4 ms·

Interestingly enough, soybean oil is virtually non-existent over here in Germany - at least not as oil that you can buy (here the dominant ones are canola, good

by rob74 5y ago

Interestingly enough, soybean oil is virtually non-existent over here in Germany - at least not as oil that you can buy (here the dominant ones are canola, good ol' sunflower and olive - the latter not for frying though), and I also haven't heard of it as an ingredient in industrial foods, but I wouldn't vouch for that.

Pyramus 5y ago
It's a very German thing to not use olive oil for frying. It took me by surprise when living abroad, and to realise it's a common frying oil in Mediterranean countries but also in the UK.
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  Economics, probably -- sunflowers and canola grow more easily. Olive oil is a nice pan-frying oil, it's what I use. Linguistic thing: When Americans talk about oil for frying, in my experience, they are a fair bit more likely than us to specifically mean deep frying, for which olive oil is no use. Way more of a deep-frying culture, from several different influences. American cooks are slightly more likely (than the Brits at least) to use the term "broiling" for shallow/pan-frying. Unusual word here.
  - ryeights 5y ago
    “Broiling” would refer to using the broiler on one’s oven, I’ve never heard that term used to describe pan-frying. Terms I have heard are sautéed and seared
    - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
      The main difference is the direction of the heat though. Top down rather than stove top. More or less the same deal otherwise. "Seared" and "sautéed" we do use! It's just we also use "frying" for that, and "frying pan".
    - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
      As another aside, deep fat frying is quite uncommon in homes in the UK now. Many people under the age of say 25 will never have eaten deep-fried food cooked at home. There was quite a concerted campaign against it in the early 80s because so many house fires and serious injuries were caused by either unsafe fryers or unsafe technique. Safety campaigns, TV ads, fire brigade campaigns, a campaign to get people to fit extractor hoods and smoke detectors etc. Coincided with a public health campaign aimed at getting us to lower our fat intake, about deep fried food, full fat milk etc.; government "nudge unit" stuff. Time was, deep fried food was a staple of cheap home cooking; nowadays a deep fat fryer is really an enthusiast cook's appliance, in white British homes at least.
  - ska 5y ago
    > use the term "broiling" for shallow/pan-frying. Unusual word here. I don't think that's right; it's more used for what you do in the oven under the "broil" setting. Americans use "saute" and "fry" in somewhat context dependent , somewhat interchangeable ways. Along with "sear" being somewhat specific to browning at high heat.
    - thaumasiotes 5y ago
      Speaking as an American... I was aware that "broiling" was a cooking method, but I have no concept of what it involves. After checking a dictionary, I still don't -- wikipedia redirects "broiling" to "grilling", and Merriam-Webster defines "broil" as "to cook by direct exposure to radiant heat: grill", with an example given of "broil the steak in the oven". I would be more likely to use "bake" for heating something in an oven, though I'm uneasy about applying "bake" to a steak; I'd probably just say "cook the steak in the oven". I would use "fry" for cooking something in oil; I would not personally use "sauté" at all. I note further that neither Merriam-Webster nor wikipedia seems to be aware of a distinction between grilling and baking, or at least not one they're willing to articulate. I would have said that baking involves being cooked within an oven and grilling involves being cooked on top of a hot surface.
      - ska 5y ago
        Oh, I agree lots of American's don't use the word broil; I was (obviously not clearly) trying to say that those who do use it probably use it because there oven has a setting marked "broil". For ovens that have that, it usually means heat only using the top element (and sometimes only full blast), so the heat is only coming from above. I think fry is more often used than saute, and often context dependent (e.g. fried chicken may imply deep fried, fried onions doesn't) This latter may be regional.
      - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
        Grilling is _under_ a hot surface. Like broiling. But when you broil you use a different pan. Or something. Now if you want a really weird distinction: baking and roasting. Same appliance, much more similar temperatures than you might think, often only subtly different prep. You might think, no, you "bake" things that rise or are transformed by the process, like dough. But you might also "bake" potatoes and fish. Or you might say that roasting involves oil and basting, but you might baste baked fish. Or roasting involves an open dish or tray. But often so does baking. In this case it really is a kind of convention in English, in the same way that adjective order force is a convention. We generally consistently use one word for a given application or a given origin of the food. Messes with my head.
csunbird 5y ago
Exactly, I was wondering why none of the comments were talking about sunflower oil, which is what I used in my whole life along with olive oil. Vegetable oil does exist in Germany, I think it is sold as pflanzenöl, although I just don’t use it.
unfocussed_mike 5y ago
Yes. As I mentioned above -- soybean doesn't grow well in most of Europe (certainly not in the UK), canola grows very easily. Also soya is one of the 14 notifiable allergens in Europe, which makes it almost unsaleable in its unrefined form. Unusual to find it outside of specialist asian food stores. In the UK, "vegetable oil" is almost always canola. Even sunflower oil will be marketed as such because it's more expensive (imported from Germany, Ukraine, Albania I imagine). And I imagine it'll only get more expensive because of the situation.
PragmaticPulp 5y ago
> at least not as oil that you can buy It's not a common oil you find on the shelves of a grocery store, even in the US. It is, however, a prominent ingredient in a lot of bottled sauces and dressings. You can find it on the ingredients list of most salad dressing and sauces.
- leafmeal 5y ago
  Virtually all "vegetable oil" you see in stores in the US is soybean oil.
- unbalancedevh 5y ago
  Most "vegetable oil" in the US is soybean oil.
Pxtl 5y ago
I don't think you'll see "soybean oil" as a product on a shelf you'll see in any grocery store anywhere in the world. It's an ingredient in pre-made foods.
- unbalancedevh 5y ago
  Maybe not marketed as such, but in the US anyway most bottles of "vegetable oil" are soybean oil.

by rob74 5y ago

Pyramus 5y ago

It's a very German thing to not use olive oil for frying. It took me by surprise when living abroad, and to realise it's a common frying oil in Mediterranean countries but also in the UK.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
Economics, probably -- sunflowers and canola grow more easily. Olive oil is a nice pan-frying oil, it's what I use. Linguistic thing: When Americans talk about oil for frying, in my experience, they are a fair bit more likely than us to specifically mean deep frying, for which olive oil is no use. Way more of a deep-frying culture, from several different influences. American cooks are slightly more likely (than the Brits at least) to use the term "broiling" for shallow/pan-frying. Unusual word here.
- ryeights 5y ago
  “Broiling” would refer to using the broiler on one’s oven, I’ve never heard that term used to describe pan-frying. Terms I have heard are sautéed and seared
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    The main difference is the direction of the heat though. Top down rather than stove top. More or less the same deal otherwise. "Seared" and "sautéed" we do use! It's just we also use "frying" for that, and "frying pan".
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    As another aside, deep fat frying is quite uncommon in homes in the UK now. Many people under the age of say 25 will never have eaten deep-fried food cooked at home. There was quite a concerted campaign against it in the early 80s because so many house fires and serious injuries were caused by either unsafe fryers or unsafe technique. Safety campaigns, TV ads, fire brigade campaigns, a campaign to get people to fit extractor hoods and smoke detectors etc. Coincided with a public health campaign aimed at getting us to lower our fat intake, about deep fried food, full fat milk etc.; government "nudge unit" stuff. Time was, deep fried food was a staple of cheap home cooking; nowadays a deep fat fryer is really an enthusiast cook's appliance, in white British homes at least.
- ska 5y ago
  > use the term "broiling" for shallow/pan-frying. Unusual word here. I don't think that's right; it's more used for what you do in the oven under the "broil" setting. Americans use "saute" and "fry" in somewhat context dependent , somewhat interchangeable ways. Along with "sear" being somewhat specific to browning at high heat.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    Speaking as an American... I was aware that "broiling" was a cooking method, but I have no concept of what it involves. After checking a dictionary, I still don't -- wikipedia redirects "broiling" to "grilling", and Merriam-Webster defines "broil" as "to cook by direct exposure to radiant heat: grill", with an example given of "broil the steak in the oven". I would be more likely to use "bake" for heating something in an oven, though I'm uneasy about applying "bake" to a steak; I'd probably just say "cook the steak in the oven". I would use "fry" for cooking something in oil; I would not personally use "sauté" at all. I note further that neither Merriam-Webster nor wikipedia seems to be aware of a distinction between grilling and baking, or at least not one they're willing to articulate. I would have said that baking involves being cooked within an oven and grilling involves being cooked on top of a hot surface.
    - ska 5y ago
      Oh, I agree lots of American's don't use the word broil; I was (obviously not clearly) trying to say that those who do use it probably use it because there oven has a setting marked "broil". For ovens that have that, it usually means heat only using the top element (and sometimes only full blast), so the heat is only coming from above. I think fry is more often used than saute, and often context dependent (e.g. fried chicken may imply deep fried, fried onions doesn't) This latter may be regional.
    - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
      Grilling is _under_ a hot surface. Like broiling. But when you broil you use a different pan. Or something. Now if you want a really weird distinction: baking and roasting. Same appliance, much more similar temperatures than you might think, often only subtly different prep. You might think, no, you "bake" things that rise or are transformed by the process, like dough. But you might also "bake" potatoes and fish. Or you might say that roasting involves oil and basting, but you might baste baked fish. Or roasting involves an open dish or tray. But often so does baking. In this case it really is a kind of convention in English, in the same way that adjective order force is a convention. We generally consistently use one word for a given application or a given origin of the food. Messes with my head.

csunbird 5y ago

Exactly, I was wondering why none of the comments were talking about sunflower oil, which is what I used in my whole life along with olive oil. Vegetable oil does exist in Germany, I think it is sold as pflanzenöl, although I just don’t use it.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago

Yes. As I mentioned above -- soybean doesn't grow well in most of Europe (certainly not in the UK), canola grows very easily. Also soya is one of the 14 notifiable allergens in Europe, which makes it almost unsaleable in its unrefined form. Unusual to find it outside of specialist asian food stores. In the UK, "vegetable oil" is almost always canola. Even sunflower oil will be marketed as such because it's more expensive (imported from Germany, Ukraine, Albania I imagine). And I imagine it'll only get more expensive because of the situation.

PragmaticPulp 5y ago

> at least not as oil that you can buy It's not a common oil you find on the shelves of a grocery store, even in the US. It is, however, a prominent ingredient in a lot of bottled sauces and dressings. You can find it on the ingredients list of most salad dressing and sauces.

leafmeal 5y ago
Virtually all "vegetable oil" you see in stores in the US is soybean oil.
unbalancedevh 5y ago
Most "vegetable oil" in the US is soybean oil.

Pxtl 5y ago

I don't think you'll see "soybean oil" as a product on a shelf you'll see in any grocery store anywhere in the world. It's an ingredient in pre-made foods.

unbalancedevh 5y ago
Maybe not marketed as such, but in the US anyway most bottles of "vegetable oil" are soybean oil.