Oh goodness! All other issues aside, you have to use so MUCH oil for deep frying and I just can't see pouring 4 bottles of somewhat expensive olive oil (in comparison) into a deep fryer. Bleah!
When I stir fry I actually use canola oil.
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That's what I was thinking - talk about "money to burn"
I'm a canola fan too, although I have experimented much.
I use sesame oil for stir frying, ghee for high heat frying or oven roasting at high temperatures, and extra virgin olive oil for low heat applications and salad dressings.
I do use canola at times, but refining is what makes it tolerate heat and refining damages some of the good aspects of the oil, so I don't use it too often. I would love to be able to use peanut oil, but I can't find it organic and I feel all peanut products should be organic given they are grown in rotation with cotton.
By the way, trans fats occur naturally in some foods (meat and dairy.) I personally feel that the ones that occur in nature are fine, it's the industry produced kind (hydrogenated oils) that you should stay away from like the plague.
This has gotten me to wondering....
at the Chinese buffet that we go to on occassion, they have the hot grill where they will stir fry your food in front of you. They use a margarine, I'm assuming that has trans fats because it's solid at room temp, on the grill. So here's my pondering: does the high heat of the grill do something to "de-hydrogenate" the fats in the margarine? Heat could make those hydrogen bonds break up and no longer be hydrogenated--I think-hmmmm.
Any chemists on here????
By the way, trans fats occur naturally in some foods (meat and dairy.) I personally feel that the ones that occur in nature are fine, it's the industry produced kind (hydrogenated oils) that you should stay away from like the plague.
Just another case of buzz words causing mass hysteria.
But no one ever defines "low" and "high". Or if they do, they use degrees. But what does that translate to on my stove top with a dial going from "Low" to High." I wouldn't assume that low/high in regard to safe oil temps is the same as low/high to the people who designed my old apartment range.
This has gotten me to wondering....
at the Chinese buffet that we go to on occassion, they have the hot grill where they will stir fry your food in front of you. They use a margarine, I'm assuming that has trans fats because it's solid at room temp, on the grill. So here's my pondering: does the high heat of the grill do something to "de-hydrogenate" the fats in the margarine? Heat could make those hydrogen bonds break up and no longer be hydrogenated--I think-hmmmm.
Any chemists on here????
My husband is a chemist...let me talk to him.
Are you sure it is margarine they use? The place we go to uses butter.....bad bad bad (oh so good) butter.
By the way, trans fats occur naturally in some foods (meat and dairy.) I personally feel that the ones that occur in nature are fine, it's the industry produced kind (hydrogenated oils) that you should stay away from like the plague.
Is that trans fat or saturated fat? I was under the impression there was a difference. Although, I get proven wrong a lot lately
[QUOTE=ddc;2364388]This has gotten me to wondering....
at the Chinese buffet that we go to on occassion, they have the hot grill where they will stir fry your food in front of you. They use a margarine, I'm assuming that has trans fats because it's solid at room temp, on the grill. So here's my pondering: does the high heat of the grill do something to "de-hydrogenate" the fats in the margarine? Heat could make those hydrogen bonds break up and no longer be hydrogenated--I think-hmmmm.
Any chemists on here????[/QUOTE]
nice try at rationalizing your way into a french fry there ddc Hydrogination is what keeps the margarine solid at room temperature. Unfortunately, it doesn't "de-hydrogniate" at high temps. That's why the fast food peeps are in hot water - for using all that hydroginated crap in their deep fryers.
The large refinery-like factories which take unsaturated vegetable oil
and turn it into margarine or vegetable lard do so by bubbling
hydrogen gas through 250 to 400 degree hot vegetable oil in the
presence of a metal catalyst, usually nickel or platinum. The process
can take several hours. You cannot make a saturated product like
margarine at home by heating olive oil or any other vegetable oil in a
pan. We don't know where this weird notion has come from. For more
see our olive oil chemistry page
hydrogenation is a very exothermic reaction (which means it gives off heat) so it won't be favored by adding more heat. If you raise the temperature it won't cause the hydrogens to break away, at least not at any reasonable cooking temperatures.
That was his answer....not sure how applicable it is.
A number of years ago, a dietitian/nutritionist told me about her experience trying to make trans fatty acids in an open pan on top of the stove. She wanted to make a video of the process to use for teaching purposes. She was unsuccessful with this venture, and she had contacted me to ask me why her project had failed. She had not actually known how the trans were formed to begin with and assumed from what she had been told that the raising of the temperature would cause the trans to form. The project had been undertaken in one of the laboratories in a local university, and the analysis was to be done by someone in the same laboratory who knew how to use the instrument for analyzing the oil.
I was thinking that also, Julie.
Like roasting veggies in a 400 degree oven. Is that high enough to change the oil?
You shouldn't roast veggies in a 400+ degree oven with extra virgin olive oil, not because of it changing from a cis-fat to a trans-fat but because there is a risk of fire. The smoke point of olive oil is 406 degrees...
Unless you take oil and super heat it REPEATEDLY (ie: frying a turkey, cooling the oil and using it again later) you're not going to be able to significantly change the molecular structure of an oil.
make sense?
Last edited by zeffryn; 09-16-2008 at 03:13 PM.
Reason: thanks for mentioning it, PhotoChick
Is that trans fat or saturated fat? I was under the impression there was a difference. Although, I get proven wrong a lot lately
Transfats do occur naturally - it is partially hydrogenated trans fats that people need to worry about. Naturally occuring trans fats have not been shown to share the same harmful qualities as synthetic trans fats that result from hydrogenation.
You shouldn't roast veggies in a 400 degree oven with olive oil, not because of it changing from a cis-fat to a trans-fat but because there is a risk of fire.
Hm. Not sure I agree with that. The smoke point of EVOO is something like 410degF. I roast veggies tossed in olive oil all the time at 400 deg and have never had a problem with smoke or fire.
Of coruse it's all in what you're personally comfortable with.
All other issues aside, you have to use so MUCH oil for deep frying and I just can't see pouring 4 bottles of somewhat expensive olive oil (in comparison) into a deep fryer. Bleah!
