Now that it is winter up north, I bought some grapeseed oil for its lower smoke point during cooking. When a pan starts to smoke in the winter in Minnesota, opening a window is a cold option to air things out.
The smoke point is when the oil fat starts to break down and forms a gas. For grapeseed oil that happens at 485 degrees, but every oil has a different point at which it begins to smoke. Extra virgin olive oil has a relatively low smoke point at 375 degrees, and it is for this reason that many cooks don’t use olive oil when frying, sauteing, or roasting at high heat.
In the past, I used canola oil when heat was an issue, but in the December Bon Appetit the ‘BA Foodist’ recommended grapeseed oil, so I thought I would give that a try. A lot of foodies like to use grapeseed oil as it has a very high smoke point and offers flavor neutrality, which means you can add it to dishes without imparting a strong flavor. If you want olive flavor that is fine, but not every food is enhanced by such a prominent flavor.
Some common high-heat oils that cooks use include: grapeseed, peanut, safflower, and canola. There are also more exotic options such as avocado and rice bran oil.
With that said, some cooks don’t care for canola as much as other products as they detect a fishy aroma. I had never heard this before, but when I compared the aromas of grapeseed and canola oil, there was a noticeable difference between the two. I can’t say canola oil was exactly ‘fishy’ but I could see how someone might smell it that way. The grapeseed oil, on the other hand, was very neutral and had almost no aroma at all. Peanut oil is also high-heat and often used for frying, but is tends to be less flavor neutral than other seed-based oils.
Another good thing about grapeseed oil is that because it has half as much saturated fast as olive oil, your salad dressing won’t solidify in the fridge. Of course, you also lose the olive oil flavor if that is what you want. I guess it all depends upon what flavors a person wants to come through.
With that said, I now must caveat this post, as I have oversimplified the oil discussion quite a lot. Opinions run high with oil especially concerning health issues, and many Italians use olive for all types of cooking regardless of heat, except maybe deep frying. There are also many variations of olive oil, so you can still get high-heat olive oil too. And then there is the difference between refined and unrefined oils, with unrefined oils smoking at much lower temperatures. For instance, and unrefined olive oil will start to smoke around 320 degrees, so save that oil for finishing dishes and don’t cook with it.
Lastly, when storing cooking oils, try to keep them in a dark, cool place as heat, air, and light are the enemies of oil. Basic cooking oils should be consumed within six months as they will start to become rancid and break down — even if you can’t smell it. Extra virgin olive oil keeps longer as it has less acidity and more monounsaturated fat, but even olive oil after a year will start to lose many of its healthful benefits and break down.
When buying cooking oil, don’t buy dusty bottles, and try to choose oils in non-clear or metal containers as they let in less damaging light. Also, pick bottles that aren’t at the front of the shelf as these too will be exposed to less light. A good idea overall would be to simply replace your standard cooking oil every six months. You won’t get sick from old oil, but why use it in your food?
