Is olive oil good or bad for frying?

Try macadamia oil, it does taste better!

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Great idea unless you are going for Crackle on the belly/leg/shoulder/loin (or Crispy Pork) then foil will allow too much moisture to remain while in the crackling stage of the roasting and so no crunchy crackle (very very sad outcome in my household). What we found best was a spatter shield that covers the roasting pan, we had to to search for one but eventually did locate some. As an alternative make one from aluminum flyscreen but ensure you get one without coatings or blast it in the oven at highest temp for a good while until the coating is removed. This guard allows the moisture to not accumulate and the rind to crisp up and eases the amount of oven cleanup needed afterwards.

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Typically we use “light” olive oils for frying or roasting, they are generally the final press oil so almost free of moisture, or we use Ghee (clarified butter) or Rice Bran Oil (refined versions only). Peanut oil we prefer for stir frying both for it’s distinct light taste in the dishes we make and that it has a fairly high smoke point.

They do use steam and water to get the final press Olive oil but the oil is fairly hydrophobic and is easily separated from the water after they extract it. Using the water and steam also removes almost all taste, odour and particulates from the oil.

EVOO is too high in moisture, and flavouring components to be really suitable for frying as smoking and thus burnt bitter flavours become quickly evident. Warm oil baths that some dishes require (eg oil poaching of fish) are more suited to the use of EVOO.

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It would be easy to conduct an experiment in the comfort of your own kitchen, cooking your choice of dishes that requires a high temperature with differing oils to see how it goes. Please report back if I got it wrong, or got it confirmed. . :slight_smile:

(After my first go I changed to rice bran and peanut oils)

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For stir fries we use rice bran oil with a small amount of sesame oil for flavour, both which also have high smoke points.

Refined safflower oil is also commonly used in China for stir fries, along with refined peanut oil as well.

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This is the smoking point temperature of various oils reported on wikipedia (highest to lowest)…

Fat Quality Smoke Point
Avocado oil Refined 270°C 520°F[2][3]
Safflower oil Refined 266°C 510°F[3]
Sunflower oil Neutralized, dewaxed, bleached & deodorized 252-254°C[19] 486–489°F
Mustard oil 250°C 480°F[4]
Butter Clarified 250°C 482°F[6]
Palm oil Difractionated 235°C[15] 455°F
Soybean oil 234°C[18] 453°F
Peanut oil Refined 232°C[3] 450°F
Sunflower oil Semirefined 232°C[3] 450°F
Rice bran oil Refined 232°C[17] 450°F
Coconut oil Refined, dry 232°C 450°F[10]
Sesame oil Semirefined 232°C 450°F[3]
Sunflower oil, high oleic Refined 232°C 450°F[3]
Corn oil 230-238°C[11] 446-460°F
Peanut oil 227-229°C[3][16] 441-445°F
Sunflower oil 227°C[3] 441°F
Almond oil 221°C 430°F[1]
Canola oil 220-230°C[7] 428–446°F
Cottonseed oil Refined, bleached, deodorized 220-230°C[12] 428–446 °F
Vegetable oil blend Refined 220°C[14] 428°F
Grape seed oil 216°C 421°F
Olive oil Virgin 210°C[9] 410°F
Olive oil Extra virgin, low acidity, high quality 207°C 405°F[3][14]
Canola oil (Rapeseed) Refined 204°C 400°F
Castor oil Refined 200°C[9] 392°F
Olive oil Refined 199-243°C 390-470°F[13]
Canola oil (Rapeseed) Expeller press 190-232°C 375-450°F[8]
Lard 190°C 374°F[5]
Olive oil Extra virgin 190°C 374°F[14]
Corn oil Unrefined 178°C[9] 352°F
Coconut oil Unrefined, dry expeller pressed, virgin 177°C 350°F[10]
Sesame oil Unrefined 177°C 350°F[3]
Peanut oil Unrefined 160°C[3] 320°F
Olive oil Extra virgin 160°C 320°F[3]
Safflower oil Semirefined 160°C 320°F[3]
Sunflower oil, high oleic Unrefined 160°C 320°F[3]
Butter 150°C 302°F[5]
Sunflower oil Unrefined, first cold-pressed, raw 107°C[20] 225°F
Canola oil (Rapeseed) Unrefined 107°C 225°F
Flaxseed oil Unrefined 107°C 225°F[3]
Safflower oil Unrefined 107°C 225°F[3]
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The problem “is” that olive oil, especially Extra Virgin olive oil has a very low smoke point, normal olive oil is “OK” to cook with, the problem is the carcinogenics if it over heated. A much safer oil to cook with is Rice bran or Safflower oil (refined), especially for frying.

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How can we be so sure?

How do we reliably know what is in each bottle of oil purchased in the supermarket?

To me it still looks like a bit of a gamble.
The properties of oil products are highly variable in too many ways to be confident of the bottled contents!

Is your virgin/extra virgin olive oil a 160C or a 210C smoke point product?

If it is refined olive oil the smoke point could be as low as 199C or as high as 243C.

The figures in the table are a sample. The final chemistry in all plant derived oils varies. The ratios of Fatty acids also vary between source fruit/seed and varieties.

I’ll just repeat the suggestion that edible and cooking oils should come with clear labelling that advises both the smoke point temperature along with the contents and reliable details of the omega-3, 6, 9 and saturated vs polyunsaturated fat content.

It should not be left to the customer to do home kitchen lab with a saucepan of oil and immersion thermometer for each batch of store purchased oil.

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Looking at the very useful chart (Thank you @phb) we might consider disregarding unrefined oils (Pure, Virgin, Extra Virgin) as those generally have a much too low smoking point. They would be fine for cooking and salads, but we are looking at oils for frying and in particular at olive oil for frying.
From the chart the oil which can reach the highest temperature before it starts to burn is the Avocado oil (270C),and the lowest is Butter (150C).
Olive oil comes in the lower scale but with a fluctuation from 199C to 243C!

199C would place it under Castor oil,
243C would place it in the top 4, over
Palm oil!

Yes, we need clearer labelling. But also we can go with personal experience on how to manage frying without burning the oil. :wink:

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I used olive oil for many years but a year back changed over to Coconut Oil for frying and I always fry on very low - lowest gas ever.
Great taste and one American doc reckons this is the only oil we should use for energy - and I certainly have noticed an improvement in this as well as sleeping better waking just before the alarm too. Wow a first.
Give it a go maybe?

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From Choice: Is Coconut oil healthy?
By Kate Browne.

“ All coconut oil, whether virgin or refined, is high in saturated fat (higher than butter) so it is considered a solid fat. One tablespoon of coconut oil provides 490kJ (117 calories), 13.6g total fat (11.8g saturated fat), no protein or carbohydrates, and only trace amounts of a few nutrients.”

I’m glad it works for you @houzer,
but I try to avoid saturated fats as much as I can.
BTW it’s what Copha is made of.

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We diabetics like to think of coconut oil as a “healthy fat”, and prefer to avoid carbohydrates. Given that we arent eating spoonfuls of it, and that far less is needed to fry an egg, for example, than butter (my other preference)… REally, theres not much wrong with it. My cholesterol levels have come down to normal range since doing LCHF.

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That was in answer to @houzer
Invite to “ Give it a go”.
Must qualify that I meant ‘High Saturated Fats’ as it’s almost impossible to avoid it altogether.
Glad you found something that’s working for you :blush:

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Simple answer No.But just don’t use much of it

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6 posts were split to a new topic: Non-stick Fry Pans

Deep frying food is defined as a process where food is completely submerged in hot oil at temperatures typically between 350 °F (177 °C) and 375 °F (191 °C).
(From Wikipedia).

Looking at the chart of the ‘Smoking point’
of most oils, the Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a smoking point of 160C.
All the other Olive Oils have a higher smoking point than 177C, and are suitable for frying.

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A commercial deep fryer which has thermostat controlled temperatures is different to the domestic cook cooking or frying with oils. These have a thermostat as they are on all the time that food is being served and the themostat operates as a temperature safety (ensuring the oil does not continue to heat up thus becoming a fire hazard). It also ensures that the oil is at the optimum temperature for deep frying.

Frying also includes the cooking of foods in a pan of BBQ (e.g. fry an egg, fry sausages on the BBQ). Deep frying is usually confined to the food service industry. There are some domestically available deep friers which also are themostatically controlled, but these are not common appliances in the average home.

Oils can also be used in the domestic oven with temperatures ranging from a cool oven (90°C), moderate oven (180°C) to a hot/fast oven (210°C+). Many of the above oils smoking point would be exceeded in a hot oven.

In a home kitchen, one would not know the temperature of the oil in the pan on a cooktop or BBQ until it starts to smoke (the smoking point temperature). It is very easy to exceed the smoking point of an oil in a home kitchen as the pans are often not thermostatically controlled (unless one uses a older style electric frying pan or oven for all cooking/baking).

It is also worth noting that the figures outlined above are indicative of different oil types. Each oil type would have a range of smoking points depending on how it is processed by the manufacturer and the characteristsics of the raw plant materials used to make the oils. This needs to be considered when selecting an appropiate oil for frying/cooking as it is possible that eventhough tbe smoking point above is greater than the planned cooking temperature, the oil one is using potentially could have a smoking point less than this.

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People have been using olive oil for cooking and frying for millenniums…
How did they ever cope without a Thermostat or a thermometer :flushed:

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Maybe that is one of the reasons why the expected lifespan has been steadily increasing? :wink:

Just because something was used in the past (maybe due to no alternatives), it does not mean that it is good for us with today’s knowledge. Only in modern times has there been the science and technologies to assess such things.

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Some conclusions from all the studies are that life begets death and almost everything has its benefits and dangers, often that counterbalance each other.

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