In the Kitchen with Fats & Oils
In one way or another all of us use fats and oils in our cooking. For some it is seen as an essential tool in our non-stick arsenal, for others it is a critical flavour component. There are so many forms of fat on the market today that it is often difficult to decide which ones to choose. Do you spend your time researching them all to find the best option? Are you the type to depend largely on those fats you are familiar with? It is about time I got around to shedding some light on the subject of fat. Whatever your reasons for cooking with fat, knowing a little more about where and when to use certain ones can be very valuable.
What is fat used for?
When attempting to understand what is fat used for it is important to understand what fat actually is. To some people fat is flavour, to others fat is the jiggily stuff around their waist. It is true that both are fat, but when talking about food, fat is good…to a point. The best definition I have found for fat, as a noun, is “a solid or liquid substance from animals or plants and used especially in cooking”
Fat is used several ways in the culinary arts. It is used in cooking to help even the heat provided by the source to prevent burns and sticking in a pan. It is used to add flavour to many meals, think of melted butter on popcorn. When it comes to baking, fat plays several essential roles. Fats affect the flavour, the moisture content, the tender mouth-feel and also aids in levening of carbohydrates in items like bread.
The difference between cooking oils and salad oils
At first I assumed that fat was fat; any fat could, and technically can, be substituted for any other. With that said there are a number of different fats out there and each have their own set of properties that make them better or best for one task or another.
Cooking or frying oils are fats that can withstand a high temperature while remaining liquid. These oils are predominant in any fast food frier, common in many industrial settings and have a place at home.
Salad oils, are more robust in flavour and are a lot more delicate than their high heat cousins. These are arguably gourmet oils. The kind of oil you would save for a special occasion. Olive oil has traditionally been what I am calling a salad oil however currently there are so many on the market that some are bound to be better than others.
Smokepoint & Flashpoint
When selecting fats to cook with one important factor to consider is the smoke point. The smoke point is “The temperature at which the decomposition products of frying oils become visible as bluish smoke.” It is at this heat where oils and fats begin to degrade quickly and most often should be discarded. The smoke point is always going to come before the flashpoint of almost any substance.
The flashpoint is “the temperature at which a particular organic compound gives off sufficient vapour to ignite in air.” The higher the flashpoint, the more heat the particular fat can withstand during the cooking process. Have you ever had a fat start to evaporate or smoke in a pan? Most likely you were working with an oil that had a less than ideal flashpoint.
Healthy Cooking Oils and Fats
The term healthy cooking oils, or fats, is a little misleading. While we all need fats in our diet, the ratio of fats is what has been so out of order in the western diet. When we talk about fats there are typically two types: saturated and unsaturated. There are exceptions but an easy rule to go by is that saturated fats typically originate from animals whereas unsaturated fats mostly come from plants. Yes, fatty fish like salmon are praised for their high Omega 3, or unsaturated fat. This is one example of an exception. Unsaturated fat comes from foods like vegetable oil, nuts and seeds and some animal sources.
Best oil for frying and high heat
When it comes to oil for high heat applications, vegetable oils are definitely the category to turn to. Corn oil, Sunflower oil and surprisingly Avocado oil are all excellent frying oils. These oils all have relatively high smoke points, ranging from 450 degrees to 570 degrees F. While this is my number one factor in choosing a frying oil the unsaturated fat content is also a consideration. When stacking up against other traditional frying oils these fats are relatively rich in these factors as well.
Best oil for heart health
Canola oil for high heat applications and olive oil or flaxseed oil for salad dressings or other no-cook uses appear to be the most beneficial for heart health based on the research I have compiled. The factors I considered when coming to this conclusion were the fat breakdown; saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.
Saturated fats are called such because of their high concentration of hydrogen when compared to other forms of fat. On a structural level each carbon atom has two hydrogen atoms. This in turn makes a bond that is more difficult for our bodies to break apart and therefore more likely to be stored as fat rather than used as energy.
Assuming I understand this process properly, the only way that this can make sense is under the premise of bodily efficiency. The body will break down your food and absorb as much energy as it requires as soon as possible. Any form of carbohydrate is the simplest form for our bodies to process and most likely the first foods to be available for the structures that require it. The spill-over effect then causes any excess calories to be stored as fat. If fat is difficult or time consuming to process then it would be the last foods being circulated through your system and thus the most likely to be stored for later use.
(I am not a biochemist, nor am I a dietitian. I am simply a guy who enjoys food, please forgive me if this logic is proven to be untrue.)
Polyunsaturated fats are similar to saturated fats with one key difference, they have several carbon atoms with only one carbon atom. At each point where there is only one hydrogen atom connected to a carbon atom the structure kinks and weakens its bond making it easier to break down.
Monounsaturated fats have only one carbon atom that is not surrounded by carbon. In a similar fashion to the polyunsaturated fats the monounsaturated fats also kink where there is one hydrogen atom however being that there is only one in a monounsaturated, this is still a relatively strong bond.
Infused Oils
Infused oils or fats are compounds where a flavour or other compound has been added through diffusion or another means into the oil. Typically these are higher priced, specialty oils that are used for their flavour in a dish.
The easiest example of an infused fat would be the garlic butter used on toast or shrimp. In this example garlic is chopped finely or garlic oil can be added to butter and over time the flavour of the garlic becomes infused, or present, in the butter and provides an additional and complex flavour used in many dishes.
How to create your own infused oils
Infused oils and fats are very easy to create. All you need is your creativity and there are countless options at your disposal. If you were to take any fat, and combine it with any herb, spice or other ingredient you have the makings of an infusion.
The best example I can think of is salad dressings. These can be made rather complex, but the basics are the same. Take any salad dressing, creamy or oil-based; they all have three things in common. A source of fat, a source of acid and a number of herbs and spices are all present in every salad dressing. The average store-bought variety will have other compounds for shelf stability and emulsification.
Herb to oil ratio for Infusions
The ratio of fat to spice for infusions can vary greatly. The largest variable you need to consider is how long you have to allow the flavours to combine. Ideally you will have a chance to allow the flavours to diffuse to their maximum, however this is not always the case.
When it comes to dietary concerns such as fat there is an overwhelming amount of information available if you have the time. As you may be aware fat has been in the crosshairs of the dietary industry for years now as the enemy. More recently however some studies are beginning to shed light on the good fat vs bad fat debate and also how some fat in our diet is necessary. Revisiting this topic will be a must, there are so many variables and ways to categorize fat as good or bad it could not possibly be fully covered in one article. I hope this article has helped aid your understanding of fats and oils. In a nutshell: we need fat, but not a lot, and largely from “good” sources.