or something else could be added to oil and raise the smoke point?


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## Andy M. (Feb 6, 2010)

I don't the answer to that for sure but my instinct tells me that would't work.  

Maybe someone else has a better answer.


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## mcnerd (Feb 6, 2010)

Salt seems to have the ability/tendency to LOWER the smoking point.

Cooking oil


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## luvs (Feb 7, 2010)

i keep several kinds of oils/fat for my food, although if i were gonna keep a couple for general broad use- i'd keep canola & a EV olive. except for veal & delicate dishes, the olive would be for uncooked foods like salads & bread-dipping, the canola more for daily cooking.


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## Andy M. (Feb 8, 2010)

mcnerd said:


> Salt seems to have the ability/tendency to LOWER the smoking point.
> 
> Cooking oil



Thanks, mcnerd.


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## mexican mama (Feb 8, 2010)

Vegetable oil or canola oil for everyday cooking...i like it coz it has no after taste and you can cook anything with it


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## Alix (Feb 8, 2010)

oneoffour said:


> Hey Andy wondering about that refinement and the effect on smoke point. Given that putting salt in to water raises the point at which it boils. What if salt or something else could be added to oil and raise the smoke point?



Salt actually lowers the temperature at which water would boil. It lowers the "activation energy" required for a reaction to take place. I think it must do the same thing to the oil according to the link mcnerd posted for us.


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## tzakiel (Feb 18, 2010)

For me, it's simple:

High heat - vegetable oil
Low heat - olive oil
Raw - extra virgin olive oil
Fries - peanut oil


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## black chef (Mar 10, 2010)

for every day cooking = rice bran oil.
for high-heat cooking = rice bran oil
for deep-frying = rice bran oil
for salad dressings = evoo (frantoia)
for Asian salad dressings = rice bran oil

rice bran oil is proven to have LOTS of health benefits... the highest smoke point, and it has a very neutral taste.


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## CookLikeJulia (Mar 11, 2010)

Macadamia Nut Oil is quit expensive but it the best oil , This oil has a delicious, light macadamia nut flavor, making it especially complementary to fish, chicken, vegetables, baked goods, and salads. Its high smoking point also makes macadamia nut oil ideal for stir-frying and sautéing. Like olive oil, macadamia nut oil is highly monounsaturated. Look for macadamia nut oil in health food and specialty stores. You can use this if you really want a good result.


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