Topic: Veg Oil/Extra Virgin Olive Oil

[Razor]

Hi Guy,s

In my opinion, Kris Dhillon is calling for the use of olive oil, in an attempt to make the more "health conscious" want to try her dishes.

I've got both books.  KD1 asks for veg oil, KD2, olive oil.  It's got to be selling tactic in my opinion.

BIR's don't use olive oil, it's way too expensive to be a viable option, surely?

Ray

[PaulP]

Hi Ray,

I think most BIRs these days would use cheap vegetable oil. So long as you pick an oil with not much taste it shouldn't make much difference to the final curry.

The light refined olive oil doesn't taste of much but perhaps the health benefits diminish with the processing of the oil.

I'm not sure KD ever really understood BIR food as we know it.

Paul

[Ghoulie]

On an interesting note, my doctor recommended recently a daily intake of a teaspoon of olive oil - preferably extra virgin - to reduce my cholesterol level !  Have it now sprinkled over my cornies and taste is ok. [not instead of milk - as well as]

[Peripatetic Phil]

my doctor recommended recently a daily intake of a teaspoon of olive oil - preferably extra virgin

A famous chef (Raymond Blanc, I think), in a television series earlier this year, asked an olive oil producer what is the difference is between "Extra virgin" and "Virgin" olive oil; the reply was : "You pay twice as much for the extra virgin" !

[JerryM]

Ghoulie,

i would have a good look into this claim if it's an "and" rather than an "or". olive oil still contains sat fat and that's the thing to keep an eye on.

i think cod liver oil is similar vein.

i'm not confident of anyone living to tell the tale. i'd swap it for sultana or raisin and boost your 5 a day.

[Ghoulie]

Jerry - done a web search and it confirms that olive oil is capable of reducing cholesterol - the extra virgin is supposed to contain more anti oxidants - whatever - in a couple of months I will be on a retest and see where my levels are at.

(while I was at the 'tests' situation - comes with the 60+ age gov med routine chesks  - my missus insisted on a prostate count too ! - we know a few peole who have had 'no symptoms of prostate problems ' - but on a random routine check been found to be at danger level of prostate cancer.  Luckily I scored a 1.2 - when less than 4 is good ).

Aint getting older great !

[JerryM]

Ghoulie,

i'm no expert in this but do keep a keen eye on my cholesterol levels.

re-test result will be interesting. i've found "reducing" claims not to hold up well in practice -  increasing Hdl and reducing Ldl appears a very hard trick to pull off. sure olive oil is much better than other oil down to the high level of mono unsaturates but it still contains the saturates.

the top 3 no no's for me are eggs, cheese, butter (inc marg) - these really do have a big impact. i limit myself to 17g sat fat per day averaged over the week - seems to work (upto 27g per day i feel would work just as good). i'm less convinced of the need to watch dietary cholesterol ie lean meat except for the big hitters like eggs and prawns.

the jigsaw is quite big though - i've recently found out that by cutting down on meat i got too short of magnesium and this led to muscle problems.

prostrate is for sure something to keep in mind.

best wishes

[rhodriharris]

Hey guys am into my cooking but only a novice at indian cooking but i think that i can help you out with the 'cooking with olive oil' topic and give you a good start point to be able to go on and research it yourself and edge on the side of caution when choosing your oil to fry on because it can become toxic (ok not toxic enuf to kill you dead on the spot but enuf to make it unhealthy).  Ok to start with every oil has a 'SMOKE POINT' and 'FLASH POINT'!!!! You might of heard of one or both of these terms and this is where you can start your internet search by simply typing cooking oil smoke point, as this is the most relevant one to cooking indians, into Google. (Here i've done it for you)  'Heating an oil changes its characteristics. Oils that are healthy at room temperature can become unhealthy when heated above certain temperatures. When choosing a cooking oil, it is important to match the oil's heat tolerance with the cooking method.'  Some sites tend to lean towards the unhealthy smoke that is emitted and some tend to say that it make the food it is cooked in taste bitter.  Either way extra virgin olive oil is not a frying oil and would be wrong to do so especially with the high temperature indians are fried at.  Try putting some extra virgin olive oil in a pan and watch it evaporate at even moderate temperatures in only a short time leaving you no oil left to fry in so pointless at most temperatures.  At most it would be suitable to quick fry a fish fillet for a couple of mins.  Refined olive oil labled 'olive oil' is, like vegetable oil, sunflower oil etc refined which means it can be used at a higher temperature and seems ok when use it to fry indian although it can change the taste slightly it still makes for an oily meal if you want it that way.  Anyway don't exceed the smoke point for each particular oil and refined olive oil might be ok but extra virgin and virgin aren't really although in a raita or non cooked item hell yes its ok although it changes the final taste somewhat.  No matter what all olive oils are healthy and the saturated fat, believe it or not is the good type of saturated fat.  Hope this gives you somthing to go on and check out .

[PaulP]

Hi Rhod,

I use rice bran oil. It is supposed to be one of the more healthy oils and has a neutral flavour unlike olive oil. The trouble with olive oil and that by the time it has been refined to remove the flavour and increase the frying temperature it loses a lot of the health benefits associated with virgin olive oil.

I think most of us on here put a significant amount of oil in our base sauce recipes.
I can't imagine a base sauce recipe without any oil in it.

Welcome the forum

Paul

[rhodriharris]

Yep you said it refined olive oil aint that great for you although its still not unhealthy.  There are lots of oils out there and some can be cooked at really high temperatures.  The thing with extra virgin olive oil is that it is more like a speciality oil and when the olives are picked if they are bruised they give a far less superior oil than if their not bruised hence why people buy extra virgin olive oil from producers who pick olives and bottle the oil at the same site hence the D.O.P. wording on the lable of good olive oil which states the region the olives grew in and that they were processes and bottled straight after picking.  Its complicated and all to do with the acid levels of the olive oil.  All this is totally lost when refined giving a far less superior product.  Google it and you will start to realise the reason why people pay between 30 quid to over a hundred quid for just a small bottle of extra virgin olive oil.  Its all in the quality.  God i could talk all day about olive oil but only the refined version is suitable for frying and not the extra or virgin olive oil.  You get the extra virgin olive oil from the first press of olives and the virgin olive oil from the second press of olive oil, then the remaining pressed olives have any remaining oil extracted using chemicals which are evaporated of leaving just plain olive oil.  Even then a forth grade of olive oil is left which is called Pommace (i think) and you can buy this although it is normally sold to soap manufactures who use it to make soap products.  The itallians and greeks are very fussy about their olive oil and that what is sold in the suppermarket would make them laugh when compared to the quality they use. Thanks