Cooking with Olive Oil

[Hopleaf]

When cooking with olive oil, I tend to try to use a 'regular' olive oil, like the ones labeled pomace, or light. which are usually the third or fourth press as their smoke points are a touch higher and they're more like regular vegetable oil. If I've run out or just haven't had the time to go get some more, I cook with vegetable oil, canola usually.

Fat Guy, to your assessment of the correct benefits of olive oil, isn't it true that in addition to the lower levels of saturated fats and higher levels of monounsaturated fats, one of the benefits is also a higher level of polyunsaturated fats, offering the body more access to linoleic acid (polyunsaturated fatty acid), one of the essential fatty acids that the body cannot produce on its own?

[Jinmyo]

St. Mario converted me to the dark path of his EVOO ways. I do saute and roast with it.

However, for deep-frying I use canola oil.

For very high heat sauteeing I use grapeseed oil.

I'll use peanut oil for some Chinese dishes.

I'll use corn oil for South Western/Latin dishes.

[Fat Guy]

Fat Guy, to your assessment of the correct benefits of olive oil, isn't it true that in addition to the lower levels of saturated fats and higher levels of monounsaturated fats, one of the benefits is also a higher level of polyunsaturated fats, offering the body more access to linoleic acid (polyunsaturated fatty acid), one of the essential fatty acids that the body cannot produce on its own?

Beats the heck out of me!

I think Jin has hit the nail on the head: Use the oil that makes sense for what you're doing. Most of the cooking I do benefits from neutral-tasting oil (I use vegetable oil and canola oil interchangeably) followed up with olive oil later if that flavor is required. I rarely beat the crap out of food so badly that I need grapeseed oil, but I keep grapeseed oil on hand because once in awhile it comes in handy (I used to use it more often but found that it was overkill, especially given the price). I used to use peanut oil for Asian-style dishes but at some point I decided it didn't make enough of a difference for me to care.

[Fat Guy]

besides, the whole saturation and cholesterol thing is being debated in scientific circles.

I've found that it is very difficult to convince people of this, even though it's entirely correct.

[Wilfrid]

Yes, canola for everyday frying. But let's not overlook butter; if my aim is a rich dish, perhaps with a sauce made by deglazing the pan, I often choose butter.

[Fat Guy]

Sure, there are lots of great cooking fats. Duck fat is a big favorite of mine, and terribly underutilized. Lard just can't seem to gain traction among well-to-do white people even though it improves so many dishes. But there's probably a need for a cooking-fats thread that's wider in scope than this one, if we're going down that path.

[Dave the Cook]

Note on the menu of Calvin Trillin's fantasy diner:

All items cooked in pure butter, unless lard is more appropriate.

[Jinmyo]

Goose and duck fat for roasting potatoes and root vegetables. Failing that, bacon fat and butter. Failing that, EVOO and butter. Or either.

Drop a bit of suet in canola oil for frites (aka chips, frys).

[Lyle]

Canola.

Canola.

Canola.

I bought a couple of liters of Grapeseed oil on clearance a couple of weeks ago knowing that the smoke point was so higy (how high?) but have yet to use it as my canola seldom smokes. What dish would you use this with? Sear on steak?

Canola.

[Jinmyo]

Canola is great for deep-frying.

Grapeseed oil is particularly nice for quick-searing of toro tuna.

[Dave the Cook]

Smoke points

[Jinmyo]

One thing about cooking with EVOO. When that fruity/peppery aroma starts to waft, it's ecstatic. Of course if you can smell it, that means the flavours are burning off. But jebus aich crust, that smells so good.

[g.johnson]

The real argument that olive oil is the most healthful oil has to do with it having the most monounsaturated fat of any of the generally available options. There's also a persuasive argument that canola oil is the best from a health standpoint because it has the lowest overall saturated fat.

Hu and Willet recently reviewed the effects of diet on the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD).

Consumption of fat affects levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood, that in turn are associated with the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD). But the story is not entirely straightforward. High levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LHL-C) and high levels of tryglicerides are associated with increased risk of CHD. However, high levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) are associated with decreased risk. So we all want to lower LDL-C and triglycerides and increase HDL-C.

All classes of fat (saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) increase HDL-C and reduce triglycerides (good). However, saturated fats also increase LDL-C (bad), whereas monounsaturated and polyunsaturated decrease LDL-C (good). Trans-fatty acids of the type found in margarine increase LDL-C much more than conventional fatty acids (very bad) also increase triglycerides (bad). Omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oils are also protective through other mechanisms.

So the bottom line is that fat is probably not a bad thing per se* although you should avoid margarine and vegetable shortening. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and omega 3 fatty acids are actually a good thing. Polyunsaturated (canola oil, etc.) is slightly better than monounsaturated (olive oil) in this respect.

*But may be bad if it contributes to obesity

[g.johnson]

Oh yes, the question. Frying, etc. I use whatever seems ‘right’.

Red meat: duck or goose fat.

White meat, fish: butter and/or canola oil.

Norhtern vegetables (mushrooms, potatoes): butter.

Mediterranean vegetables (courgettes, aubergine, tomatoes): EVOO but only because I can’t be bothered keeping a separate bottle of OO.

[Jim Dixon]

Here’s my 2 cents

Extra Virgin

There is a lot of confusion as to what “extra virgin” really means. The term doesn’t appear in the USFDA regulations about olive oil, but in the European Union, the words can only be used if the oil meets both chemical and flavor standards (aka “organoleptic,” a term that encompasses flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel).

While there are still some older ram-type presses in operation in Italy, the best oils are the product of a high-tech continuous press, a mechanical wonder of gleaming stainless steel and digital readouts capable of turning hundreds of kilos of olives into oil every hour. It probably uses hot water, up to 30 degrees Celsius (about 86 degrees F), to help get the last molecules of valuable oil away from the olives’ other vegetable liquids. A high-speed centrifuge separates the oil and water, and the oil may be filtered through cotton. One school of thought about filtering is that the fine particles can oxidize (go rancid) more rapidly, the other says that they provide more flavor. This debate goes on and on in Italy.

The definitions for different grades of olive oil were established by the International Olive Oil Council in 1990. Only two grades of oil, extra virgin and virgin, are the result of simple mechanical pressing that, while technologically advanced, mimics the age-old methods of squeezing olives to get oil.

-Extra virgin: These are mechanically-pressed olive oils with “perfect” flavor, defined as an organoleptic rating of 6.5 or higher as determined by a panel of certified tasters, and a level of free fatty acid (expressed as oleic acid) of one percent or less.

-Virgin: This term is used for oils with good flavor (a rating less than 6.5) and an acid level between 1 and 3 percent.

Note that “first-pressing” and “cold-pressed” don’t appear in the official definitions. All extra virgin and virgin oil comes from a single pressing, and in fact, the olives are almost always only pressed once. Even if warm water is used, the oil is considered “cold-pressed.” You can think of it as code for “not refined”, but the term on the label is really just for marketing, similar to the use of the phrase “no cholesterol” on products that clearly aren’t of animal origin.

The other grades of olive oil are the result of two different processes. They’re sometimes called “rectified” because additional steps are taken to correct or rectify the flavor.

-Olive oil: Formerly referred to as “pure,” this is mostly oil pressed from inferior fruit so that the flavor is unacceptable or the acidity is more than 3 percent (in some countries oil with high acidity is preferred, but most of us would find it unpalatable). It is refined to remove the undesirable characteristics, leaving a completely tasteless oil. A small amount of virgin or extra virgin oil is blended back in to provide some flavor.

-Olive pomace oil: The residue from the pressing process, called pomace (or sansa in Italy) undergoes additional chemical refining to extract the last fraction of oil. The process typically uses hexane or a similar compound to capture the oil, then the blend is distilled to remove the chemical. Sometimes water is used, but not often. A small amount of virgin or extra virgin oil is blended in to provide flavor, but pomace oils still have acid levels as high as 20%.

The Italian olive oil producers I know don’t think the rectified oils are fit to eat and should be used for making soap. But they also know that olive oil of any grade fetches a high price, so they have no problem selling the sansa (aka pomace, the leftover dried out paste that accumulates in large piles on the ground outside the frantoio or press). The sansa is trucked to industrial refineries that extract the last bits of oil.

Healthful Qualities

The most significant benefit extra virgin olive oil offers is a high level of antioxidants. But I also use it exclusively because it isn’t refined at all, and some researchers have suggested that most refined oils, which includes almost all of the vegetable and seed oils (unless they’re labeled “expeller produced”), contain trans fats.

My information about trans in canola comes the following article:

The Oiling of America, by Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. and Sally Fallon (Dr. Enig is a researcher at the University of Maryland, and her work in the 1960s and ‘70s is largely responsible for the FDA’s more critical look at trans fats. The article was originally published in Nexus Magazine in two parts, Nov/Dec 1998 and Feb/Mar 1999 and can be found at www.nexusmagazine.com/OilingAmerica.1.html .

Here’s the passage that convinced me.

“Canola oil, processed from a hybrid form of rape seed, is particularly rich in fatty acids containing three double bonds and can contain as much as 50% trans fats. Trans fats of a particularly problematical form are also formed during the deodorization of canola oil, although they are not indicated on labels for canola oil.”

I don’t know if this is true or not, but I prefer to stick with foods that have undergone a minimal amount of processing. Since I’m in the olive oil business, I have a lot of it around.

Another reason for avoiding canola is that almost all of it produced from GMO seed.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil and heat

It’s true that at temperatures over about 190F a lot of the flavor compounds in extra virgin olive oil start to go. But the oil itself can take the heat and, as Mario says, it’s used for all kinds of frying in Italy. For you chemistry geeks, I offer this from Dr Guido Costa, who’s family has been growing olives and pressing oil for several generations:

“...the greater the number of double bonds in the fatty acid, the more unstable, and more easily broken down by heat, light, etc. That's why olive oil, made up predominantly of monounsaturated oleic acid, is so much more heat-stable than the highly polyunsaturated seed oils. Olive oil can, for example, be re-used substantially more often in frying than other seed oils (including canola, which has about three times the amount of polyunsaturation than olive oil).”

Jim

[g.johnson]

My information about trans in canola comes the following article:

The Oiling of America, by Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. and Sally Fallon (Dr. Enig is a researcher at the University of Maryland, and her work in the 1960s and ‘70s is largely responsible for the FDA’s more critical look at trans fats. The article was originally published in Nexus Magazine in two parts, Nov/Dec 1998 and Feb/Mar 1999 and can be found at  www.nexusmagazine.com/OilingAmerica.1.html .

You are, I believe, misreading this article.

After the Second World War, 'improvements' made it possible to plasticise highly unsaturated oils from corn and soybeans. New catalysts allowed processors to 'selectively hydrogenate' the kinds of fatty acids found in soy and canola oils - those with three double bonds. Called 'partial hydrogenation', this new method allowed processors to replace cotton-seed oil with more unsaturated corn and soybean oils in margarines and shortenings. This spurred a meteoric rise in soybean production from virtually nothing in 1900 to 70 million tons in 1970, surpassing corn production. Today, soy oil dominates the market and is used in almost 80 per cent of all hydrogenated oils.

The particular mix of fatty acids in soy oil results in shortenings containing about 40 per cent trans fats - an increase of about 5 per cent over cotton-seed oil and 15 per cent over corn oil. Canola oil, processed from a hybrid form of rape-seed, is particularly rich in fatty acids containing three double bonds and can contain as much as 50 per cent trans fats. Trans fats of a particularly problematic type are also formed during the process of deodorising canola oil, although they are not indicated on labels for canola oil.

(Emphasis added.)

Though the wording is somewhat ambiguous, I think the context makes it clear that the margerine and shortenings made from canola oil are rich in trans-fatty acids. The level in canola oil due to deoderizing is not stated as far as I can see.

[Jim Dixon]

The particular mix of fatty acids in soy oil results in shortenings containing about 40 per cent trans fats - an increase of about 5 per cent over cotton-seed oil and 15 per cent over corn oil. Canola oil, processed from a hybrid form of rape-seed, is particularly rich in fatty acids containing three double bonds and can contain as much as 50 per cent trans fats. Trans fats of a particularly problematic type are also formed during the process of deodorising canola oil, although they are not indicated on labels for canola oil.

While I said that I wasn't offering this as gospel, I think she's clear enough that she's talking about the oil. But whether or not there's any trans in canola oil or even the GMO isssue isn't why I don't use it. I'd rather use oil that hasn't gone any industrial processing, so I use extra virgin olive oil.

If you read the entire article (and again, I'm not saying that everything in it is right, altho' her vilification at the hands of the Edible Oils Council, the industry's lobbying arm, gives her more credibility in my book), check out her theory about natural vs refined fats. She basically says that the historical increase in heart disease in the last 100 yrs can be correlated to the increased consumption of refined fats. Enig goes on to say that naturally-occuring saturated fats aren't necessarily bad for you, and may in fact be healthful (with all the usual caveats about balanced diet and exercise).

Just like the lipid theory of heart disease, hers doesn't really prove causality, but it does make sense whan you think about the French paradox and other exceptions to the accepted wisdom about diet and heart disease.

Health issues aside, the best reason for extra virgin olive oil is that it tastes better.

Jim

[elyse]

I use canola for frying, searing, and popcorn, but I detest the taste. I think it tastes like fish. I'm really just trying to use up what I have left now. I try to cut it with olive oil, but I still think it's nasty.

[Bux]

I'm glad Jim responded to this. I did a double take myself. The excerpt Glynn posted seemed in conflict with his point. While the level in canola oil due to deoderizing (sp?) is not stated, the article clearly says "Trans fats of a particularly problematic type are also formed during the process of deoderising canola oil."

I join Jim in not accepting any of this as gospel, I suspect it's all worth considering in light of how effective the various oil and fat industries have been in getting many of us to believe their propaganda as gospel. For those interested in a point of view that re-examines how we tend to look at fats and oils, there's Fran McCullough's recently published The Good Fat Cookbook. I haven't looked at the recipes and have only read bits and pieces. Ms. McCullough acknowledges Dr. Enig as a "heroine in her courageous work to bring us the truth about trans fats and other unhealthy oils." [disclosure: A close family member of mine also gets an acknowledgment in the regard to the publishing of this book]

The real argument that olive oil is the most healthful oil has to do with it having the most monounsaturated fat of any of the generally available options. There's also a persuasive argument that canola oil is the best from a health standpoint because it has the lowest overall saturated fat.

My understanding is that most canola oil is highly processed and as a result not nearly as healthy as it's producers have led us to believe. [see above.] Arguments based on a single factor are always persuasive if they can lock your attention on that sole issue. It's an effective sound bite, but not the big picture.

We often use Olio Carli EVOO manufactured by the Fratelli Carli in the pan. it's not terribly expensive nor does it have such a distinctive olive oil flavor. On the plate, or in the salad dressing we use a better EVOO, usually from Italy and usually a novello from a smaller producer. We switched to the Carli EVOO on the advice of others who suggested an inexpensive mild EVOO would offer a slightly better flavor in cooking.

But EVOO has minute pieces of the olive still in it and they burn very easily. The beauty of EVOO is that it was never heated. Once its heated its no longer EVOO really. Why would you put it in the pan at all?

While I understand EVOO is far less processed than most other oils on the market and that includes regular and "pure" olive oil, there's no reason an EVOO cannot be filtered. Among the very special EVOOs that come from small producers, some are filtered and some are not. The Carli EVOO is not much more expensive than supermarket olive oils and I suspect fairly highly filtered. I don't recall any sediment. It's a very commercial product, but the worst thing that's done to it before it hits my mouth is my heating it. As for health claims, all I can say is that I join Dixon in being most suspicious of oils that undergo a lot of processing. I like butter, goose fat and EVOO, but a little bit of hydrogenated fat in pie crust makes it flakier. Lard may be just as good.

[Jim Dixon]

Most extra virgin olive oils have smoke points near 400F, so I think the you hit that before any particles in the oil would start to burn...but even unfiltered oil has only very tiny particles that settle out in the bottle (that sediment is good on bread, though).

We make popcorn in one of those stovetop poppers with a crank that turns a little wire across the bottom of the pot (my wife consistently finds them at garage sales for $2-3)...but we use extra virgin olive oil and it tastes fine.

I should add that for higher heat cooking, I use Trader Joe's extra virgin, the all-Italian one that costs about $5/liter. It's a waste of money to use the more expensive oil for anything that gets hot and stays that way for very long.

Jim

[Bux]

It's a waste of money to use the more expensive oil for anything that gets hot and stays that way for very long.

The first and obvious thing is that you lose the flavor when you heat the oil and that's what makes the difference between olive oils worth the money you pay for the more expensive ones.

Fran McCullough seems to support Matt's contention that one shouldn't use EVOO for frying, although elsewhere in her book she says it's good for salads and cooking. The tempratures reached may have something to do with when you cook with it. Apparently most oils develop those dangerous (carcinagenic) trans fats when they are heated. Light olive oils are likely to have trans fats as most are processed to that degree. EVOOs are not treated with heat, but it you are going to heat it sufficiently, you are going to create the same trans fats that are developed in the processing, so there's no virtue in starting with an EVOO. Olive oil is high in antioxidents and that apparently offsets the trans fats at least to some extent. Truthfully, as critical as all this may be to my mortality, it's not the sort of stuff I enjoy reading and consequently much of the information leaves my brain shortly after the page is flipped. I'm not going to be the one to boil this book down to it's essence for you. The subject of fats and oils is very complex and there are often trade offs. There are no easy rules, except perhaps that the hydrogenated fats should be avoided at all costs at all times.

[pjs]

I use EVOO (supermarket grade) to fry/saute slices of par-boiled small red potatoes. I add a good dose of butter about half-way through and sprinkle with garlic, shallots and parsley a minute or two before done. It just doesn't work as well with other oils. Or smell or taste as good.

PJ

[afn33282]

Hey eGullet,

I have read/heard from many sources that claim that one should use less-expensive non-virgin olive oil for sauteeing, etc., and save the extra-virgin stuff for salad dressings, finishing sauces, etc. What do you think? I have always believed that one should use the best ingredients to get the best results; some say that the delicate nature/rich body of the extra-virgin stuff is lost/broken down? under high heat. I was under the impression that as well as having more complexity on the nose and palate, extra-virgin olive oil has less acidity (>.8%), to what flavor effect I am not sure, but this might come through in the final product, no matter what cooking technique you use. Going in one direction, would you deep fry with extra-virgin olive oil? In the other, would you sautee with, say, olive pomace oil? Curious for your thoughts.

[Pan]

My feeling is that extra virgin olive oil has a particular taste, and if you want that taste on whatever you're sauteeing, use it.

[bigbear]

EVOO has a lower smoking point than the more refined olive oils. That might be a consideration.