8 ms·

would you cook your dinner with gasoline?

kspacewalk2 4y ago
Certainly, in some settings. https://www.amazon.com/Gasoline-Stove/s?k=Gasoline+Stove https://www.amazon.com/Gasoline-Stove/s?k=Gasoline+Stove
p886 4y ago
Seed oils that are now widespread as cooking oils were originally used as machine lubricants.
- TSiege 4y ago
  Fascinating and makes sense. I've recently gone down a rabbit hole on the uses of linseed oil pre fossil fuels, but it's too gummy to ever be used as a lubricant. Do you know off hand which seed oils were used for lubricants?
  - ElevenLathe 4y ago
    Castor oil was famously used as a lubricant in early WWI-era airplane engines. The fumes would blow in the pilot's face and are also a laxative.
    - TSiege 4y ago
      Haha that's amazing! Hopefully the pilots weren't too phased. Thanks for sharing Did some further digging and it looks like it does have a tendency to gum. From wikipedia, "The viscosity of castor oil at 10 °C is 2,420 centipoise,[28] but it tends to form gums in a short time, so its usefulness is limited to engines that are regularly rebuilt, such as racing engines. Lubricant company Castrol took its name from castor oil." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil#Lubrication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil#Lubrication
- trompetenaccoun 4y ago
  So was olive oil, in addition to the use in food.
- hammock 4y ago
  Yes my point. They still are. Soybean oil is used in a wide range of lubricant and functional fluids applications: Gear oils and lubes Chainsaw bar oil Compressor oil Two-cycle engine oil Metalworking oils and Wire rope, chain, and cable lubricants General purpose and penetrating lubricants Transformer and transmission line cooling fluids Greases - automotive, machinery, rail curve, track Food-grade, industrial, and elevator hydraulic fluids https://www.stle.org/images/pdf/STLE_ORG/AM2019%20Presentations/Environmentally%20Friendly%20Fluids/STLE2019_Environmentally%20Friendly%20Fluids%20I_Session%203K_R.%20Brentin_Soybean%20Oil.pdf https://www.stle.org/images/pdf/STLE_ORG/AM2019%20Presentati... Obviously this is a backwards example (food-grade oil used for non-food applications), and my question was using this plastic oil for food applications.
whoomp12342 4y ago
In china, its common to cook with "gutter oil" which is sewage, filtered and refined. Humans are amazing.
- FearlessNebula 4y ago
  How do people ever consume that without immediately getting sick?
  - dahfizz 4y ago
    I think people here are confusing "cook with" to mean either "the fuel source to cook" or "the oil in the pan to aid in cooking".
    - actionfromafar 4y ago
      Unfortunately, no. See also, "frying with transformer oil".
  - userbinator 4y ago
    Because it's refined oil.
- eloff 4y ago
  It doesn’t seem to be common, but there seem to have been some scandals around that, and an increase in regulations. Really gross!
  - pubby 4y ago
    It's more common to unsafely reuse oil than pull it from the sewer. This is done everywhere to some extent (bad grease at a fast food joints, etc), but China does it on a bigger scale.
- Oxidation 4y ago
  "Gutter oil", digou you is any illegally recycled and refined oil. It's not necessarily from actual gutters: the "gutter" can be figurative. To be clear, does include, rarely and in the most egregious cases, literal sewer skimmings, but is also buying used cooking oil from food vendors (like from deep fat fryers and grill traps) and animal carcass rendering. Then refining and selling that oil for food use rather than as biofuel or other industrial uses. It can even apply simply to just using once-virgin frying oil for longer than regulations allow.
PaulHoule 4y ago
My dad served in the army as a cook in Vietnam. He used gasoline stoves to cook dinner for the troops.
- zucked 4y ago
  "White gas" used for cooking stoves (think Coleman stoves, laterns, etc) used to be unleaded, additive free gasoline. It's not gasoline now (according to wiki: cyclohexane, nonane, octane, heptane, and pentane.) Naptha also works in those stoves but doesn't last as long. Apparently you can still run the stoves on gasoline if you'd like.
a13o 4y ago
Truffle oil is 2,4-dithiapentane derived from petroleum, so if you like truffle fries you might not mind
nebula8804 4y ago
How about coffee? Heres a video of one of the original engineers brewing coffee with "plastic oil". Does not look healthy given that there is so much black smoke. [1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbonK7vBCZI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbonK7vBCZI

Certainly, in some settings. https://www.amazon.com/Gasoline-Stove/s?k=Gasoline+Stove https://www.amazon.com/Gasoline-Stove/s?k=Gasoline+Stove

p886 4y ago

Seed oils that are now widespread as cooking oils were originally used as machine lubricants.

TSiege 4y ago
Fascinating and makes sense. I've recently gone down a rabbit hole on the uses of linseed oil pre fossil fuels, but it's too gummy to ever be used as a lubricant. Do you know off hand which seed oils were used for lubricants?
- ElevenLathe 4y ago
  Castor oil was famously used as a lubricant in early WWI-era airplane engines. The fumes would blow in the pilot's face and are also a laxative.
  - TSiege 4y ago
    Haha that's amazing! Hopefully the pilots weren't too phased. Thanks for sharing Did some further digging and it looks like it does have a tendency to gum. From wikipedia, "The viscosity of castor oil at 10 °C is 2,420 centipoise,[28] but it tends to form gums in a short time, so its usefulness is limited to engines that are regularly rebuilt, such as racing engines. Lubricant company Castrol took its name from castor oil." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil#Lubrication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil#Lubrication
trompetenaccoun 4y ago
So was olive oil, in addition to the use in food.
hammock 4y ago
Yes my point. They still are. Soybean oil is used in a wide range of lubricant and functional fluids applications: Gear oils and lubes Chainsaw bar oil Compressor oil Two-cycle engine oil Metalworking oils and Wire rope, chain, and cable lubricants General purpose and penetrating lubricants Transformer and transmission line cooling fluids Greases - automotive, machinery, rail curve, track Food-grade, industrial, and elevator hydraulic fluids https://www.stle.org/images/pdf/STLE_ORG/AM2019%20Presentations/Environmentally%20Friendly%20Fluids/STLE2019_Environmentally%20Friendly%20Fluids%20I_Session%203K_R.%20Brentin_Soybean%20Oil.pdf https://www.stle.org/images/pdf/STLE_ORG/AM2019%20Presentati... Obviously this is a backwards example (food-grade oil used for non-food applications), and my question was using this plastic oil for food applications.

whoomp12342 4y ago

In china, its common to cook with "gutter oil" which is sewage, filtered and refined. Humans are amazing.

FearlessNebula 4y ago
How do people ever consume that without immediately getting sick?
- dahfizz 4y ago
  I think people here are confusing "cook with" to mean either "the fuel source to cook" or "the oil in the pan to aid in cooking".
  - actionfromafar 4y ago
    Unfortunately, no. See also, "frying with transformer oil".
- userbinator 4y ago
  Because it's refined oil.
eloff 4y ago
It doesn’t seem to be common, but there seem to have been some scandals around that, and an increase in regulations. Really gross!
- pubby 4y ago
  It's more common to unsafely reuse oil than pull it from the sewer. This is done everywhere to some extent (bad grease at a fast food joints, etc), but China does it on a bigger scale.
Oxidation 4y ago
"Gutter oil", digou you is any illegally recycled and refined oil. It's not necessarily from actual gutters: the "gutter" can be figurative. To be clear, does include, rarely and in the most egregious cases, literal sewer skimmings, but is also buying used cooking oil from food vendors (like from deep fat fryers and grill traps) and animal carcass rendering. Then refining and selling that oil for food use rather than as biofuel or other industrial uses. It can even apply simply to just using once-virgin frying oil for longer than regulations allow.

PaulHoule 4y ago

My dad served in the army as a cook in Vietnam. He used gasoline stoves to cook dinner for the troops.

zucked 4y ago
"White gas" used for cooking stoves (think Coleman stoves, laterns, etc) used to be unleaded, additive free gasoline. It's not gasoline now (according to wiki: cyclohexane, nonane, octane, heptane, and pentane.) Naptha also works in those stoves but doesn't last as long. Apparently you can still run the stoves on gasoline if you'd like.

a13o 4y ago

Truffle oil is 2,4-dithiapentane derived from petroleum, so if you like truffle fries you might not mind

nebula8804 4y ago

How about coffee? Heres a video of one of the original engineers brewing coffee with "plastic oil". Does not look healthy given that there is so much black smoke. [1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbonK7vBCZI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbonK7vBCZI