Oils ain’t Oils
If, like me, your childhood of the 80s and 90s included a lot of Aussie afternoon TV, this week's With Condiments subject line will have conjured up something entirely different to cuisine.
Grainy gangster vignettes, typical thirties tropes and engine fluid.
Genius, right?
Old mate Oil Capone is not wrong.
Just like a car needs petrol to run, your kitchen needs fat to cook on. And you can't just whack any old thing in there and expect the same result.
(why???)
From mayonnaise to mash to minestrone, I can’t tell you how many meals have been mangled at the finishing line by an Ill-selected, Ill-advised or Ill-stored (rancid!) oil.
As far as variety goes, what you should invest in really depends on what you cook. The average Australian household’s culinary repertoire hangs around ten go-to dishes. Be they curries and stir-fries, soups and stews, or pizza and pasta. Having a couple of good base oils and a finisher should see you through all of these - and beyond.
OILS!
All Day Olive Oil: If you’re of the “whack it all together” school (🙋🏻♀️) one good quality bottle of olive oil is a great place to start. I like a fruitier oil (like this Cobram one with the purple label) for day-to-day grilling and roasting, because it also lends itself to salad dressings, which can be as simple as olive oil, salt and pepper - or fancied up with lemon juice or some form of vinegar (next week’s WC, btw). Buy a bottle first and, if you like it (and they’re on sale at the shops), buy a drum to refill the bottle.
Fancier Olive Oil: The biggest mistake people make with olive oil is buying a fancy one and then saving it for special occasions. Even if stored properly in a cool, dark place, that bottle’s shelf-life is around six months (unless it’s a super exxy first-press, which can live up to 3-4 years!!)! I try and seek out fancy oil from nearby, because it starts to lose its intensity right after bottling, so the closer to home, the more vibrant its colour and flavour. Treat a bottle of this kind like insta-sauce. What you’re paying for is flavour and depth - which you’ll lose if you do anything but “finish” your dish with a drizzle of this golden elixir. Mount Zero is a great go-to and you'll see it in a lot of professional kitchens in Victoria, but if you're from elsewhere, seek out a local supplier and get finishing!
Peanut oil: If you're partial to some frying of the stir or deep variety, a seed oil with a high smoke point is definitely on the agenda. I've found a lot of commercial peanut oils a little too recognisably nutty, and also too wet (so they bubble and fizz at higher temperatures) but Picky Picky is a HG for me! I use it through all of my pan-asian cooking - including salad dressings and frying. It's got a really neutral flavour and handles high heat with aplomb.
Coconut oil: This is the Justin Bieber of oils. Sometimes it's everywhere, other times it's just NQR. People try and whack it in all sorts of stuff, but at its best, coconut oil is the right oil to cook curries on. If you're gonna add coconut milk/cream to it, you should cook it on coconut oil. Also, oil pulling. Where there's a coconut palm, there's a coconut oil purporting to be the world's best - heck, I'm surprised Tom Hanks didn't try to peddle his way off that deserted island through a "Wilson's Wonderful Oil" brand. BUT this one is HANDS DOWN my favourite. It's consistent, flavoursome, and kinda sweet (which is a delightful surprise if you do decide to swill it around for 20-odd minutes in the mornings).
And that's it!
Maybe a grapeseed oil if you plan on making a tonne of your own mayonnaise (but peanut oil should fit the bill here), and probably a sesame oil for double-drops (two drops is plenty - S.O is very potent!) through dressings and stir-fries , but I haven't necessarily found one that knocks my socks off, so I'm going to leave the shopping up to you. PLEASE don't get suckered into buying artificially flavoured oils... they are the bane of my existence (especially truffle oil. ugh!).
So really, that's your entire oildrobe right there.
If you're a small household, stick to smaller bottles of oil, and use them up quickly to avoid that claggy, rancidity that occurs from overzealous visits to Costco. If you're an avid cook, buy your olive oil in a drum or a goon bag, and refill a drizzling bottle as you go to save on packaging. If you're going to oil pull (do it!!), buy the big jar of Banaban and breathe easy on everybody, even on your morning commute!
Finally, if you're up for learning more about oils and how to get the most out of yours (also, a shiitake-loud of other stuff, tbh), check out WC's newest feature...
Book of the Week!
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat!
This was my favourite food reference book release of 2017, hands down! It's the kind of book I wish I'd written, complete with the kind of illustrations and diagrams I wish I could draw. It's "The Joy of Cooking" for the 21st Century, and I'm just grateful that it exists in the world. Every household should have one, and I can't stop saying enough nice things about it. You'll get something out of it if you're an amateur, a pro-am, or just a plain pro.
Here's some more info about it, and interview with the awesome author, and some more examples of pages via NPR.
Got any more oily questions? Shoot me a tweet! Or a gram! or an In(?)! @aliceinframes, everywhere.
Cheerio!
A — Z.
