Cooking with olive oil

Cooking with olive oil: a good or bad idea?

Not all oils are the same: there are those used for cold dishes and others for frying. Learn what distinguishes them and their health benefits here.

Some recipes explicitly mention the type of oil to use, while others don’t. Nevertheless, it can make a big difference. Despite the wide variety of oils available on the market, it’s safe to use at most three without even knowing if you’re using them correctly. We’ll show you how to get the most out of your oil, both in terms of flavor and health benefits.

Raw or cooked dishes – which oil should you choose?

From frying to salad dressing, cooking oil is used in a wide variety of culinary preparations. Here’s a quick reminder to help you know when to use one or another oil: Generally, cold-pressed oils are used for cold dishes, while refined oils are used for hot dishes. However, some cold-pressed oils can also be used for cooking and frying.

Refined, cold-pressed, and extra virgin oils

Refined oils are ideal for preparing dishes that require a neutral flavor so as not to alter the taste of the food they contain. They are often translucent, even slightly yellow.

Cold-pressed oils provide that extra something with their intense aromas. Their color ranges from bright yellow to deep green. However, it is a misconception that cold-pressed oils are healthier than refined oils.

Extra virgin oils are natural, cold-pressed oils. They have not been distilled or roasted.

Cooked, fried, or baked

For cooking, frying, and deep-frying at high temperatures, it is best to use refined oils and special cooking oils. In fact, these can be heated to temperatures above 200 degrees Celsius, which is usually indicated on the bottle. If a (vegetable) oil has a high linoleic acid content, its cold-pressed version can also be heated, which is especially true for olive oil.

Please note: Above 170 degrees Celsius, your food won’t cook any faster, but the oil will break down more quickly, and in starchy foods such as hash browns or fries, the harmful substance acrylamide can form.

When cooking, steaming, and stewing, the type of oil used is not important, as the maximum temperatures reached are around 100 degrees Celsius. For baking or baking, you can choose a neutral-tasting refined oil, such as rapeseed oil, which can withstand high oven temperatures.

Which oil should you use for which dishes?

For salads and raw vegetable dishes

The higher the unsaturated fatty acid content, the less the oil will withstand high temperatures. A good example is linseed oil: this vegetable oil, usually cold-pressed from linseed, contains a large amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which cannot withstand high temperatures. That’s a shame, because omega-3 fatty acids are extremely important for the body, which cannot produce them itself and relies on them for its metabolism.

The lower the smoke point of an oil, the more it smokes when heated, which is the case with cold-pressed oils. One more reason to use them for salad dressings rather than for preparing hot dishes.