Totally confused about cooking oils--please help!
 

There is such a difference of opinion about which oils are safe for high-temperature cooking! Some say even expeller-pressed extra virgin olive oil starts producing free radicals when it's heated to high temperatures. What on earth is it safe to pan-fry with, at high temperatures? I realize that canola oil is out, and you can't really cook with the nut oils, and we can't use peanut oil since we have a severely peanut-allergic child; so any advice would be appreciated, please! :)

According to the Drs. Eades in Protein Power Lifeplan, these are suitable fats for cooking:

• Cooking and Pan-frying
  
  Butter
  ghee (clarified butter)
  olive oil
  sesame oil
  coconut oil (unhydrogenated)
  pure lard
  any naturally occuring animal fat
  
  
  Baking
  
  almond oil
  butter, ghee
  canola oil
  pure lard or other natural animal fat
  
  
  Salads, Dressings
  
  avocado oil
  almond oil
  canola oil
  hazelnut oil
  macadamia nut oil
  olive oil
  sesame oil
  walnut oil
  flax seed oil
  
  
  Bad Fats
  
  corn oil
  soybean oil
  vegetable cooking oils
  margarine
  vegetable shortening
  partially hydrogenated oils of any kind

Cooking with high heat isn't really desirable .. not just because of the fats, but because high temperatures can alter and damage the proteins in food which may be unhealthy in the long run. Moderate temperatures and longer cooking may be preferable. Check out this article Beat the Heat from Nutrition Action newsletter.


hth,

Doreen

Thank you very much, Doreen. That article in particular was quite helpful. :)

For high tempurture deep frying, peanut oil is the most stable oil...

Peanut oil turns brown and smokes too though. I've heard coconut oil is the most stable at the high temps. The coconut oil I ordered isnt in yet though so I havn't had a chance to test that.

We can't use peanut oil because of a severely peanut-allergic child.

I checked at Whole Foods yesterday, and the folks there confirm Doreen's recommendation not to cook at such high temperatures, and, for moderately high temperature cooking, to use coconut oil.

Yes, most "health food" resources will recommend unrefined coconut oil for moderate to higher-temp cooking applications, such as stir-fries. But .. they tend to be vegetarian ;) and overlook the benefits of butter, especially clarified butter or ghee .. and pure animal fats. Chicken fat is very nice for sautéeing and is great for scrambled eggs :yum: .. AND it just happens to have over 30% monounsaturates :cool:

These fats have a high smoking point and remain stable at moderate-high temps. Of course, they will impart their particular flavours to the dish ... coconut oil is bland so may be more desirable in some cases.


hth,

Doreen

Thanks again, Doreen. I noticed that Whole Foods sells ghee, and the PP book gives a recipe for making one's own, on p. 355 of the paperback version. To up the mono. fat count, I suppose a little olive oil could be mixed in.

The article you linked to gives a great tip: marinating meats and chicken before cooking cuts down on the amount of substance that can turn dangerous while cooking at high temperatures. Similarly, PP recommends marinating meats for 24 hours prior to cooking.

Um, not to be boastful :blush: but *yours truly* has posted a recipe for home-made ghee AND a seasoned ghee that's really great for sautéing and for veggies .. http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=27219


:cool:

Doreen

WOW! CHEERS DOREEN. I'm a lousy cook but after only nearly 2 weeks I'm finding that I'm really getting into the kick of food prep, presentation etc.
I have a "thing" for fats. So I thoroughly enjoyed the articles on good ways of heating food vs bad.
I'm going to try the ghee as I find shop bought ghee abit tallow-tasting.

I'll let y'all know what it turns out like.

You really are a star

xxxx

I thank you, too, Doreen, for your recipe.