Cooking For Engineers

[cook]

Does the idea of Smoke Point also apply to baking or only to cooking over a high fire directly? Would a pizza drizzled with olive oil made under the broiler (around 500F) or in the oven (475F) also cause the olive oil to react the same way as it does when it's heated to a high temperature on the skillet?

[Dilbert]

unlikely.

even tho the oven temp is high - the dough or if just drizzled on - never gets to that temp.

[Katfwiiley]

Hi,

I have read several conflicting opinions (I haven't found any actual research) on whether blending oils has any affect on the smoke point. For example, if I were to blend 10 parts avacado oil (very high smoke point) with 1 part flaxseed oil (very low smoke point) would I be able to cook with that oil above the smoke point of the lower of the two?

Any help on this matter would be appreciated. Especially in the form of a direction towards scientific research on this matter. Thanks!

[Guest]

Rice Bran Oil - SP= 232 °C (450 °F)

[RangerX]

I would like to know the smoke point of ghee. I have found through extensive searching it appears to right at 450°. Still has that nutty buttery flavor as well.

[Dilbert]

ghee is a form of "clarified butter" - I say "form of" because (local) customs / traditions / methods do not always produce an identical result.

you will find a range of smoke points cited by different sources on the order of 450-485F (232 - 252C)

[Jim Cooley]

I know from experience it's far lower than that.

Namaste,

Jim

[oirfideach]

I am testing different oils for marijuana infusion, and this is a great factsheet. I appreciate your hard work, and I am sure I will appreciate it even more in the coming hours!

[Guest]

Beef dripping has a smoke point of upwards of 220C, some say 250C/480F. This isn't on the list.

There has never been any science showing a link between saturated fat and heart disease. Rather than posting an enormous wall of text, here are a couple of well produced documentaries from Australian TV on the subject, which contains wider criticism of what is clearly fundamentally conflicted research filtering out via the CEOs in charge of the medical industries...

Watch Heart of the Matter parts 1 & 2 here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDVf-00w5gk&list=UUR_kFbcwWy1cKLCkmcMf4lg

[Guest]

The real meaning of smoke point:

http://www.notesonwellness.com/now/2013/11/smoke-point-myth.html

[Guest]

I was very interested to learn more about Grapeseed oil and was surprised to learn about the high PUFA levels it contains and the health issues that this can cause in the body. On the other hand, I saw that canola oil was one of the oils recommended here as a beneficial oil to use and my research has shown that, quite often, it not only comes from crops that are laden with pesticides but also have been processed with chemicals. All in all, canola oil can be extremely toxic. In fact, I've read that it's so toxic that it should be classified as 'industrial oil'!

[Dilbert]

you should probably start to think and research for yourself and stop believing every blogging idiot that posts on the internet.

there are so many claims about canola - here's a few you can research:

Canada paid the FDA (fill in the blank) millions of dollars (US or Canadian?) to approve canola oil as "generally recognized as safe."
research sez: even the conspiracy nutcases admit there is no proof and no indications and no evidence this happened - or in fact anything of any type to even indicate the story is anything other than completely "made up to sound good" - regardless, it's on the internet therefore it is true. and no conspiracy nut case has yet found the multi-hundreds-on-millions-of-dollars in the Canadian "black budget"

claim: canola oil is toxic
actual fact: water is toxic. every year a couple stupid college kids drink so much water they kill themselves.
research sez: once upon a time the rapeseed oil harvested was in fact used as an industrial lubricant and its plant ancestors do indeed contain high levels erucic acid concentrations deemed unsafe for human consumption. the erucic acid content was drastically reduced by selective breeding.
selective breeding is not genetic engineering; were it not for selective breeding you would be eating mostly garden weeds and very skinny non-good tasting animal products.

claim: it was genetically modified to make it safe.
actual fact: the erucic acid was reduced by selective breeding decades before "genetic engineering" was anything more than science fiction.
actual fact: since the invention of RoundUp, some rapeseed varieties used have been made 'RoundUp resistant.' a large percentage, but not all, of the crop is produced from RoundUp ready seed.

claim: canola oil is banned in Europe
actual fact: that would be news to the Europeans. in fact, they grow their own. LEAR is their designation.

claim: canola is processed with chemicals x,y,z which are toxic and will kill you.
actual fact: if you believe this kind of hype, you probably don't want to know how the rest of your food is prepared.

claim: rapeseed is in the mustard family and we all know how mustard gas is made!
actual fact: utter horse feathers. go research mustard gas - it is not made from any plant source.

claim: canola is is classified as a bio-pesticide by the US EPA.
actual fact: true.
further facts: Ivory soap would be classified as a bio-pesticide if it were packaged and sold as a pesticide. soaps kill waxy bodied insects, oils suffocate hard bodied insects.
if you sell two wooden blocks to clap together and kill flies, the EPA will label it a pesticide.
if you sell water in a spray bottle with directions on how to wash aphids off your roses, the EPA would force you to label it a pesticide.

so, stop believing everything on the Internet and start thinking for yourself.

[djl]

I have read in several places that refined oils are unhealthy and should not use them. Is that accurate that refined oils should be avoided just like we should avoid trans fats ?

[Guest]

This is a very useful list and helpful for those looking to season cast iron or who cook with a variety of oils.

But did I just read a whole slew of comments rating "organic" over GMO?

From a scientific perspective, "certified organic" usually means one thing: higher risk of bacterial or parasitic contamination. For an engineer it means dramatically lower crop yields, inefficient land use, and increased labor requirements, and for an economist it means significantly higher COGS.

From a cooking perspective, "certified organic" means... Yeah I got nothin. Wash all your food before you eat it, watch its shelf life, and sign up for a couple chemistry classes at a community college if you're worried about "chemicals" in your food.

Oh, and Dilbert, selective breeding IS genetic engineering. It's just very very slow and very very inefficient and very very unpredictable genetic engineering.

[Dilbert]

if you're so hot on science and definitions, you should look up how genetic engineering is defined.

selective breeding takes advantage of naturally mutations - happy 'accidents' saved for the next generation.

genetic engineering artificially modifies an organism in ways nature cannot.