# What's a good brand of olive oil to sauté with?



## Stevie (Nov 27, 2004)

What's a good brand to sauté with? I've read that extra light is best. Your opinions?


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## Andy M. (Nov 27, 2004)

I guess it all depends on who you ask.

Mario Batali uses extra virgin for everything.  Other will tell you to use a lower grade to save money and because lower grades of olive oil have a higher smoke point.

I choose to keep only extra virgin around and have had no problems.  I keep a less expensive brand that I like for most cooking uses (not for deep frying) and a better brand for non-cooking uses such as dressings, garnishes and such.


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## Erik (Nov 28, 2004)

I use Extra Virgin for my olive oil. I always stock up when it's on sale. Sometimes you can find it at a dollar store!!!


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## GB (Nov 28, 2004)

When it comes to olive oil, I use extra virgin for everything. I found one that I really like a lot at Trader Joes and the price is great so I have no problem using if for things that others would want to use a less expensive oil for instead.


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## Ishbel (Nov 29, 2004)

I only use extra virgin - but I don't 'cook' with olive oil very often - I tend to use it in garnishes and dressings.

I have been lucky enough to go to Italy on combined business/pleasure trips for the past 10 years or so, and manage to pick up a few bottles whilst I'm in Tuscany or Liguria.

Otherwise I buy from here - my favourite shop in Edinburgh
http://www.valvonacrolla-online.co.uk/cgi-bin/valvonacrolla.storefront


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## Leaf Storm (Nov 29, 2004)

I use extra virgin olive oil for most cooking but use other oils if it is called for sure as peanut oil for stir fry and sunflower oil for very hot oil or where the strong flavour of olive oil is not needed. I have lots of different oils that I keep here for different usage


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## jennyema (Nov 29, 2004)

I use extra virgin for everything.

"Extra light" olive oil seems like an oxymoron to me.


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## Otter (Nov 29, 2004)

I use Bertoli Extra Virgin.


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## DampCharcoal (Nov 29, 2004)

I bought one of those big honkin' 3 liter cans of Fillipo Berio Extra Virgin for 23 bucks at Kroger and as much as I use it, I think I might have accidentally gotten myself a year's supply. I'm thinking about making bottles of olive oil infused with hot peppers, herbs, etc. Any idears?


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## jennyema (Nov 29, 2004)

DampCharcoal said:
			
		

> I I'm thinking about making bottles of olive oil infused with hot peppers, herbs, etc. Any idears?



Infusing oil with FRESH herbs, garlic, peppers, etc. is ok if you keep the infused oil refrigerated and use it w/in 10 days to 2 weeks.  Otherwise, it's an environment ripe for Botulism.       It's NOT a long term thing.

Infusing with DRY herbs does not present the same botulism risk.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q="infused+oil"+botulism&btnG=Google+Search


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## kitchenelf (Nov 30, 2004)

stevie - I too use the Extra Light Bertolli for sauteeing because of the lack of flavor it has - I don't want an olive oil taste in everything.  I also will use it for some salad dressings etc., for the same reason.  A strong olive oil taste can be the downfall to a good salad dressing.  And the the light you still get the same health benefits.


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## jennyema (Nov 30, 2004)

kitchenelf said:
			
		

> A strong olive oil taste can be the downfall to a good salad dressing.




I think it's all a matter of taste, really.  IMO an assertive tasting extra virgin olive oil is the key to a delicious salad dressing.  With only limited exceptions, it's the only thing I'd use.

I sautee almost exclusively with a really good, tasty extra virgin oilive oil, too.  I can't think of much that its taste does not improve (of course there are exceptions here, too).

There are no rules about what oils to use.  It's a matter of taste, a matter of personal health considerations, a matter of budget, etc.


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## kitchenelf (Nov 30, 2004)

Yea Jenny - oh boy, I can think of one of those exceptions - I made a ginger dressing one time and didn't have any vegetable or peanut oil - it was NOT good! LOL  And a stir fry comes to mind that I did once - just didn't want that flavor (I can't remember the brand of olive oil - that could have had something to do with it - it was just too strong and it probably was the brand or maybe it was just rancid).

But my olive oil is handy at all times - I go through it fast.  I have had several friends say they just don't like the taste of olive oil - so I turned them to light olive oil - they loved it.


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## jennyema (Nov 30, 2004)

I absolutely agree with those exceptions.  Ginger sez to me "asian" and never EVOO with asian food.  I did have a roommate who insisted on "stir frying" everything with olive oil, red wine and red wine vinegar.  We always "studied late" when it was her turn to cook. :?   

And I agree that lots of people don't care for assertive tasting EVOO.  Me, I do.  I am not a big fan of "grassy" tasting oils but I adore buttery ones, and even more, strong peppery ones.  I have a few bottles I bought in Italy that are so good that I only use them on really good fresh salad greens with a sprinkle of fleur de sel.

To each, his own, as they say!


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## kitchenelf (Nov 30, 2004)

I would love a bottle of a good Italian olive oil - I'm jealous! 

Yea, the ginger dressing was pretty bad - but everything was chopped and ready to go and the rest of the dinner was in the works - lesson learned


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## Stevie (Dec 5, 2004)

Thank you all for your replies


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## Chef Cyril (Jan 9, 2005)

That's a big thinks in kitchen " oil"   

Just you should try many, many oil...And you can feel nothing is the same !

Virgin, extra, AOC, so differents !

We got so many types of taste, the base should be normal for "sautée" and the other one " fruity" for cold, salad, etc...
Arround that's you can make different teste in normal oil...Just take 200 gr of garlic in 1 liter of sunflower oil...infused that's during 6 hours at 80°c.Teste it, alone in a good mix of salad with just on top some cheese !

Also, you can make curry oil, basilic oil,all teste you like...Not only olive's  

Have a good time, arround you kitchen !


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## Haggis (Jan 10, 2005)

I generally use plain olive oil for marinating where other flavours in the marinade are quite assertive. However in something like souvlakia I would use a more assertive and peppery extra-virgin olive oil since the oil is one of the main characters.

I also like to have a bottle of a more fruity extra-virgin olive oil on hand since I believe it goes better with most salads (though of course there are exceptions).


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## norgeskog (Jan 10, 2005)

I exclusively purchase Trader Joe's brand of nearly every item for my kitchen needs.


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## ironchef (Feb 22, 2005)

jennyema said:
			
		

> DampCharcoal said:
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Also, if you're going to infuse oil with say, rosemary and ancho chilis, make sure that the rosemary and chilis are *completely* submerged in the oil at all times. If any part of the herb or food item is sticking up out of the oil, that is the part where the bacteria will grow.


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## buckytom (Feb 23, 2005)

i agree about not using evoo in everything. like elfie said, i don't always want the olive oil taste in the dish. i use bertolli extra light olive oil for frying/sauteeing because of it's higher smoking point. you could put butter into evoo to raise the smoking point too, but that also adds fat and cholesterol, a no-no in my house these days...


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## norgeskog (Feb 23, 2005)

I buy Trader Joe's label EVOO and use it routinely, adding butter usually.  I also do not use EVOO in everything, especially sweets, but always savory foods.  I have vegetable oil on hand but do not often use it.  I never use canola as it has been tied to macular degeneration and I do not need to worry about that.


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## PA Baker (Feb 23, 2005)

norgeskog said:
			
		

> I never use canola as it has been tied to macular degeneration and I do not need to worry about that.



Wow!  I've never heard that before and it's good to know as macular degeneration runs in my family.


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## jennyema (Feb 24, 2005)

buckytom said:
			
		

> i agree about not using evoo in everything. like elfie said, i don't always want the olive oil taste in the dish. i use bertolli extra light olive oil for frying/sauteeing because of it's higher smoking point. you could put butter into evoo to raise the smoking point too, but that also adds fat and cholesterol, a no-no in my house these days...



Butter has a much lower smoke point than olive oil.  You add oil (of any kind) to butter to raise butter's smoke point.

Here's a chart: http://drinc.ucdavis.edu/dairychem7.htm


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## jennyema (Feb 24, 2005)

ironchef said:
			
		

> jennyema said:
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Botulism grows in an anerobic environment, so completely submerging fresh herbs or chilis won't protect you.


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## buckytom (Feb 24, 2005)

jennyema said:
			
		

> buckytom said:
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 , oops, lol, i meant to add another oil to raise the smoking point. thanks for catching my boo boo jennyema.


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## bknox (Jul 7, 2005)

One of my favorite olive oils is made by Isola Imports and is called "My Brothers Oil". It is an unfiltered oil with great taste and not to bitter and reasonably priced. The Isola web site offers several other very nice olive oils form all over Italy. Go to http://www.isolaimports.com.

bryan


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## Robo410 (Jul 7, 2005)

If I cooked for a large family all the time I'd have a great variety of oils of all types.  But I don't .  I do have EVOO and I like to try different regions.  Right now I have a Turkish one, Lio.  A good basic Italian one is from Cento.  I also have peanut and canola (grape seed) as it's a monosaturate like olive oil.  Will check with my eye doc about that link to mac-deg.  


For dipping I like to float a slice of garlic and a pool of balsamic vinegar in the bowl.  not only yummy, but pretty too.  I have a chef buddy in Spain who says what Americans get as EVOO is not the prime.  Oil like beef and whisky has many intermediate grades.  lol


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## jennyema (Jul 7, 2005)

Robo410 said:
			
		

> I also have peanut and canola (grape seed) as it's a monosaturate like olive oil.


 
Robo,

Canola oil is actually RAPEseed oil, not grapeseed.  There is also grapeseed oil out there that is a bit fruity and nice for salad dressings.

The rumors about rapeseed oil being toxic are urban myths, btw.


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## bknox (Jul 7, 2005)

Robo410, ask your chef buddy in Spain about Italian EVOO or Italian olive oil in general. I was advised by a fairly reliable source in Spain that most of Italy's olive oil comes from Spanish olives exported to Italy. It would be nice to have someone back that up.

I know Spain grows a lot of olives and grapes among other things but I was a little surprised that Italian make Italian olive oil out of Spanish olives. Wouldn't it really be Spanish Olive Oil since it is a raw product and not part of a recipe.

Bryan


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## Robo410 (Jul 7, 2005)

thanks for correcting my mental typo on the seed oil.


From what I know of oils, your really fancy boutique olive oils are very country, even town specific.  However, your generic EVOO from the market may well be a blend of first press oils.  The lable will tell you: product of Italy means grown there.  Bottled in Italy or packed in Italy does not and the fruit may come from all over to the factory.  Olives are grown all around the Mediterranian, and in France and California and who knows.  Consistency is generally pretty good, as it is with Columbian Coffee.  You will taste a real difference with the small grove bottlers, and you will pay a nice price too.  Right now Spanish and Turkish are the most reasonably priced.  

About infusing oils...slowly heat the oil with your flavoring (garlic, mushrooms, herbs, chilis) and let cool.  remove the flavoring objects and bottle your oil.  now since you've removed the oil from its sterile packaging, you need to keep it cool, and use it before it goes rancid.


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## jennyema (Jul 8, 2005)

if infused with fresh ingredients, keep it in the fridge use it within 10 days or so because of the botulism risk.

It is supposedly true that much of what people think is Italian Olive Oil is actually made from spanish olives, as the demand for Italian oil is (perceived as the best) greater than their ability to grow and press their own olives.

But, like Robo says, the label should give you an idea of whether the olives were grown in Italy or Spain or wherever.

I generally use Italian oil, but also like spanish oil very mush and have a great bottle I just bought that is from Australia.

They grow oilives in the US for oil making too!


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## Constance (Jul 8, 2005)

The other night, I mixed a bunch of fresh basil and Italian Parsley leaves in my food processor, along with garlic and salt, from the "Antipasto Salad" recipe I found here. I added olive oil, parmesan cheese, and fresh ground pepper. So far have used it in spaghetti sauce, as salad dressing, and brushed on toasted Italian bread. 
I don't want it to spoil, as I can think of a million and one uses for it. I also have fresh herbs coming on, big time, in my garden. I was thinking of freezing the dressing in small packages to use later.
Question is....how do you think this stuff will freeze?


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## foodaholic (Aug 24, 2005)

norgeskog said:
			
		

> I never use canola as it has been tied to macular degeneration and I do not need to worry about that.


 
Raw rapeseed oil is the connection.The oil for canola is a completely different gene,no worries mate.


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## Michael in FtW (Aug 25, 2005)

Humm .. before dismissing the genetic differences between rapeseed and the genetic mutant of rapeseed that Canola Oil is derived from - this is some interesting reading:

http://www.ithyroid.com/canola_oil.htm


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Aug 25, 2005)

I too quit using canola oil several years back, and for the same reasons mentioned in article Michael has provided.  I use sunflower and olive oils almost exclusively.  Sunflower oil, though slightly more expensive than canola oil, is the most abundant food oil on the planet.  Read teh label and you will find it is one of the healthiest oils, after avacado and olive oil.  It has absolutely no flavor of its own and so is very neutral when cooking.  It is a fairly high-temperature oil as well.

I use EVOO for its flavor.  I use sunflower oil for cooking.  And as far as the highly towted Omega-3's go, get it from flax seed, used in my homemade breads and baked goods,  and fish.

Food nutrition requires research, and an understanding beyond what industry claims.  Money is way too important to industry, including the nedical and pharmecutical companies.  They have and will continue to endanger public health for a profit.

NOt everyone in the medical field is corrupt.  There are a great many who are truly trying to help people.  But I stiff follow Goodweed's principles of power.  That is, and in order of importance:

1. Power protects Power

2. All sources of power will become corrupt as the corrupt are willing to do anything to attain those seats of power, while the good will be limited by their own honor.

3. Money and power do not corrupt.  They allow those who are already corrupt a feeling of safety, even invulnerability, so that their true nature is expressed.

4. The only thing necessary for corruption to rule is for good people to do nothing.

The last is not my own observation,  but is nonetheless true.

I will continue to ask questions, perform my own research, and make my own decisions.  And even then, I expect to be duped by the cunning and corrupt heads of industry (of course not all industry is corrupt, thus the reason for research.)

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## Ishbel (Aug 25, 2005)

Like Goodweed, I tend only to use sunflower oil or olive oils when frying foods.  I don't like the flavour that other oils can impart - the neutrality of the sunflower stuff is why I keep using it.

I always buy Extra Virgin olive oil from small places in Tuscany when I visit.  I also like Extra Virgin oil from the Liguria area of Italy, Cretan olive oil (Crete), some Spanish oils - and I've even used Portugese EVOO when that's all I had in the house!

last week, my secretary brought be a beautiful bottle of olive oil from her holiday on the Greek island of Kos - but it has peppercorns, chili flakes and something that looks suspiciously like capers in it.....   I strongly suspect the olive oil was pretty non-descript before the addition of the flakes, etc!


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## foodaholic (Aug 25, 2005)

Michael I'm familiar with that article...I particularly like this quote.

"My daughter and her girls were telling jokes. Stephany hit her mom's arm with the back of a butter knife in a gesture, "Oh mom" not hard enough to hurt. My daughters arm split open like it was rotten. She called me to ask what could have caused it. I said, "I'll bet anything that you are using Canola oil". Sure enough, there was a big gallon jug in the pantry."

The internet is a powerful tool and anything can be abstracted to suit a purpose,I would suggeest anyone with concerns read as much as you can before deciding to use any product.

Saying that I still can believe margerine is still available for human consumption.


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## jennyema (Aug 25, 2005)

Michael in FtW said:
			
		

> Humm .. before dismissing the genetic differences between rapeseed and the genetic mutant of rapeseed that Canola Oil is derived from - this is some interesting reading:
> 
> http://www.ithyroid.com/canola_oil.htm


 

That "article" has been around for a long time (it claims that canola oil is "new" in their supermarket) but just isn't true.* It's a confirmed urban myth.* Sorry.

Most health experts consider canola oil be be quite healthful.

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/canola.htm

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blcanola.htm

http://www.healthycookingrecipes.com/cookinghealthyarticles/canola-cooking-oil.htm


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## Andy M. (Aug 25, 2005)

jennyema said:
			
		

> That "article" has been around for a long time (it claims that canola oil is "new" in their supermarket) but just isn't true.* It's a confirmed urban myth.* Sorry.
> 
> Most health experts consider canola oil be be quite healthful.
> 
> ...


 

*Thank you jennyema for taking the time to do the research to debunk this myth!* 

I was feeling lazy today and didn't do it myself.

It's a particular pet peeve of mine that unsubstantiated facts can be used to create a furor over a subject and no amount of scientific evidence can quell the rumor.

Think of how many times you've heard that coffee is bad for you/not bad for you.  How about aluminum pots cause alzheimer's, ooops, no they don't

I would caution everyone (myself included) to think critically about the source and wording of a claim before taking it to heart.

Consider how easy it would be for the producers of corn oil or olive oil or safflower oil to start a rumor campaign against canola.

If I told you that the tomatoes you grow in your garden and eat with gusto come from the same family of plants as Deadly Nightshade, a deadly poison, would you stop eating tomatoes just to be safe?

Stepping down from the soap box now, sorry for venting.


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## jennyema (Aug 25, 2005)

Andy ... you'll love this: http://www.dhmo.org/


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## Andy M. (Aug 25, 2005)

jennyema said:
			
		

> Andy ... you'll love this: http://www.dhmo.org/


 
Can you believe they actually put it into baby food!  I can just imagine all the other foods it's in.


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## Michael in FtW (Aug 27, 2005)

Nice to know someone is awake and not taking all the bad science at face value. Yes - that link I posted does have a few "holes" in the science they used to support their claims.

There was a sugar substatute used in a soft drink back in the late 1960's (cyclamate used in the diet drink TAB if I remember right) that was banned because it caused cancer in lab rats. As it turned out ... a human would have to consume 20-30 2-litre bottles of TAB per day for 120 years to consume the amount of cyclamate given to the rats in 1 week/month period. Using the same methodology, and concentrations, we were able to produce cancer in lab rats using carrot, beet, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, and the minerals in tap water (and a few other organic plant things we normally eat) at the University of Texas in Austin in 1971-1973.


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## Claire (Sep 12, 2005)

I use olive oil for most of my cooking (anything not Asian or deep fried, which I seldom do anyway).  HERE, I buy Tassos Extra Virgin in big cans.  Other places Pompeii in large plastic bottles.   I find both good enough to both cook and drizzle with.  We have bought more expensive brands to play around with, but find these two staples for our pantry meet all of our needs.


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## Robo410 (Sep 12, 2005)

currently I'm using "Lio" a Turkish evoo.  It is very fruity and nice.  And it was not expensive.


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