Best frying oil?

[justfryit]

Hi guys.

I really have two questions.

What brand of oil do you feel best prevents the transfer of flavor from one food to another? I plan on having a fryer exclusively for shrimp, fish, etc but I'd like to be able to drop some fries in if I'm in a pinch.

What brand of oil do find to be the best value? An oil that's $7 cheaper than another isn't much of a bargain if I have to change it 3 times as much.

Thanks for any advice you can offer. We all know controlling costs is the way to stay in business and it's all of the small details that add up.

[hipjoint]

Originally Posted by justfryit

Hi guys.

I really have two questions.

What brand of oil do you feel best prevents the transfer of flavor from one food to another? I plan on having a fryer exclusively for shrimp, fish, etc but I'd like to be able to drop some fries in if I'm in a pinch.

What brand of oil do find to be the best value? An oil that's $7 cheaper than another isn't much of a bargain if I have to change it 3 times as much.

Thanks for any advice you can offer. We all know controlling costs is the way to stay in business and it's all of the small details that add up.

===== actually, the best "oil" is rendered beef fat. no one needs to know you are using it unless you are advertising that you are using otherwise on your menu. this is what mc donalds USED to use on their extra crispy yummy fires and such before someone mistakenly thought it was happier and healthier to use all vegetable oils. there is less flavor transfer with RBF than
any veg oil and less food absorption. i once read a fascinating piece (forgot where now) about the advantages of RBF including little or no flavor transfer, ability to use over and over (by careful filtering), perfect deep fry results, and lack of trans-fatty acids. wish i could remember where i read it.

[Chef_Bob]

SYSCO makes a product called FRY-ON which has very good life (double regular vegetable shortening), and the addition of vitamin E eliminates flavor transfer. It is a blend or canola and corn oil as the genral public has an increasing demand for vegetable based frying oils. If trans fat is an issue there is a zero trans fat product (Fry-On ZT) now avaliable also.

[Mezzaluna]

Is it just me, or does canola oil smell and taste a bit fishy when you fry with it??

[phatch]

I haven't noticed canola going fishy, but I usually fry Mexican foods. Chile Rellenos, corn tortillas and such so that might offset any tendency towards fishiness.

Phil

[IslandGirl]

Originally Posted by Mezzaluna

Is it just me, or does canola oil smell and taste a bit fishy when you fry with it??

Ditto (and not just when frying). I hate the stuff.

I prefer a good high smokepoint peanut oil for frying, but I'm thinking on RBF. Availability is an issue, now that the world has spent the last 20 years extolling the virtues of partially/hydrogenated vegetable oils.

[KeeperOfTheGood]

Hey oh

I have not had any troubles with canola at all. Not off taste, not change in flavours. I don't, of course, do large scale comercial frying, so I won't speack to it verasity in that setting. However, in the kitchen it has not let me down.... Now corn oils or safflower oils etc... eww.

Oh, and my dad has a peanut allergy. Anything that has come in contact with any aspect of peanuts leaves him puffed like a blow fish. Peanut oil fumes included (learned that the hard way as a youngster learning to use a wok!!).

OH! and as a randome memory that popped into my head after posting the abouve, 15 or so years ago working at a carnival I had to occasion to have a long talk to an independent chippy. She was in the north for the first time. She told me of the difficulties she, as a buisness woman, face running her buisness that is a mobile one. Although many oils have the same name, they also tend to be blends, and different oils have different sweet spots for cooking. Also, she found that even when she trasported her own oil, the different ellevations that she travelled through also changed the oils cooking sweet spot as well. What worked in one comunity, 500 kilometers down the road would need to be re-tweeked.

[Chef_Bob]

From a purest stand point I agree with all who praise the vertues of Peanut and RBF (Most outstanding fried fish I have ever had is done in RBF). However I have never been able to use either due to customer demands. Peanut allergies are on the rise so quickly that peanut products have been banned in most schools in my area. The public is demanding low tan fat and non animal fat based products. I have never had any flavor issues with canola and have used it for frying many times (in it's non hydroginated form), with the appearance on of trans fat free blends that have a much longer life than strait canola I have found it to be a no brainer.

[IslandGirl]

Ah well, I suspect different 'taster' levels in different tongues, as far as that fishy flavour in canola. I have got in in every variety I've tried, including cold-pressed and organic, when it was heated in any way and not masked by strong food flavours.

An excellent high smokepoint neutral flavour oil to canola OR peanut is always grapeseed oil (though I have also find pure safflower to be excellent as a neutral oil, just not as high in the smokepoint).

To each her own....

[chef from va]

hey yall, i would like to add my two cents if i may ....
i dont do much deep frying at all in my home, it is necessary at work and school though. for those we usualy use veg- canola blends. at work we do a good bit of shallow fry cooking and for those olive pomace oil and clarified butter ( ) are used. at home i have found that using extra virgin sesame oil works excellent for seafood, pomace oil for some chicken and things like swiss steak, and being from the south good old LARD for fried chicken ( ). i dont know how much it helps but i really do like using the ev sesame oil especialy for making my cocnut shrimp with homemade mango chutney.

P.S. extra virgin sesame oil has compeated with extra virgin olive oil around the medeterainian for centuries and in some of the cultures to the south and west of the sea prefer it and yes it is healthy and no it does not have a strong sesame flavor in fact it is a light nutty flavor that is lost with heavier foods.

[justfryit]

Now that it's been mentioned, I too seem to remember some sort of "off" taste from things fried in Canola.

My situation is that I need to come up with some blend and stick with it. Consistency is VERY important and I can't keep switching from one oil to another every other week.

I was really interested in grapeseed oil as well but I just read that grapeseed oil can cause sterility problems.

Peanut oil is out because of all of the allergy scares.

I wonder how a hybrid oil of beef tallow or lard mixed with a veg oil would taste/work?

[IslandGirl]

Originally Posted by justfryit

...I was really interested in grapeseed oil as well but I just read that grapeseed oil can cause sterility problems...

Eh??!! Where on earth did you read that?

My understanding is just the opposite (I've been researching nutrition and metabolism vis a vis foodstuffs for years). Grapeseed is a potent source of antioxidants.

For example:

" Essential fatty acids (EFAs) found in fish, flaxseed oil, grapeseed oil and other seed oils can help regulate hormone levels, ensure proper membrane fluidity and improve sperm quality and blood flow. "

from http://www.herbsforhealth.com/index....ticle&story=25

or

" Grapeseed Extract
Grapeseed extract is one of nature's most potent antioxidants. It has been used to treat deteriorating diseases and conditions with great success. Grape Seed extract helps Vitamin C enter the body's cells, thus strengthening the cell membranes, and protecting the cells from oxidative damage. "

from http://www.adamhawa.com/supindex.htm#g

And the oil is neutral and flavour and has a very high smokepoint...what could be better?

Here's a GREAT reference for y'all, the Smokepoints of Various Fats webpage, an enormous variety of cooking oils and fats (you'll like this one, Scott123 if you haven't been there already):
http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article.php?id=50

Enjoy.

[justfryit]

Eh??!! Where on earth did you read that?

Scratch that. I meant cottonseed oil. Sorry.
http://www.fertileheart.com/articles...ottonseed.html

[hipjoint]

Originally Posted by justfryit

Scratch that. I meant cottonseed oil. Sorry.
http://www.fertileheart.com/articles...ottonseed.html

===== and even more scary about cottenseed oil ....
it is HIGHLY used in the commercial industry (just check out the backs
of things like potato chip, tortilla chips, etc.) because it works well,
has high smoke point, is reuseable, etc. etc. etc.

BUT!!! remember where it comes fom .... cotton seeds (duuuuuh!!).
cotton is not classified as a food product so does not fall in the same
catagory as other oil sources.

before cotton is harvested, a defoiliant related to agent orange is sprayed
on the cotton plant so the leaves fall off, exposing the cotton balls. this
defoiliant is highly toxic (or why else would the leaves shrivel up,
die, and fall off like it does??). after the cotton balls are harvested,
the cotton is separated from the seeds. the cotton is made to cloth
or whatever, and the seeds are pressed for the oil. that's right, the same
seeds that have been sprayed with the toxic defoiliant.

makes ya wonder, don't it??