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Cooking oils - The good, the bad, and what do you use?

isthisincognito

isthisincognito

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May 2, 2010
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Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
I'm curious as to which cooking oil is actually the best. There's a lot of conflicting information.

Can anyone explain why oxidation of oil creates free radicals which is apparently very bad - or so I keep reading about, a lot of sites mention it but they don't explain it.

I recently got suckered into buying grapeseed oil as it was one offer, and a friend has been trying to convince me coconut oil is the way forward (he donated me a tub, it is good, but pretty expensive!)

What kind of oil do you favour, and is it primarily saturated, mono-unsaturated or poly-unsaturated fat, which would you favour and why?
 
i think coconut oil is the healthiest, rice bran oil is good as well but not on the same level as coconut oil

because when heating up coconut oil it doesnt convert it to trans fat, but stays as a saturated fat, which is good for you
 
We try to avoid using oil but when we have to, we use corn or sunflower oil.
We also use olive oil a lot but not for frying stuff.
 
Maya said:
http://www.cavemandoctor.com/2012/05...king-with-fat/
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I think that this guy's axe to grind, rooted in his advocacy of the paleo diet, has skewed his perspective. By his own criteria, refined canola oil, high in monounsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids and with a high smoke-point, should be an okay frying oil (at reasonable temperatures), yet he eschews all vegetable oils en masse. I also don't think that there is sufficient evidence to entirely write off saturated fats' contribution to heart disease.

Mysterie said:
because when heating up coconut oil it doesnt convert it to trans fat.
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Fatty acids in general don't transisomerize upon heating; trans-fats are an artifact of artificial hydrogenation.

ebola
 
I use coconut oil for most things, but lately I find it's giving me the shits in any quantity. I wonder if my body is fed up with omega 3 and doesn't want anymore.

I use olive oil in salad.

Someone recently suggested to me that I should combine olive, grapeseed oil, and coconut for a superior product. Thoughts?
 
Hi OP, I was able to do a little bit of research and found this link:

http://www.cavemandoctor.com/2012/05...king-with-fat/

I hope this answers your question
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I did stumble across that, and whilst it was probably the best information I found, and the citations give it credibility (although I have yet to check them over) I'm not completely sold with just one source advocating information. When I have some time I will read through the citations, to give me a more balanced view.

I think that this guy's axe to grind, rooted in his advocacy of the paleo diet, has skewed his perspective. By his own criteria, refined canola oil, high in monounsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids and with a high smoke-point, should be an okay frying oil (at reasonable temperatures), yet he eschews all vegetable oils en masse. I also don't think that there is sufficient evidence to entirely write off saturated fats' contribution to heart disease.
Click to expand...

So does anyone know which is the best, saturated, mono or poly or is a balance good?

Fatty acids in general don't transisomerize upon heating; trans-fats are an artifact of artificial hydrogenation.
Click to expand...

That's good to know. Hydrogenated vegetable oil is the only one I avoid like the plague.

Someone recently suggested to me that I should combine olive, grapeseed oil, and coconut for a superior product.
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Well grapeseed oil is what prompted me on this information hunt, some places state it's bad for you, others say it's ok if it's cold pressed. Combining oils for cooking though, would that be problematic when cooking? - Spitting, that kind of thing.
 
Was under the impression that most seed oils are too fragile to be exposed to heat and still maintain their integrity. Beyond that, I was under the impression that consuming most of those oils in even small amounts is in fact exponential amounts compared to generations upon generations of humanity. Such amounts of those oils was not found prior to the industrial age because the only way to get such quantities of those oils is to process large amounts of seeds with machinery. Butter, animal fat, fish fat, and the fat in eggs, by contrast, are readily available without heavy machinery and are usually praised for their balance of fatty acids.

Was also under the impression that most of those seed oils are subject to degradation from light alone. And that the manufacturing process can expose them to cooking-level temperatures, so it doesn't matter how careful you handle them.

Coconut oil seems to be widely recognized as a good cooking oil.

Also, the animal fats have an inherently palatable taste...well, they certainly taste more like they were meant to consumed as compared to the seed oils. Beef tallow, for example, tastes almost like...water. Most seed oils have an abrasive taste.
 
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^ I like your logic

With all these oils, if I favour a more naturally available one, what about the extraction? Even these more 'natural' varieties, are they not now mostly chemically extracted and refined because it's more efficient and thus more economically viable?

Would potentially bad bye products or alterations remain?

Also what about cooking without oil, how practical is that? Are there foods that naturally release oil when heated which could be used as a starter ingredient?

Coconut oil seems to be widely recognized as a good cooking oil.
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Coconut oil appears to one that has been tried and tested for a long time. I might have a look to see if I can find virgin coconut oil.
 
I mostly use extra virgin Olive oil. I also love canola oil. When trying to spice things up a bit I let them in a clean glass jar and put some dried grarlic/hot peppers/onion, I love cooking and the mixture of the oils whit those ingridients is wonderful. If you don't like spicy things don't add hot peppers of course. Sesame oil is great too, but it's taste may ressult a little bit too much for some people.

And like the guys say, coconut oil too. But mostly for sweet recipes I have to admit I don't use it in salty ones.
 
possibly incognito said:
So does anyone know which is the best, saturated, mono or poly or is a balance good?
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Honestly, I don't think that dietary science is yet advanced enough to speak definitively on this matter. I think it's pretty likely that opulent monounsaturated and small amounts of saturated fat are beneficial. However, it's as of yet unclear whether all of the deleterious health outcomes thought to be associated with saturated fats are actually statistical confounds. With polyunsaturates, it's ideal to maintain as high a ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s, particularly consuming large amounts of ALA and DHA.

red 22 said:
Was under the impression that most seed oils are too fragile to be exposed to heat and still maintain their integrity.
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I don't see any reason why one oil high in polyunsaturates would hold up better under heat than another, aside from characteristics indicated by smoke-point.

Such amounts of those oils was not found prior to the industrial age because the only way to get such quantities of those oils is to process large amounts of seeds with machinery.
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I don't think that this really indicates anything about which oils we'd expect to be healthy. That we evolved to survive to child-rearing age while ingesting a particular set of fats doesn't say much about which will promote optimal health into old age.

Juvenile UK said:
Sesame oil is great too, but it's taste may ressult a little bit too much for some people.
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It should be recognized that sesame oil should be used more as a seasoning than a fry oil, on account of its low smoke-point and high ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s.

ebola
 
Canola oil is my go-to general purpose cooking oil. For deep frying I use peanut oil, because it imparts a lovely light taste and a rich mouthfeel that canola lacks, even though canola will work in a pinch. Italian cooking gets extra virgin olive oil. And toast/baking gets unsalted butter whenever possible, or lard for pie crust. I don't use much of the "fancy" fats (coconut oil, etc) but avocado oil seems like something to try one day. I've used grapeseed oil, almond oil, cashew oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, and corn oil, but I prefer canola or peanut. I don't eat margarine, as a general thing.

The degree of unsaturation in oils does effect thermal stability, the tendency to polymerise, and its propensity to go rancid. Margarine was commercially a success because people could convert oils that would spoil, into oils that stored for much longer, and were solid. More saturated oils will store longer and usually melt higher. Flax seed / linseed oil is commercially used as a wood varnish for this reason, and it's also why fats like coconut stay good almost forever. (Coconut oil is 91%+ saturated fat... it's actually a very poor source of omega-3.) You can actually use flaxseed oil to put a non stick coating on a skillet naturally. All you need is flax seed oil, a cast-iron pan, and an oven. Chemistry at work!

If stored in sealed containers in the cold, most vegetable oils will stay good for quite a while. Don't store them in open bottles in the sun.

Personally, I think coconut oil is .... well, it's not as healthy as many other oils. Try grape seed oil, or canola if you're cost-conscious. (Canola's actually pretty well rounded, diet-wise.)
 
Udo Erasmus, author of Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill, said on his website at one point that most oils become so compromised as a result of heat that people would be best off cooking in water, generally speaking. I haven't read his book, but I wonder if that can be substantiated.

You say that many oils should be stored away from light, in a cold place (well, you didn't exactly say that but I think that's what you meant to say), and yet where are you going to get oils that aren't stored in clear bottles under the fluorescent lighting in the supermarket? Sure, some oils are in tinted or light-proof containers as a rule; others I've never seen in anything but clear containers.
 
red22 said:
Look into simply baking things that are traditionally fried in oils.
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I do tend to bake more than I fry for most things, I avoid using oil where possible.

Somethings however, like when I make wedges, without oil they don't turn out right. If I'm using coconut oil for wedges, I'll melt the oil in a pan with garlic/chilli/seasoning toss the potatoes in, drain the excess off them and oven cook them.

Same thing with stir fry, is there anyway to get out of using oil? I read somewhere that you can gently heat onions to release a natural oil - I tried this and it doesn't work.

sekio said:
Personally, I think coconut oil is .... well, it's not as healthy as many other oils. Try grape seed oil, or canola if you're cost-conscious. (Canola's actually pretty well rounded, diet-wise.)
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I bought grapeseed oil thinking it was healthy, but that's what prompted this whole thing - I really don't know if it is.

A lot of blogs and sites I've seen, some seem to think canola is the devil? I haven't really seen canola in the UK, but we get rapeseed oil, which is the same thing right?

red22 said:
Udo Erasmus, author of Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill, said on his website at one point that most oils become so compromised as a result of heat that people would be best off cooking in water, generally speaking. I haven't read his book, but I wonder if that can be substantiated.
Click to expand...

Would cooking in water work for a lot of things - For example could you stir fry with water?

red22 said:
You say that many oils should be stored away from light, in a cold place (well, you didn't exactly say that but I think that's what you meant to say), and yet where are you going to get oils that aren't stored in clear bottles under the fluorescent lighting in the supermarket? Sure, some oils are in tinted or light-proof containers as a rule; others I've never seen in anything but clear containers.
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Supermarkets, particularly big chains are a good one to look at for storage conditions - It's big money for them, so they're always going to endeavour to store things most appropriately to reduce shrinkage, although they would take into account a lot of factors, including cost effectiveness and product turnover.

They don't chill eggs for example, eggs don't need to be chilled, but towards the end of their shelf life you can chill them to make them last longer - however I imagine most supermarkets would turnover the product fast enough that this isn't too much of a problem.
 
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