Cooking oil

[Angep]

Hi everyone, now and again I like to make home made chips😁I know how to do the healthy option in oven !! But my question is this!! Which oil should I use to fry them in? I've heard so many negative things about oils and what they do to them. Which is the healthiest option!! Apart from not eating them at all!!! Thanks. It is Valentine's Day and my other half loves chips so I'm going to make him some😍Thanks everyone.

[Zest]

Hi Angep,

Happy Valentine's Day! You will hopefully find this article helpful to your query about which oils to cook with for your Valentine Day chips for yourself and your other half:

Which Oils are best to cook with?

Article published in July 2015 in BBC News Magazine about ‘Trust Me I’m a Doctor’s’ TV programme research. Prof Grootveld’s advice.

The article is here:

bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-336...

To summarise (copied from the article and I have highlighted part of the article summary in bold print):

"So what is Prof Grootveld's overall advice?

Firstly, try to do less frying, particularly at high temperature. If you are frying, minimise the amount of oil you use, and also take steps to remove the oil from the outside of the fried food, perhaps with a paper towel.

To reduce aldehyde production go for an oil or fat high in monounsaturated or saturated lipids (preferably greater than 60% for one or the other, and more than 80% for the two combined), and low in polyunsaturates (less than 20%).

He thinks the ideal "compromise" oil for cooking purposes is olive oil, "because it is about 76% monounsaturates, 14% saturates and only 10% polyunsaturates - monounsaturates and saturates are much more resistant to oxidation than polyunsaturates".

When it comes to cooking it doesn't seem to matter whether the olive oil is "extra virgin" or not. "The antioxidant levels present in the extra virgin products are insufficient to protect us against heat-induced oxidation."

His final bit of advice is always keep your oils in a cupboard, out of the light, and try not to reuse them as this also leads to the accumulation of nasty side-products."

I hope this is helpful, and enjoy your chips!

Zest

[Angep in reply to Zest]

Hi Zest, Thankyou for your reply and a very interesting informative article. Hmm who would have thought he would choose lard over everything else!! That's what my mum used to use. I think il go buy a block and use that!! When I think I've always kept my oil and reused it!! I'd cool it and put it in the fridge!! Makes me shudder!!as I didn't realise there was anything wrong with doing that. Good old food industry making this stuff and selling it as a healthy option.Happy Valentine's Day to you too 😁

[Zest in reply to Angep]

Glad you found it useful, and yes, he did say he'd use lard over everything else. I'd forgotten about that! Personally I tend to use olive oil, and I cook mine in the oven, but maybe lard will give your chips a nicer taste. Great you've made a choice, and enjoy!

[Tibblington in reply to Angep]

You will have made the right decision to use lard or even duck fat The oils are not good and are even worse when heated. Olive oil is great when cold but don't heat it. Certainly never keep oil you have previously heated. Have a look at: healthscams.org.uk/the-trut... an you'll never use any of those seed oils again. You are right, my mother too always used lard and we didn't have the degenerative diseases that we have today.

Good luck, Tibbly

[Angep in reply to Tibblington]

Thanks Tibbly for your reply.didnt realise you shouldn't heat up olive oil either!! Will stick with the Lard 😁

[Tibblington in reply to Angep]

I have just read your case history; my you have been through the mill to say the very least.

I would give you just one piece of advice with regards to your unfortunate disposition and that is stick with your professional advisors, they are the ones who understand your condition and you would be unwise to deviate from what they say.

On the food front just try to eat original, basic, organic food and avoid packets like the plague. Avoid ADDED sugar.

Best wishes, Tibbly

[Angep in reply to Tibblington]

Thankyou Tibbly you're very kind 😁

[ANewMe2022]

I use rapeseed oil. Cut the chips, put into a ziplock plastic bag with some everyday seasoning, add 1 tbsp oil and jiggle about to coat chips. Delish!

I've also used Frylight to spray on them - nice too...xx

[Tibblington in reply to ANewMe2022]

No oils are safe for heating and only olive or walnut oil cold for salad use.

Tibbly

[Angep in reply to ANewMe2022]

Sounds nice but you should read the links about the oils and perhaps you might change your mind!! See what you think.

[Angep]

Beef dripping!! Once again used a lot by my mum when I was a child!! Fish and chips were cooked in it from the chippie!! Cast aside to make way for so called cooking oils that were supposed to be much better for us!! I remember if we were hungry we would spread some beef dripping on a slice of bread!! It was rather nice😜

[Tibblington]

Are now not to eat potatoes? Surely this advice applies only to diabetics otherwise none of us would be eating potatoes. We've been eating them for hundreds of years why are they now bad for us? Sorry but I can't swallow that one.

Agree about beef dripping but that pre-supposes that some is available.

We are at risk of going down ever narrowing corridors with too much science and not enough common sense.

Tibbly

[Angep in reply to Tibblington]

You can still buy beef dripping at some of the butchers because I have bought some in the past!! I eat potatoes pretty much everyday because of my health issues Crohn's/ plus a colostomy bag. I can eat them with no apparent repercussions I've already given up a lot and as long as I can eat them il have them mashed, boiled roasted and in chip form 😁Once again I hear myself going back to my childhood and we had a sack of potatoes every week and our diets revolved round them!! I was a pretty healthy kid!! My problems started later in life once I was introduced to junk and processed foods plus lots of sugar!! Maybe just a coincidence I guess il never know. Common sense indeed and moderation as my partner keeps telling me😁

[Tibblington]

I am totally aware of that Concerned; the tone of your comment seemed to suggest that we should all be cautious about potatoes. It's the narrowing corridors syndrome again.

If we all were to eat the wide range of meat, fruit and vegetables Nature has given us and didn't tamper with it, we wouldn't need all this oppressive food science. Much of it used for profit.

I'm 82 and have eaten a normal quantity of potatoes with other vegetables, eggs, cheese, whole milk, meat, fish, pulses and cereals all my life moreover I am not on any routine medication. Hippocrates said, "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food". He was right!

TTFN, Tibbly

[ANewMe2022]

Goodness, why are they allowed to sell these things? It's all such a minefield ...xx