# Butter, Margarine or Oil?



## Liya98 (Jul 2, 2011)

Which is best for you and which worst for you? Butter, Margrin or Oil?


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jul 2, 2011)

Liya98 said:


> Which is best for you and which worst for you? Butter, Margrin or Oil?



Best for you, how?  Are you on a low fat diet or are you looking to just eat better, like, no saturated fats?  

Fat is fat, a teaspoon of butter has the same calories as a teaspoon of margarine or oil.

When you choose an oil, choose Canola, Olive, my personal favorite is grapeseed oil.  High smoke point, means you can fry without it burning, and no flavor to it to mask your food.  It is also not heavy (greasy) like some oils.

That being said, I will not give up butter, but I have cut down on it.


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## Selkie (Jul 2, 2011)

Let's not forget bacon grease!


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## buckytom (Jul 2, 2011)

hmm, can you cook with fish oil?

if so,  which fishes produce the best tasting, and/or high temp oil if any?


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## DaveSoMD (Jul 2, 2011)

For me: Never margarine.  Mom used that all the time growing up and, well, ICK. (just my opinion).  I use butter, canola oil, or olive oil, and peanut oil for deep frying. 

Trans-fats are the worst for you so watch out for those.  Otherwise if you are not on any type of restrictive diet then my feeling is "all things in moderation."


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## Andy M. (Jul 2, 2011)

This is an unanswerable question.  Each has pluses and minuses.  Used in moderation, they won't kill you.

I don't use margarine.  I use butter and oils.  Each is different in the cooking process in how it acts and tastes.  

Margarines generally are lower in fat but often contain trans-fats which have been shown to be harmful.  They contain a lot of water and a mixture of other ingredients.

Butter contains saturated fats but no transfats and it tastes great.

Different oils have different make ups containing more or less saturated fats and smoke points.


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## Bolas De Fraile (Jul 2, 2011)

Selkie said:


> Let's not forget bacon grease!


or lard


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## Katie H (Jul 2, 2011)

DaveSoMD said:


> For me: Never margarine.  Mom used that all the time growing up and, well, ICK. (just my opinion).  I use butter, canola oil, or olive oil, and peanut oil for deep frying.
> 
> Trans-fats are the worst for you so watch out for those.  Otherwise if you are not on any type of restrictive diet then my feeling is *"all things in moderation."*



Yep, I'm with Dave.  I very rarely, maybe once in a year, use margarine.  Don't like the taste of most brands and if I want water, I'll go to the tap for it.

And, as Andy pointed out, each of the different fats has its merits.  I also make some of my best pie crusts with lard and I can't imagine making cornbread without bacon grease.

As Dave said, "all things in moderation."  We don't eat Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner every day either, but we enjoy them when they're on the table.


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## blackpig (Jul 2, 2011)

The chemical processes used in the manufacture of margarine would put you off the stuff for life. It certainly did me. I use a lot of olive oil in cooking and I'm not averse to spreading a nice dollop of butter on a slab of home made bread the odd time. all things in moderation, as they say, but I never touch margarine. Ould Mrs. Blackpig (the Ma) used margarine all the time in the 60s and 70s. Such foodstuffs were at the time seen as "modern" and "trendy" and "much better for your bowels" than more traditional stuff that humanity has enjoyed for millennia.

Olive oil contains zero cholesterol.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jul 2, 2011)

Selkie said:


> Let's not forget bacon grease!



Humph!  I NEVER forget bacon grease!


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## Snip 13 (Jul 2, 2011)

Health wise I would go for olive or canola oil, and just a touch of butter for flavor in potato dishes or on bread etc. You get light olive oil which I use for cooking and extra virgin for dressings etc.


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## Rocklobster (Jul 2, 2011)

Snip 13 said:


> Health wise I would go for olive or canola oil, and just a touch of butter for flavor in potato dishes or on bread etc..


Gotta add some pasta dishes in there too.


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## Snip 13 (Jul 2, 2011)

Rocklobster said:


> Gotta add some pasta dishes in there too.


I thought that was obvious..lol! I need pasta like I need clean underwear


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## CWS4322 (Jul 2, 2011)

Okay--I use butter (unsalted). I use olive oil--different grades, flavored. Grapeseed oil. Canola oil. Coconut oil (which is concentrated--that is solid). Walnut oil. Avocado oil. Sesame oil. I use lard. I use bacon fat. I use chicken fat. I use crisco. I NEVER use margarine (except to add fat to the dogs' food). I use vegetable oil. I think they all have their place. Each in moderation... The coconut oil is nice when making a curry but I'd never use it with eggs. The avocado oil is nice for your skin--as is green olive oil. I guess this is kinda of like asking--which vinegar do you use? 

BTW, my cholesterol level is excellent.


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## babetoo (Jul 2, 2011)

butter and canola oil. once in awhile olive oil. ran out of butter this week, had some spray "i can't believe it's not butter"  yuck, phooey , sprayed on popcorn. almost couldn't eat it.


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## Barbara L (Jul 2, 2011)

babetoo said:


> butter and canola oil. once in awhile olive oil. ran out of butter this week, had some spray "i can't believe it's not butter"  yuck, phooey , sprayed on popcorn. almost couldn't eat it.


Are you "hinting" that you *could* believe it wasn't butter?


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## babetoo (Jul 2, 2011)

Barbara L said:


> Are you "hinting" that you *could* believe it wasn't butter?


 
indeed i am. i used to eat the stuff all the time. i switched to butter so i could use the unsalted for low sodium diet. i am spoiled now, big time. i will admit the unsalted doesn't taste as good as salted. but it sure taste better than that stuff.


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## pacanis (Jul 2, 2011)

I never did like that squeeze butter. I bought some thinking I was going to get a real treat from a Paula Deen recipe and squeezed some into a biscuit that was going to be fried along with some honey. Not. I ended up throwing it out. It had a weird taste. And I can eat or find a use for most anything.

CWS4322, I never heard of adding margarine to dog food for fat content.

I used to use margarine all the time. IMO it was the true multi-tasker. You could spread it on toast or cook with it without it burning. I have since changed to butter and a few different oils, but still keep "spreadable butter" on hand for breads and toast. I think it is butter and canola oil, but for all I know it's a fancy name for margarine, lol. 
I do go through a lot of butter though. I think it would be fun to try to make it sometime.


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## NoraC (Jul 2, 2011)

I am also of the "never margarine" school, for reasons of health, taste, and cooking predictability.  Let me add another oil to have on hand: mustard.  It is amazing paired with a tarragon flavored dish (as well as pretty good for plain old Indian cooking, LOL).


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## CWS4322 (Jul 2, 2011)

Pacanis--get whipping cream and you can make butter...just keep whipping it. I'll have to ask the DH why we add margarine to the dogs' raw food...he is in charge of that.

I have 8 lb of butter in the freezer--it was on sale this week.


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## Liya98 (Jul 4, 2011)

Well thank you every body for your wonderful suggestions  I've made my decision. Drumroll please......... I choose butter  It's the most multipurpose and I actually found out that even though it seems like margarine is better, butter is less artificial  So once again thnx


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## PattY1 (Jul 4, 2011)

pacanis said:


> . I think it would be fun to try to make it sometime.





CWS4322 said:


> Pacanis--get whipping cream and you can make butter...just keep whipping it. .




Just pour some heavy cream (whipping cream) in the mixer bowl, turn on high and walk away. I don't know how long it takes as I haven't tried it yet.


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## CWS4322 (Jul 4, 2011)

How long it takes to make butter depends on how fresh the cream is. I've had it turn into butter within 10 minutes...it's been a long time since I've made butter from cream. When we used to get milk from the farmer, we sometimes made butter...


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## pacanis (Jul 4, 2011)

I just made that balsamic whipped cream from heavy cream the other week.
I had no idea that whipping cream would yield butter. Good thing I didn't forget about it, lol. 
Interesting the different phases a food will go through, stopping at various products along the way.


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## Andy M. (Jul 4, 2011)

The butter you make at home will have to be processed further if you plan on keeping it.

The beating process causes the fat molecules to clump together to form a mass of butter, leaving behind the 'other stuff' that makes cream - water milk solids, etc.  There is a combination of rinsing in cold water and kneading or folding to ensure you get rid of all the residue.  This step is necessary to retard rancidity.


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## Littlechef (Jul 4, 2011)

Extra virgin olive oil for almost everything.
Canola oil for frying ... which is not often for me.
Butter for baking and spreading on bread, veggies, or finishing a sauce.

I NEVER use margarine.


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## CWS4322 (Jul 4, 2011)

I seem to remember a rinsing process. Once processed, fresh butter freezes well. I think you can freeze it for 6 months--ours never lasted that long (meaning, we used it up fairly quickly).

This link describes the steps:

How to Make Butter by Whipping: 5 steps (with video) - wikiHow


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## Fabiabi (Jul 27, 2011)

Butter I'd imagine though I would always use butter over margarine. Will always go with less chemicals.


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## jhondito (Sep 14, 2011)

margarine. but I prefer to cook by boiling rather than frying


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## Luca Lazzari (Sep 14, 2011)

Littlechef said:


> Extra virgin olive oil for almost everything.
> Canola oil for frying ... which is not often for me.
> Butter for baking and spreading on bread, veggies, or finishing a sauce.
> 
> I NEVER use margarine.



I'm with Littlechef, except that I do not use canola, but sunflower oil for frying. I use butter for risotto, for frying meats, like wiener schnitzel, and for some pasta recipes. I never use margarine.


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## Claire (Sep 14, 2011)

I use them all, each for its own purpose.  My husband likes Brummel & Brown, purportedly a yogurt based margarine, for toast & such.  For sauteeing and stir frying, I use the oils best suited to the cuisine.  Extra virgin olive oil is my mainstay for most European type cooking.  Butter, sometimes in combination with oil (helps to keep it from burning).  Peanut oil for stir fries.  Regular vegetable or canola oil for things like spring rolls.  I don't fry that much, so aside from the olive oil (which I use most  often) and butter (which freezes well) I buy the least amount I can so it doesn't go rancid.  I've  only had that happen once, and almost didn't catch it because I was having olfactory issues.  My husband came in and rescued me from ruining several hours of painstaking made nege maki I was about to saute!


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## sparrowgrass (Sep 14, 2011)

Margarine is the devil's earwax.  Yuck.


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## pacanis (Sep 14, 2011)

sparrowgrass said:


> Margarine is the devil's earwax. Yuck.


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Sep 14, 2011)

I haven't purchased margarine in at least 30 years.  I use peanut oil for stir-frying, canola oil for deep frying, olive oil for sautéing, and butter mostly as a spread, although I do cook eggs in it.


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## Fabiabi (Sep 26, 2011)

Stay away from margarine, always use olive oil or hemp/rapeseed. I would always choose butter over anything to be honest.


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## jusnikki (Sep 26, 2011)

To lazy to read all of this....

What's wrong with margarine? I know butter is better flavor and usually I cook with butter but I scramble my eggs in margarine. I don't like the butter flavor in my eggs...


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## CharlieD (Sep 26, 2011)

margerine is defintely is at botom of the list.


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## bakechef (Sep 26, 2011)

jusnikki said:


> To lazy to read all of this....
> 
> What's wrong with margarine? I know butter is better flavor and usually I cook with butter but I scramble my eggs in margarine. I don't like the butter flavor in my eggs...



For me it is that stick margarine still has trans fats unless you buy the smart balance or something like that, and those are expensive, more so than store brand butter most of the time.  Also I don't like using "tub" margarine in cooking since it usually has a lot of water and other things in it.

I do keep a non-hydrogenated tub margarine in the house, because it is easy to spread right out of the fridge, so convenient.  I only use the stuff on rolls, biscuits and toast.


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## Fabiabi (Sep 27, 2011)

jusnikki said:


> To lazy to read all of this....
> 
> What's wrong with margarine? I know butter is better flavor and usually I cook with butter but I scramble my eggs in margarine. I don't like the butter flavor in my eggs...



I've read lots of very scary facts on how awful margarine is for you. You should have a read up on the stuff. It's what my friend calls frankenstein food, and he's quite right when you read up on what it contains.


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Sep 27, 2011)

bakechef said:


> For me it is that stick margarine still has trans fats unless you buy the smart balance or something like that, and those are expensive, more so than store brand butter most of the time.  Also I don't like using "tub" margarine in cooking since it usually has a lot of water and other things in it.
> 
> I do keep a non-hydrogenated tub margarine in the house, because it is easy to spread right out of the fridge, so convenient.  I only use the stuff on rolls, biscuits and toast.



You keep your butter in the refrigerator? Why? Butter doesn't see refrigeration anywhere between the manufacturer and the retailer, and even the retailers have been known to leave it sitting on a pallet in the storage area for hours, sometimes days. I buy my butter in a 3 pound package, and I keep one stick in a butter keeper in my pantry, the remaining sticks from one pound in the door of the fridge, and the extra pounds in the freezer.


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## pacanis (Sep 27, 2011)

I can't say for bakechef, but I keep my butter (and spreadable butter) in the fridge because I like cold butter. I like the nice contrast between cold butter before it melts and warm toast. And cold butter on a heel of Italian bread... mmmm. It's easier to stick a cold pat of butter on the end of a fork for spreading on corn on the cob, too. The only downside is I need to remember to take it out to warm up some when I'm baking, which isn't often. I prefer cold butter.


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## Claire (Sep 27, 2011)

Oh, good heavens!  It cracks me up.  No one my age should have lived over 40 by some health standards.  I'm not saying to go out of your way to do things that are unhealthy, but I never ate butter as a child, and my parents (77 and 81) rarely do.  Margarine is what we could afford, and that is what we had.  I also, as every person I know over the age of 40, lived in homes with asbestos in floors and ceilings and lead in walls and cupboards.  Yet we're living longer than our "all natural" grandparents did, and it seems that children now, who live with newer safety measures, have more medical problems that children did when I was young.  Yes, some of that is simply that we didn't know about a kid across the country or world who died of these problems.  

Yes, do your best by your family by whatever means.  Every body is individual.  What will kill one person won't hurt another, with obvious exceptions (don't think anyone ever benefited from a heroin or tobacco addiction) you can only do the best you can.


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## bakechef (Sep 27, 2011)

Sir_Loin_of_Beef said:


> You keep your butter in the refrigerator? Why? Butter doesn't see refrigeration anywhere between the manufacturer and the retailer, and even the retailers have been known to leave it sitting on a pallet in the storage area for hours, sometimes days. I buy my butter in a 3 pound package, and I keep one stick in a butter keeper in my pantry, the remaining sticks from one pound in the door of the fridge, and the extra pounds in the freezer.



Having worked for different grocery retailers over the last 20 years, I can guarantee you that butter is kept refrigerated.  We receive our meat, deli, dairy etc.. on separate refrigerated trucks from our general grocery and supplies.  I can also tell you that I have never worked for a place that would tolerate pallets being left out for hours or days.  The pallets are rolled from the refrigerated trucks into large walk in coolers, each department has coolers large enough for pallets.

Any place that would leave refrigerated product out for hours or days wouldn't be a place that I would want to work.  We are not allowed to pull out more stock from the cooler than we can stock in 30 minutes.

Since I buy butter 4 lbs. at a time from the club store, yes I keep it cold.  Since I don't use spreadable butter/margarine often, I am not comfortable leaving out a stick of butter for a week or more.


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## Fabiabi (Oct 3, 2011)

Unhealthy foods are always much cheaper, it's sad that some people have no choice but to buy bad foods that are bulked out with chemicals. The supermarkets have it all worked out nicely for them.


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