Successfully Cooking with OIL

There are so many different cooking methods that use oil. Health trends recently are towards using less and less oil. Also, with the popularity of nonstick cookware, sauteing can be done at lower heats using vegetable broth and fruit juices instead of oil. The main cooking methods are:

• Frying is cooking in hot oil;
• Sauteing is cooking in a small amount of oil;
• Stir-frying is a Chinese technique of frying quickly in small amounts of oil in a wok;
• Deep frying is completely submerging the food in large amounts of fat.

Oil can come from many different plants and the main ones in everyday cooking are:

Butter

Butter is a dairy product which is obtained by churning the fat from milk until it solidifies. The milk of the cow is the most popular but that of goats, sheep, and mares has been used.

Uses: Cooking, baking, condiment, sauces, flavoring

Ghee, Clarified butter

Clarified butter is a purified, thicker form of butter that’s been melted and has had the water and milk solids separated from the clarified or clear part. Because the water has been extracted, clarified butter will not burn at high temperatures, and therefore is most commonly used as a fat for cooking, or as a base for sauces like Hollandaise and Bearnaise.

Tip: Turn a thoroughly heated bowl over hard butter and in no time you will get soft butter.

Uses: Deep frying, cooking, sautéeing, condiment, flavoring

Canola oil

This was previously called rapeseed oil and differs from other vegetable oils because it contains significant quantities of eicosenoic and erucic fatty acids. It is used as both an edible oil and as a lubricant for metal surfaces because of high viscosity of rapeseed oil.

Uses: Frying, baking, salad dressings

Coconut oil

Coconut oil comes from a part of the coconut called the copra, which is mostly made up of highly saturated oil. The oil is extracted from the copra by crushing and is used in baking and a variety of prepared foods. Of all the edible oils, coconut has the most non-edible uses. It is used in cosmetics, toiletries, and soap production.

Uses: Commercial baked goods, candy and sweets, whipped toppings, nondairy coffee creamers, shortening

Corn oil

Corn oil or maize oil is extracted from maize germ, it has 13% saturates, 60% polyunsaturates.

Uses: Frying, baking, salad dressings, margarine, shortening

Cottonseed oil

Cottonseed oil is a by product of the production of cotton and has grown into a separate industry since its establishment in the late 19th cent. The seeds are shelled and then crushed and pressed or treated with solvents to obtain the crude oil.

Uses: Margarine, shortening, salad dressings, commercially fried products

Grape seed oil

Grape seed oil is also called grapeseed oil or grape oil. It is a vegetable oil pressed from the seeds of various varieties of grapes, it is an abundant by-product of winemaking.

Uses: Cooking, salad dressings, margarine

Lard

Lard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a spread similar to butter.

Uses: Baking, frying

Olive Oil

Olive Oil is removed from olives by pressing. The oil obtained from the first pressing is called virgin oil and is considered to be the highest quality salad and cooking oil. A second pressing of the olives produces oil of lesser quality that must be refined. The quality of olive oil can be read as a percentage which should be shown on the bottle, the lower the percentage the higher the quality of the oil

Olive Oil (Extra Virgin) Uses: Cooking, salad oils, margarine

Olive oil (Virgin) Uses: Cooking, salad oils, margarine

Olive Oil (Refined) Uses: Sautee, stir frying, cooking, salad oils, margarine

Olive Oil (Extra Light) Uses: Sautee, stir frying, frying, cooking, salad oils, margarine

Palm oil

Palm oil is very similar to coconut oil. Because it is highly saturated, it is used to make shortening and frying oil.

Uses: Cooking, flavoring, vegetable oil, shortening

Peanut oil

Peanut oil is an organic oil derived from peanuts, noted to have the slight aroma and taste of its parent legume.

Uses: Frying, cooking, salad oils, margarine

Rice bran oil

Rice bran oil is the extracted from the germ and inner husk of rice. It has a very high smoke point of 490°F (254°C) and a mild flavor, making it suitable for high-temperature cooking methods.

Uses: Cooking, stir frying, deep frying

Sesame oil

Sesame oil is also known as gingelly oil or til oil. It is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds.

Uses: Cooking, deep frying

Soybean oil

Soy oil is obtained by solvent extraction and is the dominant vegetable oil worldwide. Most of the production is consumed as salad oil, cooking oil, and margarine. It is also used in a variety of prepared foods such as frozen desserts and coffee whiteners. It also has a number of industrial uses.

Uses: Cooking, salad dressings, vegetable oil, margarine, shortening

Sunflower oil

Sunflower oil has a high protein content and is considered as semidrying oil which can be used in making paints or other industrial uses. It is much more popular as a food and is considered by some as desirable as olive oil.

Uses: Cooking, salad dressings, margarine, shortening