Oil for cooking?

katebuggie28
katebuggie28 Posts: 8 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I use cast iron skillets, so I need an oil that won't turn rancid when cooking. Olive and grapeseed oils tend to be high in calories. What does everyone else use even if not cooking with cast iron?

Replies

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
    Fat has 9 calories per grams whether it comes from olives, corn, grapeseed, soy, etc.

    I use olive oil for most of my cooking but if I want high heat cooking I typically go for peanut oil. Both have similar calories. To reduce calories I use less oil. Oil sprays can help coat the pan with less oil.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    Pretty much any oil is going to come in around 120 calories per Tbsp.
  • festerw
    festerw Posts: 233 Member
    I slap a half tablespoon of butter in my cast iron. Only problem I ever have is occasional sticking with eggs.
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,983 Member
    For high-heat cooking, I use avocado oil in my cast iron pan. It has a really high smoke point so that means I don't set off the smoke detectors even at 500 degrees. It's expensive, though, so I use it sparingly.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
    I often use canola. Or butter. Or olive. Calories are the same. I do find I can usually half the amount of oil called for in a number of recipes, so I do that a bit.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,961 Member
    fitoverfortymom wrote: »
    I often use canola. Or butter. Or olive. Calories are the same. I do find I can usually half the amount of oil called for in a number of recipes, so I do that a bit.

    Butter calories aren't the same as oil, since it's only about 80% fat by weight.

    As for OP, you can wipe out or even use water to clean your cast iron pan (you don't leave particles from food other than your cooking fat in the pan, do you?), so I think your concern about using an oil that won't go rancid is overblown. The idea that you can't rinse out an iron skillet is silly: You can cook foods in it that contain water.
    Since pretty much all food other than oil contains some water, a pan that couldn't be touched by water would be pretty useless. You just have to make sure you get it dry after rinsing so it won't rust.

    I wipe mine out or rinse it out as needed after cooking, and if there's stuff stuck on it, I use a little baking soda and a slightly damp paper towel to scrub it off (you could also use salt, but baking soda absorbs any remaining grease, so I can dump it in the trash along with the clumped up baking soda, rather than sending it into my plumbing). I always put a new film of oil on my iron skillet after cleaning it, and just heat it a bit over a burner, rather than sticking it back in the oven for a full reseasoning. My skillet is somewhere between 50 and 70 years old (not sure, exactly, as I inherited it), and it's just fine.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    katebuggie28 wrote: »
    I use cast iron skillets, so I need an oil that won't turn rancid when cooking. Olive and grapeseed oils tend to be high in calories. What does everyone else use even if not cooking with cast iron?

    As others have said, all oil is roughly the same amount of calories. You could try cutting back on the oil and using water, broth, or wine to keep the food from sticking to the pan. Cooking spray can help, too.

    I've never tried this trick for pan frying, only roasting, but it might work: put what you want to fry in a Ziploc bag with about half the oil you'd normally use. Seal the bag, toss it around a few times, and then pour the contents onto a hot skillet already on the burner. Again, I haven't tried this, but it might give good results.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    For high-heat cooking, I use avocado oil in my cast iron pan. It has a really high smoke point so that means I don't set off the smoke detectors even at 500 degrees. It's expensive, though, so I use it sparingly.

    Do you have a Costco near you...I get mine at Costco and it's $11.99 for 1 liter.
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,983 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    For high-heat cooking, I use avocado oil in my cast iron pan. It has a really high smoke point so that means I don't set off the smoke detectors even at 500 degrees. It's expensive, though, so I use it sparingly.

    Do you have a Costco near you...I get mine at Costco and it's $11.99 for 1 liter.

    I hadn't looked for it there, thanks! A tiny bottle at my grocery store was $11.99 so I'll check out Costco for sure.
  • gamerbabe14
    gamerbabe14 Posts: 876 Member
    Butter goes on my cast iron.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,889 Member
    katebuggie28 wrote: »
    I use cast iron skillets, so I need an oil that won't turn rancid when cooking. Olive and grapeseed oils tend to be high in calories. What does everyone else use even if not cooking with cast iron?

    I use cast iron and don't understand the concern about oils that go rancid. Rather than going rancid during cooking, do you mean a problem with oils left on the pan and sitting a while? There's always oil sitting on my cast iron in between cooking, and that's never been a problem.

    I usually use canola oil, or olive oil that is not extra virgin, because using EVOO that way seems like kind of a waste, and I believe it has a lower smoke point as well.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,970 Member
    I use grapeseed oil, no strong reasons for it other than I like using it.
  • anetkastefaniak
    anetkastefaniak Posts: 45 Member
    I use a silicone baking mat when roasting vegetables/cooking meat in the oven to avoid the extra calories. I ordered it from amazon and I love it! I find that the juice from the meat mixes with the vegetables.

    I tend to eat high fat foods already (olive oil in salads, olives, etc) so this is my way of cutting down.

    But to answer your question... when I did cook with oil I would stick to olive oil or any type of vegetable oil. As kshama2001 mentioned above, extra virgin olive oil has a lower smoke point so I would suggest using vegetable oil.
  • MzManiak
    MzManiak Posts: 1,361 Member
    I use vegetable oil to season the pan, and butter to cook with.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    I have in my home canola (rapeseed) oil and olive oil. If needed, I could use my daughter's supply of coconut oil, but she mostly wants that for soap. For lightly oiling my skillet, I use a spray of olive oil. Sometimes I even weigh it. In my large skillet, it's usually 2 grams. In my small skillet, 1 gram. For deep frying anything, I use canola oil It's cheap and has a very high smoke point.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    If your pan is properly seasoned, you shouldn't need a lot of oil in the first place. That's one of the benefits of good cast iron. Modern "pre-seasoned" cast iron is generally not well seasoned and could certainly be re-seasoned. For well-seasoned cast iron, I use a very small amount of cooking spray if needed, but I generally use little to no oil with it.

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