Topic: spiced oil in base

[Vindaloo-crazy]

Here's someone else's take on it

http://www.grouprecipes.com/21149/spiced-oil.html

[Unclefrank]

I use a two handled wok and only cook bhajis, pakoras, onions and peppers in the oil and then use the oil from the wok to cook my curries. If the recipe calls for 2 TBSP of veg oil i only use 1 TBSP of the spiced oil and get very good results, if a dish requires to be oily then i add extra spiced oil to my liking.
I have cooked a curry with oil used from cooking chips in and was quite disgusting very acidic (has somebody mentioned before) so i always keep my oils seperate, have been using the same oil now for about 3 months and the taste gets better and better. I sometimes add half and half ( recipe requires 2 TBSP i then add 1 TBSP of veg oil and 1 TBSP of the spiced oil).

I don't fancy cooking Bhaji's in a Oil filled Wok as if that lot ignited 
So I am going to purchase a second deep fat fryer which will be kept just for Bhaji's etc.

Always use this method to cook my bhajis never had any problems with it catching fire  only cook two or three at a time then when the other couple of bhajis are placed in the oil will cool slightly so i have never had problems with the oil being to hot.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I use only spiced oil, at all stages of the preparation : making the stage-1 and stage-2 sauce, pre-cooking the chicken, and making the final curry.  As Kris Dhillon makes plain, a good curry requires an excess of oil which can then be poured off before the final dish is served; I then continually recycle this oil  through subsequent base sauces, pre-cooked chicken and further curries, augmenting it with new oil (usually groundnut oil, but grapeseed oil if I have any) as and when required.  But I wouldn't use chip oil in a million years !

[solarsplace]

Hi All

Supposing you have reclaimed or purpose infused oil that has been created with ingredients such as onions, peppers and garlic with spices:

1) How long is it safe to keep for?

2) Where is the best place to store it? in an old oil bottle in the cupboard? in a fridge? freeze?

Thanks in advance

Russell

[Peripatetic Phil]

Since I never read "use-by" dates, I would keep it indefinitely, in a sealed jar at room temperature.  So long as there is a clear excess of oil over and above any water-based content, the oil will rise to the surface and act as a very effective barrier between the air (which might cause the water-based content to go off) and any water-based content. Even anchovies are normally well protected from going off by the oil in which they are kept, although honesty compels me to admit that I did once get food poisoning from a jar that has been open for well  over a year ...

[matt3333]

Hi All

Supposing you have reclaimed or purpose infused oil that has been created with ingredients such as onions, peppers and garlic with spices:

1) How long is it safe to keep for?

2) Where is the best place to store it? in an old oil bottle in the cupboard? in a fridge? freeze?

Thanks in advance

Russell

I made about 1 litre of infused oil last weekend with the ingredients you mentioned.
The onion paste I froze in ice cube trays, the oil I returned to the plastic bottle and have put in the fridge I'm not sure how long it will remain safe- but I suspect it will all be gone in about 2 months.
Cheers
Matt

[PaulP]

For spiced oil containing garlic, amongst other things, you need to play safe regarding potential botulism spores.

I would keep spiced oil for no longer than a week or 10 days in a fridge.
Frozen it should be safe for a few months at least.

I froze my onion/pepper paste in one plastic tub. I find if I very slightly defrost it I can scoop some out with a texture like very hard ice cream. I then pop it back in the freezer.

I keep the oil in 500 ml plastic bottles and I find from the freezer the oil will turn back to liquid quite quickly at room temp. I then take the oil I need and put the bottle back in the freezer.

Paul

[Peripatetic Phil]

Isn't botulism from garlic a risk only if the garlic is raw ?  Once it has been cooked at 260F or above for a few minutes, the spores will have been destroyed, and they can't recur once the garlic is under a safe layer of oil.  I was assuming that the original question referred to oil in which the ingredients had been cooked, but if that is not the case then I withdraw my earlier comment about "indefinitely" !

[solarsplace]

Hi All

Just to clarify, the question is in regard to the oil itself that has either been reclaimed from the surface of the base gravy or a purpose made oil.

So it is essentially just the oil component, however there must be particles of the original ingredients in there with the oil, such as the onions, garlic etc. This leads to the question of how long it is safe to keep for and how best to store.

If it is likely to be fine for a month or two then no problem as it is unlikely to last that long before a new batch needs to be made anyway.

EDIT: Thanks for the advice guys. It is very likely then, that the oil will be used up long before there is risk of it going bad.

Thanks

[PaulP]

Isn't botulism from garlic a risk only if the garlic is raw ?  Once it has been cooked at 260F or above for a few minutes, the spores will have been destroyed, and they can't recur once the garlic is under a safe layer of oil.  I was assuming that the original question referred to oil in which the ingredients had been cooked, but if that is not the case then I withdraw my earlier comment about "indefinitely" !

Hi Chaa006, you might be correct there. The botulism spores (if present) get killed at about 122 degrees C. If the oil reaches this temp (I don't have a thermometer to measure oil temps) then all living spores or bacteria will be killed.

Maybe I'm being over cautious.

Cheers,

Paul