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Time to Give Canola Oil Some Love

Chris Amirault

By Chris Amirault
in Kitchen Consumer

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Porthos

Porthos

Posted
Posted

I'm no scientist, and in general am not that worried about GMO, but something about Canola has always made me a bit shy to use it. My wife and my daughter do use it. For me it's olive oil or corn oil. EVOO when I'm looking to impart that specific flavor. Toasted sesame seed oil for that specific flavor. But no Canola. YRMV.

Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

As much as I respect those unfortunates subsisting north of the 49th parallel, Ripert cooks almost every dish in Canola oil.  I would sooner render baby seals.

 

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

Why don’t you tell us how you really feel about canola oil?😂

 

But if you can get over the canola oil you are still going to have some challenges with this book. I don’t know quite where I stand. The title is Vegetable Simple so should I be gob smacked when one of the recipes is for green beans with butter? It is almost vegetables 101. Is it just me that thinks popcorn is a stretch for vegetables? Hoping somebody else offers their opinion of this book. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted
40 minutes ago, Anna N said:

But if you can get over the canola oil you are still going to have some challenges with this book. I don’t know quite where I stand. The title is Vegetable Simple so should I be gob smacked when one of the recipes is for green beans with butter? It is almost vegetables 101. Is it just me that thinks popcorn is a stretch for vegetables? Hoping somebody else offers their opinion of this book. 

Amazon cookbook reviews are always a mixed bag but there are quite a few that echo your thoughts, one of them quite thorough and well-written. 

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, weinoo said:

I wonder if canola oil is the oil of choice at Le Bernardin the restaurant?

I did try to do a bit of research on why he is so into canola oil but I didn’t come up with anything. I am not opposed to canola oil but it’s a curious choice for a restaurant of such stature. As an aside, I also had a look at Jose Andre’s vegetable book where he insists that olive oil is the only oil for everything. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, weinoo said:

 

The whole Spain vs. France thing?

 

Aren't there canola oils which are quite high quality, compared to say, Wesson?

It might be a Spain versus France thing but I don’t think so somehow. As for high quality canola oil
Here.

I know nothing about it.  I just grabbed this from Google. 

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

Posted
Posted

Canola oil is a mystery to me. Just a quick search on Google confirms that I am by no means the only person to whom canola oil smells fishy. Some say they only detect the fishy smell when it is heated, but I can smell it in the bottle. I never have it in the house. If I want a neutral oil I use Sunflower. I also keep grapeseed oil on hand, but use it mainly in sweet baked things that call for oil instead of butter.

 

So maybe Eric Ripert himself smells like fish and the scent of the canola oil is too subtle for him.

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lindag

lindag

Posted
Posted
26 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

Canola oil is a mystery to me. Just a quick search on Google confirms that I am by no means the only person to whom canola oil smells fishy. Some say they only detect the fishy smell when it is heated, but I can smell it in the bottle. I never have it in the house. If I want a neutral oil I use Sunflower. I also keep grapeseed oil on hand, but use it mainly in sweet baked things that call for oil instead of butter.

 

So maybe Eric Ripert himself smells like fish and the scent of the canola oil is too subtle for him.

I keep all my oils in the fridge, I will have to go sniff my canola and see if it smells of fish.  

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

We seem to have beaten the whole canola oil controversy to death. This is just one of four threads that I was able to find. 
 

I was amused when I went through the link that I posted about the posh oil. I wondered who would be anxious to cite its use in a restaurant called The Petroleum Club. 
 

Back to Eric Ripert and his new book. Perhaps it is a reaction to a plethora of books that in attempting to promote vegetables manage to bury their true character in a jumble of flavours. Perfectly cooked green beans dressed with butter can be sublime and perhaps that is the message of the book. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
22 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

As much as I respect those unfortunates subsisting north of the 49th parallel, Ripert cooks almost every dish in Canola oil.  I would sooner render baby seals.

 

Really.

Canola oil has an "off" smell at times.Fishy.

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 4/24/2021 at 11:24 AM, gfweb said:

When peanut oil is available why entertain canola or corn?

I can smell and taste the peanuts in peanut oil. Fine with some dishes, but not all. A fried egg done in peanut oil is horrible. Obviously, I never use c@rn oil!

 

Most of my cooking is done in rice bran oil*. Truly neutral in smell and taste.

 

* I do use olive oil where called for; never in Asian dishes.

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
26 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I can smell ad taste the peanuts in peanut oil. Fie with some dishes, but not all. A fried egg done in peanut oil is horrible. Obviously, I never use c@rn oil!

 

Most of my cooking is done in rice bran oil*. Truly neutral in smell and taste.

 

* I do use olive oil where called for; never in Asian dishes.

 

I cook my pseudo Chinese dishes in peanut oil.  I like peanuts.  My doctor says eat peanuts.  For my potato tonight I used grapeseed oil.  For the last of the shad I am about to use olive oil.

 

For Georgian dishes I use sunflower oil.  For eggs I would use only butter.

 

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I cook my pseudo Chinese dishes in peanut oil. 

 

You are in good company. Most people here use peanut oil. 90% of the oil in supermarkets is peanut.

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

palo

palo

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, gfweb said:

When peanut oil is available why entertain canola or corn?

Price?

 

p

Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

Since the discussion of canola oil was first re-activated as a reaction to Eric Ripert’s use of it,  I am making a small leap about the seafood restaurant mentioned in this post— Le Bernardin?

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Pam R

Pam R

Posted
Posted

Good morning from the Can(ada)ola Capital! (It was first "engineered" right here at the university of Manitoba.)

 

The majority of oil in the supermarkets here are canola and you'd have a hard time finding a bottle of peanut oil around these parts. When I used to shop at the restaurant supply, the only oil they had in pails or 16 litre boxes was canola oil,  so it makes sense that most restaurants use it here (other restaurant suppliers have other options, but always lots of canola).

 

I have never had the fishy taste problem with canola, but this year a store substituted "vegetable" oil for the canola oil I ordered.  It was a soybean/ canola blend that was 100% fishy.  Had to throw it out. 

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Pam Reiss aka "Pam R"

Author: Soup - A Kosher Collection - Passover - A Kosher Collection - Pam's Cookie Collection - Blog - Demos - Pam's Kitchen FB 

weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Since the discussion of canola oil was first re-activated as a reaction to Eric Ripert’s use of it,  I am making a small leap about the seafood restaurant mentioned in this post— Le Bernardin?

 

That's the one.

 

There are a lot of oils in this here kitchen. A few olive oils, avocado oil, sunflower and safflower, grapeseed, peanut, hazelnut and more (without getting up and looking). No canola though. A few fats too...pork, duck, bacon.  Once most of these oils are opened, however, they need to get used; without refrigerating them, they go off pretty darn quickly,.

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted (edited)

@weinoo

 

"I wonder if canola oil is the oil of choice at Le Bernardin the restaurant?"

 

no idea.

 

I am a student of higher end cooking shows.   GB , BBC , iTV has many

 

some time ago there was :

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2295297/

 

Cookery School.  Im not a big fan of ' competition ' shows  but this one was

 

exceptional.   A series of dishes were demonstrated by Richard Corrigan :

 

simple , medium , more complex.    then the ' students ' made them

 

were critiqued and one left the series.

 

RC is one of my favorite chefs to learn from

 

some out-takes :

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5GT56KSnpk

 

 

now , he used Canola Oil.   but it was an oil much darker than canadian-oil

 

we get in the USA.  Ive also seen this darker canola used on other higher end

 

GB cooking shows.   I wonder if its a lot different than the pale stuff I can get here.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/jun/12/rise-of-rapeseed-oil

 

Im no fan of USA Canola.

 

any ideas 

 

a few more RC's :

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNNo1I3R3Js

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siPeTN0CeE4

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOQYbuyauQ4

 

Edited by rotuts (log)
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