There are many options when it comes to cooking oils. Learn which ones work best for your dishes, and how to use cooking oils wisely.
Cooking oil is essential to many aspects of cooking, from cakes to savory dishes. However, knowing how to wisely cook with cooking oil is a great lesson that all cooks should learn. Here are some tips for learning how to work more knowledgeably with cooking oil.
Safety
Cooking safely with cooking oil is knowing how to use it wisely. Whenever you cook with oil, you have to make sure that there is not too much in the pot or pan. A good rule to follow is that if you are deep frying something, the oil level should not be higher than 1/3 of the inside of the pan. If the oil is higher than 1/2 the level of the inside of the pan, the oil will expand and it may overflow once you add whatever you want to fry. Since the oil will expand, the oil should not exceed the 1/3 level of the pan.
Another safety precaution you might want to take is to wear safety goggles, especially if you are working with a lot of oil. Make sure that most of your skin is not exposed. Alternatively, you can purchase a splatter screen.
Types of cooking oil
There are different types of cooking oils that you can use for whatever type of cooking you are going to do. For example, if you are going to be working with low heat, you can cook with a wider variety of oils than if you were working with high heat. Olive oil does not do well in high heat, so it is probably best to choose a high heat-tolerant cooking oil such as safflower or grapeseed oil.
Another reason why you might want to wisely find out about the wide variety of cooking oils is the different health consequences of all of them. Coconut oil is quite healthy, and some are misinformed about canola and vegetable oil. Olive oil is great at low heat settings, but when cooked on a high heat it loses its benefits and its smoking point is easily achieved. The make up of each of the oils can also help you determine how good or bad that oil is for you. Knowing how to use cooking oil wisely also means being able to determine which cooking oil to use for what cooking occasion.
Hopefully, these tips will encourage you to continue to learn more about cooking oils and their uses.
