Cooking Oil

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cheerio_76

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Joined: July 28, 2004
Posts: 78

Status: Offline

Posted: Jan 17, 2005 - 01:15 PM
Post subject: Cooking Oil

There are so many types of cooking oil in China and I'd like to know more about each. There's Peanut, sunflower, corn etc. Currently I'm using Corn oil and Olive Oil because that what I grew up with but I'd like to explore the others. Is there a certain combination that is best for example: red meat with corn oil, fish/seafood with peanut oil etc.

Anyone who can make some suggestions?

bleucheese
Veejay
Veejay

Joined: Aug 01, 2003
Posts: 1994
Location: this side of the tracks

Posted: Jan 17, 2005 - 03:19 PM

Theres no real combo that i know of. just think about flavors and smoking points. Good general oils to use are corn and safflower. Theyre relatively tasteless. Decent smoking points so you can fry without much of a problem. In terms of flavors...peanut, sesame, walnut, olive oil, and many others are all going to impart a distinctive flavor on the dish. You can use them raw in salads or as a drizzle over certain dishes. Or cook with some of them. Just make sure theyre not rancid! I dont know how many times ive gone into someones place and found them using rancid oil.
sesame is, in my opinion, too strong to cook with outright. and also turns bitter. so if you want the flavor either cut it into another oil (say sunflower) sparingly or just drizzle a bit raw at the end.
walnut ive seen recipes for but never cooked with. good for salads. if you like and eat nuts (i dont...out of necessity not choice)
peanut (i think) has the highest smoking point. so you can get that baby HOT and fry up some fish or whatever requires some flash-fry high heat. but beware...there are people (like me) who are violently allergic to peanuts. just cooking with it gets it in the air and i break out in hives.
olive oil will burn. easily. careful when cooking with that too.
lastly, i like to use clarified butter for cooking most things. not exactly the healthiest oil but "everything in moderation" is my motto. which i rarely follow. you can get a recipe online. its easy to make, nice flavor, decent smoke point and hey, everythings better with butter. you can also add butter to other oils (say corn) to get the flavor without the burn. (in case you didnt know, you cant fry with butter. the milk solids will burn).
happy eating.