The Best and Worst Cooking Oils
The market is saturated with cooking oils. Cooks and bakers are forced to decide which one is the perfect one. Not only are there ample brands to consider, there are also plenty of oil types to think about when mulling over cooking oil for your next kitchen masterpiece. How is one to begin the search, let alone make the final decision? It is easy. Pick the one that compliments your cooking and lifestyle.
Healthy Living If you and your family have adopted a healthier style of living, there are some key numbers that you want to check over on the label before ringing up at the cash register. To stay in line with healthier living, you want to stay away from oil products that are high in Trans fat or saturated fats.
- Best Flax seed oil, olive oil, palm oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, peanut oil, safflower oil, and non-hydrogenated soft margarine are all healthy alternatives, landing them on the best list.
- Worst Hard margarine, coconut oil, butter, vegetable shortening and palm kernel oil are all high in these “bad” fats and are the worst for healthy living.
Deep Frying If you are fond of deep frying, try to opt for oil that has a really high smoke point. This is the temperature point at which heated oil begins to smoke. Smoking oil is not conducive to a great meal. Not only does it tend to smoke of the house, it also imparts an unfavorable taste onto the food being prepared in the deep fryer.
- Best Leave the deep frying to oils on the best list, such as sunflower oil, avocado oil, peanut oil, cottonseed oil, soy oil and canola oil.
- Worst Butter is on the worst list and should not be used for heavy frying because of its really low smoke point. Light cooking with heated butter is okay, though.
Cold Foods, Salad, and Marinades Some dishes do not call for heat. Cold dishes can take advantage of oils that cannot stand up to heat and lose their flavors during the cooking or baking process.
- Best Unrefined almond oil is very good in cold foods because it is flavor stays true without the heat to hamper it. Olive oil works great in salads, cold dishes and light sautéing. It also has the added benefit of being very heart healthy.
- Worst If you want your dish to have a strong flavor imparted by the oil you use, stay away from refined oils.
Baking Almost all baked goods recipes call for an oil of some type in their ingredient list. If the recipe specifies a certain oil, opt for that one. Though, if it does not, try the following suggestions.
- Best Oils that are available in “hard” form are the most traditionally used. Both butter and margarine are widely used and acceptable. Coconut oil is also “hard,” as well as a more healthy alternative to both of the above.
- Worst Sunflower oil, coconut oil, and palm oil are all oils that are better used for frying rather than baking.