Gather Round the Table: Choosing the right oil

Seems as though the rules for cooking with fats and oils change every time you pick up a newspaper.  One oil is bad for you, then it’s good for you, then it’s only good if it’s a certain kind of a certain kind of oil.  Butter is healthy, except when it’s not, and margarine has no cholesterol but may be worse for you than butter anyway.

Fats were the bane of every diet until that strange no-carb thing showed up, then fats were fine but starch was out, so you couldn’t eat any of the things you liked to put the fat on or in.  Where’s the fun in that?  Mark Twain once famously said, and I agree, “Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.”

Without trying to contradict your doctor, and making none of the claims of a dietician here’s a simple guide to deciding which oil is best to cook with based on flavor and tradition, allowing a happy palate to be the arbiter of good health.

When sauteing or frying, a key to choosing the right oil is smoking point.  This is the temperature at which the oil begins to smoke, just a few degrees before it bursts into flames and spoils the party for everyone.  Even if a fire is avoided, once the oil is smoking it is losing flavor, becoming bitter, and it will pass that flavor along to the foods.  Since a high temperature is desired for both sauteing and frying, an oil with a high smoke point is important.  Try doing either at a low temperature and the resulting soggy mess will suffice to assure you of the need for a high smoke point.

Next consider the flavor profile, and especially the origin and traditions of the ingredients.  Asian foods are frequently cooked in soy, peanut or sesame oil.  Mediterranean cuisines need olive oil.  Animal fats like butter and lard are more common to northern European cuisines.  In the southern US bacon fat was a tradition for years.

But what if the flavor you want does not come with the requisite high smoke point?  As a broad general rule, the darker and more opaque the oil is, the more particulates it contains and therefore it will burn more easily.  The lighter and clearer, the more likely it is that the oil can pass 400-450 degrees f. without burning.  So olive oil and sesame oil, as well as butter and bacon fat, have a tendency to smoke up your house before they get hot enough to effectively cook your food.

The solution to this dilemma that I use at my restaurant is to cut the oil you want to use with some of the lighter-flavored, higher smoke-point oils.  My favorites these days are two soy oils made right here in Iowa – Asoyia and Iowa Naturals.  Both are very low in Linolenic acid, thus they don’t need to be hydrogenated, and thus no trans-fats (the thing that’s bad about margarine and shortening).  The smoke point is very high, and when we mix it with a Spanish extra-virgin olive oil, which is high in flavor and nutrients but has a low smoke point, it raises the temperature at which the oil might burn up past 400 degrees f., making it possible to sauté and fry while maintaining that fruity olive flavor.

So don’t always let scientists tell you what to eat, pay heed to your palate as well and experiment with the flavors that suit you best.

 Here are the smoke points of various fats:

•  Butter: 260 degrees
•  Butter, clarified: 335 to 380 degrees
•  Lard: 370 degrees
•  Canola oil: 430 to 448 degrees
•  Corn oil: 410 degrees
•  Olive oil, extra virgin: 250 degrees
•  Olive oil, pure: 410 degrees
•  Peanut oil: 450 degrees
•  Vegetable shortening: 410 degrees
•  Soybean oil: 495 degrees

		Kurt Michael Friese, Gather Food Correspondent
	Gather ‘Round the Table is a regular feature of Gather Essentials: Food. Chef Kurt Michael Friese is a freelance food and wine writer & photographer. He is also the co-owner - with his wife Kim - of Devotay, a restaurant in Iowa City, serves on the Slow Food USA Board of Directors, and is Editor-in-Chief of the local food magazine Edible Iowa River Valley. He lives in rural Johnson County, Iowa. Keep up with Kurt Michael's food series by joining his network, or subscribing to his content.