live oil jars left behind by the ancient Greeks are testament to our centuries- old use of cooking oil. Along with salt and pepper, oil Oremains one of the most important and versatile tools in your kitchen. It keeps food from sticking to pans, adds flavor and moisture, and conducts the heat that turns a humble stick of potato into a glorious french fry. Like butter and other fats, cooking oil also acts as a powerful solvent, unleashing fat-soluble nutrients and flavor compounds in everything from tomatoes and onions to spices and herbs. It’s why so many strike recipes begin with heating garlic in oil rather than, say, simmering it in water. The ancient Greeks didn’t tap many cooking oils. (Let’s see: olive oil, olive oil, or—ooh, this is exciting!—how about olive oil?) But you certainly can. From canola to safflower to grapeseed to walnut, each oil has its own unique flavor (or lack thereof), aroma, and optimal cooking temperature. Choosing the right kind for the task at hand can save you money, boost your health, and improve your cooking. OK, so you probably don’t stop to consider your cooking oil very often. But there’s a surprising amount to learn about What’s this? this liquid gold. BY VIRGINIAWILLIS Pumpkin seed oil suspended in corn oil—it looks like a homemade Lava Lamp! 84 allrecipes.com PHOTOS BY KATE SEARS WHERE TO store CANOLA OIL GRAPESEED OIL are more likely to exhibit the characteristic YOUR OIL flavor and aroma of their base nut or seed. Though it’s tempting to store It’s made from—you guessed it!—the crushed (Unrefined peanut oil is sold as well. When you cooking oils in clear bottles seeds of grapes. Nearly clear or pale green in open the bottle, it smells like peanut butter!) above or near your stove, that’s color, grapeseed oil is a favorite in professional These unrefined oils can be expensive and are really not the best plan. Heat kitchens because it has both a high smoke not ideal for heated preparations, as they and light can damage oils, so point and a light, neutral flavor. Research also generally have low smoke points and lose their you want to keep them in the suggests that grapeseed oil, like the grapes it distinctive flavors fairly quickly when cooked. cupboard in the coolest part comes from, contains powerful antioxidants But they’re delicious as finishing drizzles, in of your kitchen or even in your that help protect against molecules called free dressings, and in salads. They also can be refrigerator to avoid spoilage. radicals that are implicated in heart disease, high-heat sautéing or frying. Extra virgin olive added to more all-purpose cooking oils to add Now, if you cook a lot and cancer, and other ailments. Grapeseed oil, oil prices vary considerably, so it’s smart to nutty flavor. what kinds you’ve just got to have a bottle especially the expeller-pressed kind, can be a sample a little before you buy a lot of any of fats are you near the stove, make it a dark bit more costly than other oils. It takes a lot of one kind. Pure olive oil—slightly more refined, SAFFLOWER & container (think green glass or Canola oil comes from the seeds of the canola those little seeds, after all, to make it! slightly less expensive, and with a higher SUNFLOWER-SEED OILS COOKING WITH? stainless steel) and a small one plant—a genetic variation of rapeseed, a smoke point—is better for sautéing and Fat makes food taste good, and that you will empty quickly. And member of the same plant family that includes medium-heat cooking. our bodies are hard-wired to like store it to the side of the stove cabbage, mustard, and broccoli. (Rapeseed oil it. But most of us eat too much rather than above it because, has long been used as an industrial oil; canola PEANUT & OTHER NUTTY OILS fat—and too much of the least of course, heat rises. was developed in Canada using traditional healthy types. It helps to know Unrefined oils—especially plant-breeding methods to make the rapeseed If you’ve had a deep-fried turkey at which is which. those made from nuts—can go less acidic and more edible. The word “canola” Thanksgiving, it was probably fried in refined Unsaturated fats—found rancid in a hurry, so buy them in is an amalgamation of “Canadian oil, low acid.”) peanut oil. A favorite in Southern cooking, it mainly in fish, nuts, and seeds, small quantities and keep them Almost clear in color, neutral in taste, and has a high smoke point and is perfect for and in oils made from vegetables, in the fridge. When oil goes bad, with a high smoke point, canola oil is a good deep-frying—one reason you’ll often find it in nuts, and seeds—may help lower you’ll know it: It smells sour, all-purpose oil—excellent for sautéing, 1- to 5-gallon jugs at big-box stores or near the your cholesterol level when you tastes bitter, and, unfortunately, deep-frying, and baking as well as using raw in outdoor deep-fryers in hardware stores. Smaller use them in place of saturated can’t be saved. Toss it out. salad dressings and mayonnaise. Most canola bottles are available as well and are great for and trans fats. They’re the ones you want to eat most. in the United States is genetically engineered sautés and stir-fries. The vast majority of and chemically extracted, so if that’s a concern peanut oil used by U.S. cooks is heavily Saturated fats are found Some oils become for you, you may want to spend a little more on processed and highly refined. That’s why, mainly in ingredients that come cloudy or even organic, expeller-pressed canola oil, which is surprisingly, most peanut oil is actually from animals but also in tropical mechanically extracted from non-GMO seeds. OLIVE OIL allergen-free. The purification, deodorization, Safflower oil and its cousin, sunflower-seed oil, ingredients such as coconut, solidify when and bleaching of the refining process remove are used in cuisines all over the world. Derived coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and cocoa butter. Too much CORN OIL A cornerstone of Mediterranean cooking long components in the oil that can trigger reactions from related flowers, they contain high refrigerated. That saturated fat is believed to raise recognized as heart-healthy, olive oil is in people with peanut allergies. Other nutty amounts of vitamin E and are very versatile. doesn’t affect cholesterol, so it’s best eaten in Corn oil is extracted from the germ of corn available in seemingly endless varieties. The oils, such as hazelnut, macadamia, pistachio, Safflower oil is especially good for cold salads moderation. their quality at all. kernels. Refined corn oil, widely available in flavor and aroma of each depends largely upon pumpkin seed, and walnut oil, are more because it doesn’t solidify when refrigerated Give them a few grocery stores, is pale gold in color and works the olives from which it was pressed. Just as commonly sold in their unrefined states and so and chilled. Both can be used in cold dressings Trans fats or trans fatty well as an all-purpose cooking oil. It has a high there are different kinds of grapes for wine, and mayonnaise as well as in high-heat acids are found mainly in minutes at room solid-at-room-temperature, smoke point and is inexpensive. It can be used there are different kinds of olives grown all over cooking and sautéing. Nearly clear in color, hydrogenated oils such as temperature, for frying, baking, and roasting—and, since it is the world. An oil pressed from Spanish they’re also neutral enough for baking. These margarine and shortening, and fairly flavorless, it’s also good for making dishes Arbequina olives will taste different than one oils are low in saturated fat and are generally and things will be processed foods. Many experts back to normal. in which you want the flavor of the food, rather from Italian Coratina olives. Which kind you more expensive than generic “vegetable” oil but consider these the worst fats than the oil, to shine. Unrefined corn oil, which prefer is a matter of personal taste and what less expensive than extra virgin olive oil. because they not only elevate is much rarer in stores, is dark gold in color you’re cooking: Bold ingredients like red meats, the “bad” kind of cholesterol and has a rich corn taste. It’s best in no-heat tomatoes, and hearty grains can handle more (LDL) but also lower the “good” applications such as salad dressings and recipes intense flavors; delicate foods like seafood and kind (HDL). Some meats and that benefit from a strong corn flavor. vegetables are often better served with a more dairy products also contain trans subtle, fruity oil. It’s smart to have at least two fats, but some science indicates types on hand: one “extra virgin” for salads and that such naturally occurring trans fats aren’t as harmful as finishing touches, and one “pure” or regular for those in processed foods. cooking. Extra virgin olive oil, which is typically more expensive, has a low smoke point and a robust flavor that’s lost with SHUTTERSTOCK PHOTOS: AND CANOLA-SEED OIL-DROP PARISIAN. KATE STYLING: PROP GRIMES; PAUL STYLING: FOOD 86 allrecipes.com allrecipes.com 87 a few words about Why Smoke Points Matter SMOKE POINT A cooking oil’s smoke point is just what it sounds OIL TYPE (approximate) CULINARY USES GOOD FOR SOLID FATS like: the temperature at which the oil will start CANOLA 460°F Frying, High heat Cooking oils are fats that are liquid Butter can be used in medium- to smoke—just before it completely degrades and roasting, SOYBEAN/ 450°F grilling, at room temperature.