4 ms·

olive oil isn't even particularly great for cooking because of its low smoke point. avocado oil or beef/duck tallow are a good choice.

binarymax 3y ago
Of course, I have a variety of oils depending on what I’m cooking. I use olive oil for low and slow stuff like sauces.
mp05 3y ago
Though not quite as high as avocado or safflower, I presume you're aware that refined olive oils can have pretty high smoke points. But it surprises me how often I'll be at a friend's home and they grease up their frying pan with EVOO.
- someotherperson 3y ago
  I exclusively use EVOO. Never had a problem, never had a complaint. But then again I don't exactly deep fry food so maybe that's where the issue is.
  - oven9342 3y ago
    yeah, for deep frying certain frozen food products, it might be better to reach temperatures above 170 °C, so the oil doesn't get too cold as you add the frozen food.
- mk89 3y ago
  There can be two main reasons: 1. Their EVOO can reach temps ~200°C 2. They use medium temperatures on the frying pan (so they keep it at 180-200°C, or lower). This is especially true when you use pans with anti-stick coating, which literally break at high temperatures (it's even written in the instructions to avoid using the highest temperatures).
  - swores 3y ago
    Yeah, for something like lightly frying some mushrooms, or caramelising onions (though butter is imo tastier for the latter) there's no reason not to use EVOO other than that it still won't be the cheapest option, but cooking won't get rid of all of its health benefits nor taste. I suppose maybe there's a case (I don't know if this has been studied or just people with differing anecdotes?) for cheaper than EV olive oil being as good as EV when using it for cooking over a certain temperature? I don't know.
funklute 3y ago
That's not the whole story though. Often, what is more important is how stable the oil is below the smoke point. There's a pretty decent video on this by Adam Ragusea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_aFHrzSBrM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_aFHrzSBrM
goostavos 3y ago
What the heck are you talking about? Olive oil is perfectly fine for cooking. Not everything needs high temp and fast searing. The smoke point of olive oil is plenty high for tons of sauteing applications.
- artursapek 3y ago
  I know that. I'm just saying, rather than buying cheap olive oil for cooking which is probably very impure and diluted with cheap vegetable oil, there are other oils which one can purchase which aren't imitated with frauds as often and which have higher smoke points.
- lurking_swe 3y ago
  if one is lazy and wants to buy just 1 oil for cooking, olive oil would not be it. It’s fine for a lot of cooking though.
oven9342 3y ago
Olive oil is great for cooking as long as you keep it below its temperature, 170 degrees celsius. I use a fancy IR thermometer because I'm a nerd. "during frying olive oil behavior is usually equal or superior to that of refined vegetable oils" https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1541-4337.12268 https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1541-433... "olive oil, independently of its category label, is clearly resistant to degradation under domestic frying conditions (170 °C). Among the olive oil categories, the extra-virgin PDO olive oil was more resistant under the conditions of this study" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278691510004941 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02786...
- NavinF 3y ago
  > I use a fancy IR thermometer This is useless for taking absolute measurements like 170C. You have to calibrate the oil/pan's emissivity using a normal thermometer
  - adrian_b 3y ago
    That depends on how fancy the IR thermometer is. A simpler thermometer may have a single IR receiver. In that case its output can be far from truth without an emissivity calibration. Better IR thermometers have 2 or more IR receivers for different wavelengths and they compute the temperature based on the ratios between them. In this case the measured temperature no longer depends on the value of the emissivity, but only on the deviation from the behavior of a gray body. With an increased number of IR wavelengths that are measured, it becomes less likely that a calibration could change the results, but cheap thermometers are unlikely to use such a sophisticated method.
Aloisius 3y ago
Duck fat's smoke point is actually rather close to olive oil's. Actually, a low-acid extra virgin or virgin will have a higher smoke point. Also refined olive oil, of course, not that many people buy it.
bsder 3y ago
Who cooks everything north of 400F? I saute in butter all the time which has a smoke point of 350F or less. I adjust my cooking temperature to suit the dish. If my pan is so hot that the olive oil is smoking, I'm probably burning the hell out of whatever I'm cooking.
- devbent 3y ago
  > Who cooks everything north of 400F? Depends on the cuisine. If I'm wok frying something as hot as possible is a good starting point! Also if I'm going to throw 2lb of protein on a pan I need it as hot as I can get it so the temp doesn't drop down to nothing after the meat is added.
  - bsder 3y ago
    Won't you be using peanut or soybean oil for a wok? And "wok hei" relies on explicitly igniting the oil to burn it, which renders the whole discussion moot. If I'm trying to keep a pan hot in the face of 2 pounds of cold, watery protein, I either need something like a mass of cast iron, an induction system or a gallon of oil.
henearkr 3y ago
Extra virgin olive oil is easily denaturated under relatively low heat, which is why it is recommended to use it with salads etc. The olive oil that is perfect for cooking, with a high smoke point, is the refined one, or a mix of refined and virgin. Not a lot of people know the fact right, hence a lot of confusion. Unfortunately the olive oil for cooking is much harder to find than virgin oil, thus everybody ends up using the oil that does not stand well the heat. Saying that it is easily denatured by heat does not mean it will smoke at these temperatures, but it will get its unsaturated fats partly becoming trans fats etc, thus losing its dietary benefit.

binarymax 3y ago

Of course, I have a variety of oils depending on what I’m cooking. I use olive oil for low and slow stuff like sauces.

mp05 3y ago

Though not quite as high as avocado or safflower, I presume you're aware that refined olive oils can have pretty high smoke points. But it surprises me how often I'll be at a friend's home and they grease up their frying pan with EVOO.

someotherperson 3y ago
I exclusively use EVOO. Never had a problem, never had a complaint. But then again I don't exactly deep fry food so maybe that's where the issue is.
- oven9342 3y ago
  yeah, for deep frying certain frozen food products, it might be better to reach temperatures above 170 °C, so the oil doesn't get too cold as you add the frozen food.
mk89 3y ago
There can be two main reasons: 1. Their EVOO can reach temps ~200°C 2. They use medium temperatures on the frying pan (so they keep it at 180-200°C, or lower). This is especially true when you use pans with anti-stick coating, which literally break at high temperatures (it's even written in the instructions to avoid using the highest temperatures).
- swores 3y ago
  Yeah, for something like lightly frying some mushrooms, or caramelising onions (though butter is imo tastier for the latter) there's no reason not to use EVOO other than that it still won't be the cheapest option, but cooking won't get rid of all of its health benefits nor taste. I suppose maybe there's a case (I don't know if this has been studied or just people with differing anecdotes?) for cheaper than EV olive oil being as good as EV when using it for cooking over a certain temperature? I don't know.

funklute 3y ago

That's not the whole story though. Often, what is more important is how stable the oil is below the smoke point. There's a pretty decent video on this by Adam Ragusea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_aFHrzSBrM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_aFHrzSBrM

goostavos 3y ago

What the heck are you talking about? Olive oil is perfectly fine for cooking. Not everything needs high temp and fast searing. The smoke point of olive oil is plenty high for tons of sauteing applications.

artursapek 3y ago
I know that. I'm just saying, rather than buying cheap olive oil for cooking which is probably very impure and diluted with cheap vegetable oil, there are other oils which one can purchase which aren't imitated with frauds as often and which have higher smoke points.
lurking_swe 3y ago
if one is lazy and wants to buy just 1 oil for cooking, olive oil would not be it. It’s fine for a lot of cooking though.

oven9342 3y ago

Olive oil is great for cooking as long as you keep it below its temperature, 170 degrees celsius. I use a fancy IR thermometer because I'm a nerd. "during frying olive oil behavior is usually equal or superior to that of refined vegetable oils" https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1541-4337.12268 https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1541-433... "olive oil, independently of its category label, is clearly resistant to degradation under domestic frying conditions (170 °C). Among the olive oil categories, the extra-virgin PDO olive oil was more resistant under the conditions of this study" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278691510004941 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02786...

NavinF 3y ago
> I use a fancy IR thermometer This is useless for taking absolute measurements like 170C. You have to calibrate the oil/pan's emissivity using a normal thermometer
- adrian_b 3y ago
  That depends on how fancy the IR thermometer is. A simpler thermometer may have a single IR receiver. In that case its output can be far from truth without an emissivity calibration. Better IR thermometers have 2 or more IR receivers for different wavelengths and they compute the temperature based on the ratios between them. In this case the measured temperature no longer depends on the value of the emissivity, but only on the deviation from the behavior of a gray body. With an increased number of IR wavelengths that are measured, it becomes less likely that a calibration could change the results, but cheap thermometers are unlikely to use such a sophisticated method.

Aloisius 3y ago

Duck fat's smoke point is actually rather close to olive oil's. Actually, a low-acid extra virgin or virgin will have a higher smoke point. Also refined olive oil, of course, not that many people buy it.

bsder 3y ago

Who cooks everything north of 400F? I saute in butter all the time which has a smoke point of 350F or less. I adjust my cooking temperature to suit the dish. If my pan is so hot that the olive oil is smoking, I'm probably burning the hell out of whatever I'm cooking.

devbent 3y ago
> Who cooks everything north of 400F? Depends on the cuisine. If I'm wok frying something as hot as possible is a good starting point! Also if I'm going to throw 2lb of protein on a pan I need it as hot as I can get it so the temp doesn't drop down to nothing after the meat is added.
- bsder 3y ago
  Won't you be using peanut or soybean oil for a wok? And "wok hei" relies on explicitly igniting the oil to burn it, which renders the whole discussion moot. If I'm trying to keep a pan hot in the face of 2 pounds of cold, watery protein, I either need something like a mass of cast iron, an induction system or a gallon of oil.

henearkr 3y ago

Extra virgin olive oil is easily denaturated under relatively low heat, which is why it is recommended to use it with salads etc. The olive oil that is perfect for cooking, with a high smoke point, is the refined one, or a mix of refined and virgin. Not a lot of people know the fact right, hence a lot of confusion. Unfortunately the olive oil for cooking is much harder to find than virgin oil, thus everybody ends up using the oil that does not stand well the heat. Saying that it is easily denatured by heat does not mean it will smoke at these temperatures, but it will get its unsaturated fats partly becoming trans fats etc, thus losing its dietary benefit.