What kind of oil do you use for cooking?

[fireweaver]

how things change when you move out of your parent's house and go on into the world...

likewise, i was raised on crisco for deep-frying, wesson (some blend of "cooking oils" for pan frying, and margarine to taste. i don't have any of that in my house at all now!

salted butter when the flavor is best with that (i.e., if i'm making baked potatoes, i'll sautee mushrooms, onions, and broccoli in butter to top the potato with), otherwise it's all over the good quality olive oil. i've never noticed a bitter flavor post-cooking, and i use the italian cold-pressed from trader joe's. for whoever wants to try out evoos from different locales, tj's has a bunch of different types for rather reasonable prices.

 

[SizzlininIN]

Ditto, but sometimes I add butter to the evoo.

Me too........forgot to mention that.

 

[middie]

I use Olive Oil alot.
I also use Canola or peanut oil

 

[Essiebunny]

canola oil and EVOO for everything.

 

[skilletlicker]

how things change when you move out of your parent's house and go on into the world...

How true. The thing is, they keep changing and, over the years, our parents seem to get smarter.

likewise, i was raised on crisco for deep-frying, wesson (some blend of "cooking oils" for pan frying, and margarine to taste. i don't have any of that in my house at all now!

Abstinence from Crisco is a good idea as long as you are also abstaining from fast foods, packaged foods, and most prepared frozen foods that will put more trans fat into your young arteries than your mother's, lovingly prepared, Sunday fried chicken dinner ever did. As for Wesson, I don't shop in the real high end grocery stores you do but, in the stores I go to, Wesson oil is clearly labeled. That might be due more to the legal mandates regulating labeling than the altruism of ConAgra Foods, but it isn't your Mom's fault if you didn't read the label.
I could go on but, in boxing, it would be like hitting a guy when he's down. I'm sure you are a smart and decent guy but, please remember, where ever you go, folks exactly like your parents are listening.

 

[corazon]

Like most, I use evoo and canola. I always use butter for sauteed mushrooms though.

 

[boufa06]

I use Spanish olive oil nearly all the time but have sunflower oil, sesame seed oil and peanut oil in the kitchen for use as appropriate.

I'm not sure about lulu's remark that EVOO tastes bitter when cooked. I suspect that might depend on the type of olive used to make the oil. I know that Ironchef likes a Catalan oil that's made with arbequina olives. I'm not so keen myself - I find it too bitter, too much like the flavour of olive stone. But there's an oil made with different olives (Empeltre) from the Empordà area of Catalonia that I just love. I cook with EVOO but made from Picual olives from further south in Spain.

Like Nicholas, I've started using butter more frequently than I used to to fry in. Though I have to admit that I use salted butter. Odd, because I hardly ever add salt to my dishes.

To begin with, EVOO can be and often is bitter. The bitterness is not the result of cooking but the state of ripeness of the olives from which it has been produced. Olives are naturally bitter but when unripe (green) are extremely bitter (but good for health). The unripeness of olives is going to have a more marked effect on the taste of EVOO rather than the particular type of olive from which the olive oil was produced. Olives are picked while still green to avoid losses that come with the onset of winter. That is to say because the picking of olives may take months to complete, there is a tendency among growers to begin the harvest as early as possible depending on the availability of labour and weather. Unavoidably part of the crop is going to be picked much later than the beginning of harvest. These olives will ripen (become black) and the olive oil produced from them is going to be golden (rather than greenish) in appearance and it will not be bitter at all. This is exactly the state of affairs with our crop that we are about to begin harvesting while a significant portion of olives even on the same tree are still green next to fully ripen ones on the same branch. The methods and economics of picking do not allow separating the green from the black either during picking or prior to pressing for olive oil.

Catalonia is a well-known olive producing region of Spain. In the past, while running an import business in Asia, we were marketing a brand of Catalonian EVOO (Oleastrum) which was indeed a well received EVOO by our customers. However, there are a lot of excellent EVOOs in the world from several producing countries and their quality relies more on the integrity of producers and exporters rather than the particular type of olive from which it is made. As a result, claims of quality deriving from the type of olives used are somewhat hinting at marketing hype rather than substance.

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

Oh, I forgot rendered fats. I usually buy whole chickens. I remove the breast/thighs as boneless pieces, and then use the carcass/legs/wings/giblets (minus liver) to make stock. But I set most of the skin aside to make schmaltz with. Chicken fat and other rendered animal fats are incredible to cook with when the dish warrants their flavor.

 

[Ishbel]

I love roast potatoes when they are cooked in goose fat. But, I limit my experience of this delight to Christmas lunch. This year we're having goose, so I'll have some goose fat left for Hogmanay's celebration!

 

[FraidKnot]

How true. The thing is, they keep changing and, over the years, our parents seem to get smarter.

Abstinence from Crisco is a good idea as long as you are also abstaining from fast foods, packaged foods, and most prepared frozen foods that will put more trans fat into your young arteries than your mother's, lovingly prepared, Sunday fried chicken dinner ever did. As for Wesson, I don't shop in the real high end grocery stores you do but, in the stores I go to, Wesson oil is clearly labeled. That might be due more to the legal mandates regulating labeling than the altruism of ConAgra Foods, but it isn't your Mom's fault if you didn't read the label.
I could go on but, in boxing, it would be like hitting a guy when he's down. I'm sure you are a smart and decent guy but, please remember, where ever you go, folks exactly like your parents are listening.

Heh, from a nearby almost Memphian... I haven't used Crisco in 30 years. Mom did, though. And I don't eat at fast food places and the only boxed mixes I buy is Zatarain's.

There's no TJ's near here (I think the closest one is St. Louis) and Whole Foods is waaaaaay out of my budget. And I don't really like chicken so I definitely don't fry it, but I do own a lot of cast iron.

Fraidy

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

Making roux with rendered fats for stews/braises/sauces is a common practice by me. For the "Traditional" thanksgiving meal, I use it in a 50/50 proportion with butter as the fat for my stuffing, and use it exclusively as the fat for making a roux for the gravy. Leaving a bit in a pan sauce makes for an amazing baked potato topper too.

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

I shop at Whole Foods for odds and ends. They charge a lot of money for any store-processed foods. But buying raw products is quite cheap. I buy whole haddock for $2.99-$3.99lb there. Their bins of grains are very high quality and reasonable priced as well. Seasonal vegetables are also well priced (ears of corn were $0.25/ea this past summer/fall). The meat is a bit more than a supermarket, but again, if you buy whole and do your own processing it's not that much more. 75% of my shopping is done at a local Hannaford Super Market day-to-day, but I make special trips 2-3 times a month for items I can't normally source at Hannaford.

Yesterday I went for Valrhona chocolate, bulk "grains" (sushi rice, polenta, french couscous, and arborio rice), some bags of plain salted kettle chips, kaffir lime leaves, a hunk of Gruyere, and a pair of lamb shanks. Except for expensive boxed grains, my local Hannaford doesn't offer any of these things.

I do think their deli is terrible though. I haven't tasted a single prepared salad that tastes good which is unacceptable at $6/lb.

Hannaford "Inspirations" french baguettes are amazing. I have the bakery schedule on my 'fridge (I'm sick), and always head over when they come outof the ovens around 9:00am. Some day I want to learn how to make a "perfect" baguette.

Rambling...

 

[jennyema]

You're absolutely right! I use sesame oil as a flavoring agent rather than as a cooking fat. Heat destroys the sesame flavor of the oil.

My partner is asian and sautees with sesame oil all the time when making Korean dishes. The flavor is lovely.

I use extra virgin olive oil for just about everything but stir frying -- then i use peanut oil or peanut/canola blend. I do keep some canola oil around, as well as nut oils and grapeseed oil for special salad dressings.

 

[boufa06]

My partner is asian and sautees with sesame oil all the time when making Korean dishes. The flavor is lovely.

I use extra virgin olive oil for just about everything but stir frying -- then i use peanut oil or peanut/canola blend. I do keep some canola oil around, as well as nut oils and grapeseed oil for special salad dressings.

Gosh, Andy, I didn't know you are Asian. If I may deviate a little, which part of the world do you come from?

 

[Andy M.]

Gosh, Andy, I didn't know you are Asian. If I may deviate a little, which part of the world do you come from?

Man, are you ever confused!

 

[college_cook]

EVOO and peanut oil for cooking, and usually veggie/canola for frying.

 

[urmaniac13]

For general cooking, a generic brand of EVOO. We save our best quality EVOO (either from Sardinia or Toscana) for drizzling uncooked, as some of you mentioned, they tend to lose the distinctive aroma and flavour with heat.

for certain dishes we like to use butter (I am not sure if it is classified as "cooking oil" though), for its rich and creamy flavour.

For deep frying, we get a "frying oil", mixture of sunflower, sufflower, peanut. (if I remember the mixture correctly... we just finished it a couple of days ago making some falafels and quibe, so I can't check to verify my memory at this moment...)

for some baking, especially for pie crusts, lard.

for certain middle eastern or oriental cooking, sesame oil for a finishing touch. (like good olive oil, it tends to lose the flavour when cooked too much. Better added at the last minute.)