Sport Olive Oil

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T

theGOOCH

2
OK, someone give me the lowdown about cooking with olive oil. I keep hearing that heating it destroys the healthful qualities. Can someone explain to me what actually happens?

I use it to cook with, usually when cooking up some cut up steak for fajitas or something like that. (maybe 1 or 2 tablespoons for an entire meal for the family) Should I switch to canola?
 
It really depends. EVOO is not recomended for cooking due to lower smoke point. Regular Olive oil is a better choice.

Some sites say that heating it to the smoking point causes it to lose some health properties...others say the opposite.
 
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You never want to sautee with EVOO or any kind of olive oil. For starters the boiling point of olive oil is extremely low so no matter what you are cooking with you're going to denature the PUFA's and MUFa's into bonding and creating a structure similar to a saturated fatty acid (the kind of stuff that globs up in your circulatory system). Also, olive oil can be expensive so if you're spending the extra dough for healthy, good-quality oil, you're wasting your money if your frying with it. Canola oil is a good alternative for frying. It's still got those PUFA/MUFA's that you're looking for but it's also got a much higher boiling point. Just try to avoid doing any searing or high temperature frying because all fats do the same thing when you heat them up hot enough. That being said, the healthiest option will always be poaching/steaming, grilling, and baking and try to minimize the amount of any oil you use during cooking because no matter what you're adding extra fat to your food (Fat = 9 Calories/gram).

So......in terms of how you should used olive oil. ALWAYS have it at room temperature. This ensures that you recieve the benifits of the PUFA's and MUFA's that actually assist in how your body processes and discards the fat you eat as well as decrease your risk of cardiovascular problems in the future.

Now as I said before, if you spend the money, you're going to get a GREAT product that both tastes good and has health benifits. Cold pressed olive oil is always the best and will actually have an amazingly stong organic taste to it; unfortunatly it has a shorter shelf life than hot pressed. Look in a specialty food store for the good stuff. It may set you back anywhere from $20-$150 per bottle but trust me, it's worth it. Use it "as is" on your salads instead of salad dressing and add some fresh lemon juice and/or a little bit of your favorite herb or spice and you'll see what I'm talking about.

In summation, don't bother frying with it.
 
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Joelt said:
You never want to sautee with EVOO or any kind of olive oil. For starters the boiling point of olive oil is extremely low so no matter what you are cooking with you're going to denature the PUFA's and MUFa's into bonding and creating a structure similar to a saturated fatty acid (the kind of stuff that globs up in your circulatory system). Also, olive oil can be expensive so if you're spending the extra dough for healthy, good-quality oil, you're wasting your money if your frying with it. Canola oil is a good alternative for frying. It's still got those PUFA/MUFA's that you're looking for but it's also got a much higher boiling point. Just try to avoid doing any searing or high temperature frying because all fats do the same thing when you heat them up hot enough. That being said, the healthiest option will always be poaching/steaming, grilling, and baking and try to minimize the amount of any oil you use during cooking because no matter what you're adding extra fat to your food (Fat = 9 Calories/gram).

So......in terms of how you should used olive oil. ALWAYS have it at room temperature. This ensures that you recieve the benifits of the PUFA's and MUFA's that actually assist in how your body processes and discards the fat you eat as well as decrease your risk of cardiovascular problems in the future.

Now as I said before, if you spend the money, you're going to get a GREAT product that both tastes good and has health benifits. Cold pressed olive oil is always the best and will actually have an amazingly stong organic taste to it; unfortunatly it has a shorter shelf life than hot pressed. Look in a specialty food store for the good stuff. It may set you back anywhere from $20-$150 per bottle but trust me, it's worth it. Use it "as is" on your salads instead of salad dressing and add some fresh lemon juice and/or a little bit of your favorite herb or spice and you'll see what I'm talking about.

In summation, don't bother frying with it.
Click to expand...


To be clear, we aren't talking about deep frying some pork chops here. I'm talking about using maybe a tablespoon of oil to sear a 2lb roast before slow cooking it. Or similar amounts of meat and oil to make some stir fry or fajita mix
 
Gooch honestly I have been cooking with EVOO for a long while now and I never notice anything wrong with doing so. Cooking with OO is probably just as good as EVOO and saves you some money. I bought a single small bottle of EVOO the other day for $8! Oilive oil is much cheaper. the difference between EVOO and OO is really a taste thing. EVOO can be used for bread dipping, topping a salad and such. OO is better left to cooking.
 
I'd say if its not hitting the smoke point, yer fine. when it smokes its denaturing so it would be losing some healthful properties.
 
EVOO isn't expensive at Costco;)

I guess it's like most nutritional questions: It isn't conclusive.

I've never noticed my pan smoking LOL
 
ive always tryed to find that out
renew the question: WHAT is the evaporation point of Polyunsaturated fats ??

I have found conflicting answers, the concensiss is:: it is the same as regular saturated fats. and you would loose bolth at equal ammounts. so when you cook with olive oil you do not loose any exrta properties, along with normal evaporation during cooking....
 
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