Oil

This evening, while watching Julie and Julia at the theatre with my mom, my mind turned to food quite expectedly. Over the past year, my curiosity in food has been piqued by trying new restaurants, reading food magazines, watching food tv, improving my cooking skills, and enjoying food photography. One aspect of cooking that I've been curious about, and up until now had yet to research, is the appropriate use of the various types of cooking oils on the market. Strolling down the grocery aisle to select cooking oil can be overwhelming. 

Greg and I run an all-purpose, all-function extra virgin olive oil (evoo) household. The majority of meals we prepare begin with onion and garlic sauteing in our dutch oven. I've been curious to expand our selection of oils to increase flavour and function. I'm curious about when to use evoo versus regular olive oil, and when to choose peanut, safflower, grape seed, bran, sesame or tea oils. I'd also like to learn to use nut oils such as walnut, hazelnut, pumpkin seed and almond. My curiosity in oils is similar to my desire to take a whole course in kitchen knives and chopping techniques (I was quite impressed with Julia Child's desire to learn to chop onions quickly in the movie). 

After some brief reading, as far as I can gather, our multipurpose evoo is just that. Regular olive oil may be used in the place of evoo when larger amounts are required for a cost saving measure (think making a large stir fry to serve 20).  

More broadly, I've picked up a few tips. For example, grape seed oil may be added to evoo when sauteing to create a smokier flavour. Peanut oil is great for preparing chicken dishes and is a common ingredient in Asian recipes.  Sesame oil is a common ingredient in many Indian dishes. As for the nut oils, they're good for seasonings for salads or to dip bread in as an appetizer. Safflower seems to be a healthy choice for daily use when flavour is not required. 

Very importantly, the level of heat the oil will be exposed to has a great impact on its healthiness. For a helpful chart see here. 

Based on my early reading, I can see that there is a great (if subtle) mastery to selecting the most appropriate oil from amongst the large range available. I'm looking forward to learning and experimenting! Image via Jekemp. 

P.S. Despite not taking full advantage of it, one of the things I'll miss about Edmonton is the huge variety of inexpensive oils at the Italian Centre.