What kinds of oil do you use?

[Deleted]

I searched to see if there was an oil thread and couldn't find one, although oil has been mentioned just about everywhere. This is a palm oil thread discussing the controversy of its use in industrial preparations, but there doesn't seem to be one about the oils that we use at home.

My two basic oils are olive and sunflower (meaning that is what I have in big bottles). Sometimes, instead of sunflower I will have rapeseed/canola, as I have not really ever noticed any difference in taste between sunflower and rapeseed. My purchase depends on which of them is cheaper or has a special discount.

I tend to use the rapeseed or sunflower oil for deep frying or any time I want to sear something at high temperature. Olive oil is used for more gentle cooking and salads, although I will confess that I developed a taste for popcorn popped with olive oil even if you are not supposed to use it at the highest temperatures.

I also have sesame oil and chili oil from the Chinese supermarket. I'll put some of that in a few dishes, not necessarily only Asian dishes, but once you know the taste of those oils, they spring to mind when you are fixing certain items. Going back to popcorn, when I am popping corn, I will usually add a bit of chili oil into the mixture. Very impressive results.

However, the reason I started this thread is because today I was at one of the Indian supermarkets and I bought mustard oil on a whim. It was pleasingly yellow. (Don't I have great criteria?) This was sold in the food section, but it was strangely marked "for external use only." Closer inspection showed that it comes not from India but from the UK. This sent me to the internet where I learned that mustard oil is very common in northern Indian cuisine but it is one of those items that occidental tests determined was not good for rats. It was later discovered that rats and similar animals do not digest any sort of vegetable oil very well. But since mustard oil is not considered to be a priority item, nobody bothered to contest the results and they just decided to put the "for external use only" message on the bottles since it is also used as a massage oil.

I don't know why I will try it on something. It is apparently extremely pungent, so I should choose something that is normally extremely bland. In any case, I will publish my results on this forum somewhere or other (maybe "Free Clinic").

There are lots of other oils out there, so I'm hoping that other people will talk about the ones they use and why. Another oïl that is used in France and that you can find in any supermarket is grapeseed oil, but "everybody knows" that it is only to be used as the oil for a meat fondue (fondue bourguignonne). Yet I can't imagine that it is never used for any other reason.

I did not mention peanut oil, because contrary to popular belief, just about nobody uses it in France. I'm sure it was extremely common 50 years ago, but that was because rapeseed and sunflower oil were not yet prévalent in France.

[Deleted]

Well, I had never heard of mustard oil, but reading up quickly on wiki shows that it has many somewhat obsolete uses in India.

Mustard oil was once popular as a cooking oil in northern India. In the second half of the 20th century the popularity of mustard oil receded due to the availability of mass-produced vegetable oils. It is still intricately embedded in the culture:

It is poured on both sides of the threshold when someone important comes home for the first time (e.g. a newly-wedded couple or a son or daughter when returning after a long absence, or succeeding in exams or an election.
Used as traditional jaggo pot fuel in Punjabi weddings.
Used as part of home-made cosmetics during mayian.
Used as fuel for lighting earthen lamps (diyas) on festive occasions such as Diwali.
Used in hair. Known to be extremely beneficial for hair growth[citation needed].
Used in instruments. The residue cake from the mustard oil pressing is mixed with sand, mustard oil and (sometimes) tar. The resulting sticky mixture is then smeared on the inside of Dholak and Dholki membranes to add weight (from underneath) to the bass membrane. This enables the typical Indian drum glissando sound, created by rubbing one's wrist over it. This is also known as a (Tel masala) Dholak Masala or oil syahi.

It actually has some of the Omega-3 properties of canola oil, because both canola and mustard are brassicas.

I generally use olive oil (virgin or extra-virgin, depending on whether it is to be heated or not) and safflower oil. I use grapeseed oil for frying if it's around, but I haven't bought it lately. Seeing oil goes rancid relatively quickly, a single person can only justify having so many bottles of oil sitting in the cupboard at any given time.

I love hazelnut and walnut oils for salads, but haven't bought them for a while.

My husband used to use peanut oil for high heat cooking (he's from Virginia), but we've since found out that it was peanut products that gave him such intestinal distress, including peanut oil. Avoiding Asian food while dining out has solved a lot of problems, although I'll cook Asian at home, just using different oil.

[htmb]

I never deep fry and only have olive oil in the house, even for making popcorn. Occasionally, like for baking, I will purchase canola or corn oil, but that's rare. I really believe I would love walnut oil on salads, but I just never think about purchasing it. I also suspect it would go rancid before I was able to eat much.

[Deleted]

Walnut oil usually comes in very small bottles and is kept in the fridge. You might get through it!

[lagatta]

Lost another post. Sick of seeing the ProBoards message with the blue bear.

[Deleted]

When Proboards is having its unstable moments like that, I select and 'copy' any post that I have made that is longer than three lines if I fear that it won't be validated. And if it isn't, all I have to do is keep pasting it as many times as necessary until it works.

[Don Cuevas]

Aug 20, 2013 22:40:23 GMT lagatta said:

Lost another post. Sick of seeing the ProBoards message with the blue bear.

Long ago, due to the flaky Internet connection where we live, I got in the habit of Select All-Copy for every post I make, before Posting. This has saved me a lot of grief.

Nowadays, although our Internet connection is more reliable,I still do the Select All-Copy routine.

No, back to oils.

EDIT: Looks like Kerouac and I are of like mind.

[Don Cuevas]

OILS: I use corn or canola oil for general cooking, Ex Virgin Olive Oil for tasty Mediterranean type foods, or more.

[fumobici]

I too have pretty much settled on the Canola, EV olive oil approach in the same manner. I do have some toasted sesame oil, peanut oil and walnut oil I think but they don't seem to get used much.

[htmb]

I am a bit concerned about the brand of olive oil at my house not being very pure after hearing in news reports that some brands of olive oil have been found to be diluted with other oils. When my son cooks he tends to use quite a bit of olive oil, so he has been picking up a popular brand when it's on "two for one" special. It always tastes a bit strong to me, and not in a good way.

[bixaorellana]

I haven't had any problems with Proboards recently. However, I'm with Don Cuevas on the copying before previewing or posting regardless.

Anyway, oil ~~ olive oil and only olive oil, extra virgin cold pressed. I use it the same way Htmb does.

re: possibly adulterated oil ~~ some olive oils are stronger tasting naturally, with a few even having a peppery taste. The on-sale stuff might be perfectly fine, just not to your liking.

My mother uses some regular brand of olive oil for most cooking, but orders hideously expensive stuff online for dressing her salads and vegetables.

[Kimby]

I have been using canola oil and EV olive oil, but based on recent studies about the harm of Omega 6 oils, will probably buy sunflower instead of canola from now on. I also have sesame oil for flavoring.

[Don Cuevas]

Aug 21, 2013 14:05:40 GMT Kimby said:

I have been using canola oil and EV olive oil, but based on recent studies about the harm of Omega 6 oils, will probably buy sunflower instead of canola from now on. I also have sesame oil for flavoring.

WHAT? Now Omega 6 oils are bad? I never got on the bandwagon when they were good. I'm so far behind the trends.

[Kimby]

Omega 3 good, omega 6 bad.

[lagatta]

Canola oil has a nasty taste to me, so I don't use it. I know I'm ingesting it elsewhere, but these days I eat more at my home and those of friends than "out", so I'm not concerned.

[bixaorellana]

Aug 21, 2013 14:05:40 GMT Kimby said:

I also have sesame oil for flavoring.

Oh yeah ~~ I also use that, if you're talking about that toasted Chinese kind.

[rikita]

i must admit we don't much think about the oil we use. we used to buy the very cheap one for frying and a slightly more expensive one for salads. now we moved up a step or two in price, though still not very expensive oil. usually the cheaper one is sunflower seed and the a bit more expensive one for salads is olive. also i used rapeseed oil and coconut oil for a while for baby massage.

[lagatta]

I've been using a tiny bit of Moroccan Argane oil - in my hair. It isn't cheap, but one uses very little, and it restores the curl and sheen of my hair far better than any prepared cosmetic stuff I've used.