Cooking oils and smoke points in your kitchen

Smoke Points and your favorite oils
Jen loves walking in the house exclaiming, "the house is smoky, Mark must be cooking". Ok, I admit it. I get distracted. But the real problem is that I sometimes let the heat under my pan get out of hand. Here is some helpful information to keep the smoke level down in your kitchen.

The 'smoking point' or 'smoke point' of any fat is the temperature where the heated fat begins to breakdown and degrade. That smoking action is followed by an acrid smell and almost instantly imparts an unpleasant bitter flavor to the oil. If you catch your hot pan before it smokes more than a few seconds, you will probably be just fine, AND, you do want to catch it beause the oil smokes just before it catches fire...so not only will your food taste bad but you could be doomed to do some repainting if you let it go too far.

Once your oil or fat sits at its smoke point for more than a few seconds it is time to start over. You could probably get away with using the oil in question, but in the long run, you will taste your decision so why chance it?

Selecting oils for your purpose

Unrefined oils are the first step in the process when the product is pressed to extract oils and then minimally filtered to remove any suspended particles like dirt or fibers from the oil. Think cloudy fresh olive oil. Refined oils are the next step where oils have had finer particles and 'impurities' filtered out. For the most part, you will find that you enjoy a lot more flavor and nutrients from unrefined oils. For instance, the rich & peppery flavors you experience from unrefined virgin or extra virgin olive oil will be obviously lacking in refined or pomace oils. The obvious drawback to an unrefined oils is the low smoke point ( due to the impurities ) when compared to a refined oil of the same source.

The secret of using oils is simple: high smoke points for frying and sautéing, low smoke points for flavoring. So, Canola oil would be the best choice for a moderate to high heat sauté or stir fry and save your Artisan Olive Oil for flavoring at the end and for lower temperate, shorter cooking. If I am sauteeing tender spring veggies or veggies that have been blanched, and know a quick low heat saute will do the trick, I do use my good olive oil. I always keep in mind how hot and how long the dish must cook when deciding which oil to use.

Did you know you can blend your own? If you add a little butter or virgin olive oil to canola oil, you will have a high temperature oil with a touch of flavor. You will also see the same thing on your market shelves such as the ones labeled as a olive/canola blend. Although these prepackaged oils are convenient, I would recommend just mixing your own since you have no idea what quality of flavoring oil was used in the blend.

Since it's not likely you will find smoke points on the label, here is a quick reference list of oils that are most common in the kitchen:

Fat	Quality	Smoke Point
Almond oil		420°F	216°C
Avocado oil		520°F	271°C
Butter		350°F	177°C
Canola oil	Refined	470°F	240°C
Coconut oil	Unrefined	350°F	177°C
	Refined	450°F	232°C
Corn oil	Unrefined	320°F	160°C
	Refined	450°F	232°C
Flax seed oil	Unrefined	225°F	107°C
Ghee (Indian Clarified Butter)		485°F	252°C
Grapeseed oil		420°F	216°C
Hazelnut oil		430°F	221°C
Hemp oil		330°F	165°C
Lard		370°F	182°C
Olive oil	Extra virgin	375°F	191°C
	Virgin	420°F	216°C
	Pomace	460°F	238°C
	Extra light	468°F	242°C
Palm oil	Difractionated	455°F	235°C
Peanut oil	Unrefined	320°F	160°C
	Refined	450°F	232°C
Safflower oil	Unrefined	225°F	107°C
	Semirefined	320°F	160°C
	Refined	510°F	266°C
Sesame oil	Unrefined	350°F	177°C
	Semirefined	450°F	232°C
Soybean oil	Unrefined	320°F	160°C
	Semirefined	350°F	177°C
	Refined	450°F	232°C
Sunflower oil	Unrefined	225°F	107°C
	Semirefined	450°F	232°C
	Refined	450°F	232°C
Vegetable shortening		360°F	182°C
Walnut oil	Unrefined	320°F	160°C
	Semirefined	400°F	204°C

This list is based on a much more detailed list you can find at Wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point. You may also be interested in the following web resources:

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Cooking oils and smoke points in your kitchen
Tuesday, 27 April 2010

The Culinary Works

Cooking oils and smoke points in your kitchen

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