What makes for a good cooking oil? Science, please!

[mtncntrykid]

A Closer Look at Cold Pressing
Unlike refined oils, cold pressed oils retain their nutritional value, taste is also better. Refined oils should be avoided because of their degraded nutrition, yet they have become the norm in the food supply.

The term is of German origin - ‘kalt geschlagen’, which translates to ‘cold pummeled’. In the EU, the term is clearly defined but in America has a looser definition and can even be used for some refined oils!

Cold pressing takes longer, it is more expensive, and that’s why the big food companies don’t use it (in those circumstances where they could that is!)

The technique as it implies is extremely concerned with the amount of heat used in the process. In contrast, extremely high temperatures are used to refine oils, in many cases this process is needed to even make the oil palatable. If it has to be treated with extreme heat (450 degrees) and chemical processes (bleaching, hydrogenating etc) before you can eat it, then it should definitely be avoided!

And lets not forget that heating oils can create carcinogenic compounds, and that applies even in home cooking, so these modern refined oils raise many health issues.

Traditionally, the seeds will have been “pummelled” using extremely heavy granite millstones. These days, heavy stainless steel presses are used. There will of course be some natural heat generated through friction, but the slow process keeps this to the absolute minimum. Absolutely no chemicals are used.

An excerpt from this article-
http://www.seventhwaveuk.com/content/117-is-rapeseed-really-a-healthy-oil

[Regina]

Thanks - I thought so. ASBunny recommended Hollywood Safflower Oil, among other things. ($$$$$$ ) But the best I could find at the local supermarket, and the taste is okay.

[PaulL]

Canola oil is rapeseed oil stripped of erucic acid, as I detailed in this previous post.

According to my dictionary, that’s where the name comes from: CANada Oil Low Acid

Found this table:
https://www.chempro.in/fattyacid.htm

and this study:

Fatty Acids Composition of Vegetable Oils and Its Contribution to Dietary Energy...

[KetoCoach]

Very helpful! Thank you for the share.

[collaroygal]

As long as the heat point is under 350F. it is ok. I prefer to keep EVOO for dressing foods after they are cooked or for salads.

[atomicspacebunny]

•Tallow

•Suet

•Lard

•Vegetable Oil

Just got a stove top deep fryer in the mail today and vegetable oils shall not touch thy bottom!

The case for extra virgin organic vegetable/plant oils/fats?

I think it (heat or pre-treated-chemical-processing?) changes the chemical composition of the raw fresh (not sitting on shelf or in a warehouse; racidness/oxidation?) vegetable oils that is supposed be good (has it been processed with heat or chemicals?) for us into a nasty poison (not just specifically chemical hydrogenated processing?) and why French fries fried in vegetable oil are so bad for you, especially when you add sugar or high carbs into the mix with either kind of oils; vegetable fats/animal fats?

References:

1. “…in 1990, in the face of public concern about the health risks of cholesterol in animal-based cooking oil, McDonald’s and the other major fast-food houses switched to vegetable oil. That wasn’t an improvement, however. In the course of making vegetable oil suitable for deep frying, it is subjected to a chemical process called hydrogenation, which creates a new substance called a trans unsaturated fat. In the hierarchy of fats, polyunsaturated fats—the kind found in regular vegetable oils—are the good kind; they lower your cholesterol. Saturated fats are the bad kind. But trans fats are worse: they wreak havoc with the body’s ability to regulate cholesterol. According to a recent study involving some eighty thousand women, for every five-per-cent increase in the amount of saturated fats that a woman consumes, her risk of heart disease increases by seventeen per cent. But only a two-per-cent increase in trans fats will increase her heart-disease risk by ninety-three per cent. Walter Willett, an epidemiologist at Harvard—who helped design the study—estimates that the consumption of trans fats in the United States probably causes about thirty thousand premature deaths a year. …” - Newyorker Magazine

2. Fully Hydrogenated Lard vs. Partially Hydrogenated Lard?

Related:

1. Why Grass Fed TALLOW is a Great Choice for Cooking

2. THE CASE FOR GRASS FED vs. GRAIN FED? “…the concept of fat-soluble activators, which serve as potent catalysts for mineral absorption. Without them, minerals cannot by used by your body, no matter how plentiful they may be in your diet. …” …More

[LeCheffre]

I guess I didn’t link the studies about heat breakdown of oils not being that related to smoke points. Sorry.

I am using avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil (of confirmed origin), pure olive oil, butter and some occasional tallow and lard. Things I don’t use: any seed oil, aside from a bit of toasted sesame seed oil, which is used for flavor on some Asian dishes. Such small amounts and infrequent use as to be unworthy of discussion. I would use coconut, but I have no problem with butter, so don’t see the need.

Seed oils would include: Canola, safflower, corn, vegetable, and soy.

Normally, I’d take the disclosure on this study as reason to dismiss:

Research Finds Extra Virgin Olive Oil Safest, Most Stable for Cooking

But the Beeb commissioned a similar study with different folks, and got the same result.

Which oils are best to cook with?

Also, some protection against heterocyclic animes, which are definitely carcinogenic.

Influence of extra virgin olive oil on the formation of heterocyclic amines in...

[Sillyme]

I love Avocado oil. Love the taste, love cooking with it - just love it. Canola oil is not good for Hashimoto’s so I avoid it, personally.

[Tmdlkwd]

Thread rehash
Came across these nifty charts
Hopefully helpful to some
Ymmv

[ChrisW]

I saw in your top graph that it mentioned to avoid processed hydrogenated lard. 2KetoDudes’ Richard Morris disputes that claim-

"We have one here in Australia called Superfry which is rendered beef drippings, but on it’s nutritional information it is called hydrogenated animal fat.

I suspect what happens is beef drippings aren’t particularly shelf stable because they have a mix of saturated, and unsaturated fatty acids. Cows are like us, our fat is mostly palmitic (saturated), and Oleic (mono-unsaturated) with a little polyunsaturated mixed in.

So maybe to make a shelf stable, solid at room temp in a Walmart they have hydrogenated the unsaturated fatty acids.

But the other thing this could be, is that saturated fatty acids are saturated with hydrogen, by definition they are fully hydrogenated - naturally. So THOSE hydrogenated fats aren’t bad at all.

The reason hydrogenation has such a bad rap is it’s a method for turning cheap plant oils (corn/soy oil) solid at room temperature by flattening polyunsaturated fatty acids so they stack - by making them into trans fats."

"…hydrogenated lard is a whole heck of a lot better for us than hydrogenated seed oils.

Ideally, if you want the best possible option, you would slow cook pork fat and render the lard off yourself then you would end up with a product that is slightly more liquid than commercial hydrogenated lard.

But if we are talking about a yardstick from bad at -100 points, neutral at 0 points, and good at 100 pts, hydrogenated seed oil is probably -90, hydrogenated lard or tallow is probably 90, and home rendered lard or tallow is probably 95, and home rendered lard or tallow from grass fed animals is 100."

[Tmdlkwd]

Good Catch🙂

[ChrisW]

btw anyone in Australia looking for non-hydrogenated lard and beef dripping etc, Woolworths, Coles and IGA sell the York Foods range.

[LeCheffre]

But the other thing this could be, is that saturated fatty acids are saturated with hydrogen, by definition they are fully hydrogenated - naturally. So THOSE hydrogenated fats aren’t bad at all.

Seems like tortured logic to me. If they call it hydrogenated fat, it’s been processed. They process it to make it shelf stable at room temp for stores. It’s trans configured unsaturated fats. The saturated fats do not hydrogenate. They are already saturated and aligned straight. Solid at room temp. Only PUFA can be configured to trans straightness by hydrogenation.

The process here is they render the beef fat, then hydrogenate it to solidify the unsat fat and make it solid at room temp. It’s processed and I’d not torture the logic to justify my use of it.

[PaulL]

While I agree in general, in this case, Richard might have a point. The problem with the seed oils, and with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (i.e., vegetable shortening), is that the hydrogenated compounds are unknown in nature and have weird effects when incorporated into human cell walls.

I am assuming that Australian labeling laws are similar to those in the U.S., in that, if it says “hydrogenated,” it means processed, not naturally saturated. But lard contains very little polyunsaturated fat, being nearly 50-50 saturated and monounsaturated, and I don’t know whether what said PUFA might be turned into is worth worrying about or not. And I suppose it is possible for the monunsaturated fat to be hydrogenated into something known and safe. Or not. I just don’t know.

[LeCheffre]

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/05/02/151868208/lard-is-back-in-the-larder-but-hold-the-health-claims

While there is a lot of anti-sat fat/cholesterol nonsense in this, the relevant part is at the bottom:

Add to this that lard sold in supermarkets is often hydrogenated, to make it shelf stable, and you’ve got a product with cholesterol, trans fats, and saturated fat, too. Oh my.

Yep. 40% sat fat, 45% MUFA, leaving 15% for PUFA.

And trans configured fats are considered universally bad enough that the US Government officially put something out… like 30 years after folks were complaining about them, but still.

But then there’s this:
http://www.armourlard.com/why-lard

Armour lard is fully hydrogenated and contains zero trans fats. Fully hydrogenated lard is different than partially hydrogenated oils, which are chemically altered and contain trans fatty acids.

So, interesting. That said, there are brands that aren’t hydrogenated at all…
http://fatworksfoods.com/faq.html

Are there any artificial trans fats in your products and do you add anything to your fats?
We are sorry you even had to ask, but the answer is no, artificial trans fats are NOT traditional fats in anyway. Partially hydrogenated trans fat are anathema to everything Fatworks stands for. In addition, none of the raw fat that we render is processed, smoked, hydrogenated or otherwise altered in anyway. We add Organic rosemary extract to our lard and poultry fats to help the peroxide low during the rendering process.

Pork Fat (Single Jar)

Pork Lard
Ingredients: Pastured Pork Fat

I don’t mean to harp on food quality, but it matters. But everyone’s mileage varies, interest varies, and purity varies. If I’m able, I would not buy SuperFry, and instead opt for a better lard.

[ChrisW]

So, interesting. That said, there are brands that aren’t hydrogenated at all…

Yep, a popular brand here in Australia is labelled non-hygregenated

[buxomlass]

WANT! Where do you get that? (I’m in Melbourne.)

[juice]

You can buy awesome pig fat from the Queen Victoria Markets for this

[ChrisW]

WANT! Where do you get that? (I’m in Melbourne.)

IGA sells it. And sometimes Woolworths and Coles.

[juice]

You can buy awesome pig fat from the Queen Victoria Markets for this

In fact, I just went back and bought some more this morning

TBF, this wasn’t QUITE as good as Thursday’s and needed a bit more trimming, but still pretty good, and it’s good for my knife skillz.