Not so many years ago, cooks had a limited choice of corn, soy and peanut oils, or blends thereof. Then we learned about canola, so called because it’s Canadian oil, low acid, from the rapeseed plant. And we fell in love with olive oil, mastered the differences between virgin and extra-virgin, and compared Tuscan to Provencal, Californian to Spanish.
Now, just when we were beginning to feel pretty doggoned smug about our knowledge of all things unctuous, up pops a new crop of specialty culinary oils. Lines of nut oils march down market shelves, and oils we’ve never heard of–rice bran?–stand shoulder-to-shoulder with more familiar varieties.
Someone must think there’s value in those bottles, or merchandisers wouldn’t make the effort to bring them to market. It’s true. All have nutritional benefits as well as culinary assets, so they’re well worth investigating. Like all oils, these are 100 percent fat, with about 120 calories per tablespoon. What makes them noteworthy, however, is the composition of the fats, their ratios of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fat. Since these specialty oils are high in healthful monounsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats, they share the health benefits long celebrated in olive oil.
Rice bran oil also offers some additional health benefits. It’s rich in anti-oxidant vitamin E, and some research at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge indicated that it may be helpful in treating cancer. Because of its high smoke point and low viscosity, it’s less likely to be absorbed when used in frying.
We selected six culinary oils to explore: almond, avocado, grapeseed, hazelnut, rice bran and walnut. Each is best suited to certain uses, less fit for others. We focused on widely available oils in their natural state, choosing not to include flavored versions. We also did not include hard-to-find oils like macadamia or argan, used in Moroccan cooking.
You’ll find these oils in natural foods and specialty grocers like Whole Foods Market, and in well-stocked supermarkets. Internet sources include igourmet.com, amazon.com and gourmetfoodstore.com. Expect to pay $9 to $12 for a half-liter can or bottle, about the same as specialty olive oils.
A trend from chefs’ kitchens
Chefs and cooking teachers started the liquid gold rush, said Stacy Kelly, marketing manager of Loriva Culinary Oils of San Leandro, Calif.
“I credit the celebrity chefs with waking up the American palate,” Kelly said. People taste great food in restaurants and “want to go home and replicate the pleasure.”
Doing so is easy, said Todd Stein, chef de cuisine at Chicago’s MK restaurant. “Home cooks today are so much more sophisticated, and so much better cooks than they were 10 years ago,” Stein said. “With a beautiful piece of fish, using a nut oil to highlight the dish–that’s something they could do at home. Those oils are so intense, you don’t want to use too much. Just a little, as an accent.”
Stein said he likes almond oil a lot. “We do a cauliflower almond puree. After we cook the cauliflower, we puree it, then add a little almond oil instead of butter.” Home cooks could do that, too, he said.
The notion of using specialty oils as a flavor accent, rather than as a utilitarian standby, seems fresh and new now. But it’s a natural extension of our interest in high-quality ingredients.
Industry figures show one oil greased the skids, Kelly said: “Olive oil, which [accounts for] 60 percent of the culinary oils, has paved the way.” But flavored and specialty oils have seen the largest percentage of growth in the category: 25 percent in 2003 alone, she said.
The growth in sales of specialty oils prompted one French company, La Tourangelle, to dispatch a son to open an American mill in Woodland, Calif. Twenty-four-year-old Matthieu Kohlmeyer’s family has produced nut oils in France for 150 years, he said, but the company’s California mill has only been operating for a year.
“Nut oils are primarily used in vinaigrettes in France, in the traditional ratio of three parts oil to one part vinegar,” Kohlmeyer said. “We also use them in pesto, and in cakes and baking. You can add a splash to the water for pasta; it will add a subtle flavor.”
Or use these fine oils as an accessory in many dishes. “Grapefruit drizzled with hazelnut oil is awesome!” Kohl-meyer said.
But the oils shine brightly in cooking, he said. “When you cook with [specialty] oils, it creates another flavor dimension that’s much harder to define,” he said. No cook can use an ingredient without knowing how to select for quality, store for longest life, and use the ingredient wisely. Specialty oils are comparatively pricey, so their care is important.
All should be stored in the refrigerator, because light and heat speed the oils’ deterioration. Choose oils in colored glass bottles or metal tins for the same reason.
Because specialty oils typically don’t have stabilizers or preservatives, Kelly said, refrigerating them extends their shelf life up to a year. “You may see some color and viscosity changes,” she said. “The oil will get cloudy. But it will return to its previous condition when it comes to room temperature.”
Let the oil’s smoke point, the temperature at which the oil starts to break down, determine its use, Kelly suggested. “Usually the product has been carefully extracted to get maximum flavor, and heat [that is too high] will destroy that. To get the optimal value –and flavor–respect the smoke point. You won’t be degrading the oil, or tearing it down.”
Beneficial compounds
Nor will you destroy its special nutritional benefits, said Nelda Mercer, a dietitian in Ann Arbor, Mich., who specializes in oils and is a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
“Once you go past the smoke point, you’re going to start to denature the nutrients,” Mercer said, referring to the damage that high heat brings to those beneficial compounds.
An even more important thing to remember about these oils, she added, is that they’re still fats, so use them sparingly.
“If you use a really good oil, you may be able to get great flavor with just a little,” she said. “You’re going to get higher unsaturated fat, which is very heart-healthy. Calorie-wise and total fat-wise, they’re all the same. What differs is the type of fat [each one is highest in]. These oils would all be good sources of vitamin E, which is an anti-oxidant,” Mercer said.
Oils high in polyunsaturated fats, though they spoil quickly, tend to provide lots of the heart-helping omega 3s.
From a caloric viewpoint, Mercer suggested using specialty oils to “fin-ish the recipe, rather than cooking with them. Choose the one that’s right for your recipe. They’re all healthful in terms of their nutritional profiles, but avocado oil would have a different flavor than almond oil.”
Specialty oils worth trying
Here are brief “bios” of several of the most widely distributed specialty oils. Consult the chart on this page to determine which uses are best for the oils you’re interested in.
Almond: Good for high-heat cooking, almond oil’s light color and clean flavor complement other ingredients. It is rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, just like olive oil.
Avocado: With a smoke point of more than 500 degrees, avocado oil is the sturdiest of the specialty oils we surveyed. It will stand up to the flash-frying temperatures needed to stir-fry, and its rich, buttery flavor makes foods taste rich even when it is added in small quantities.
Grapeseed: Neutrally flavored, grape-seed oil is good for medium-high heat such as quick frying or short stays in the skillet. It won’t contribute much taste, but it provides a great vehicle when you want other ingredients to star.
Hazelnut: Its distinctive flavor makes hazelnut oil a good bet in salads and sauces. Pair it with bitter greens; its warm, flavor softens their bite. Hazelnut oil has a medium-high smoke point; try cooking nut-crusted fish or chicken fillets in a splash of this oil.
Rice bran: With its ability to withstand high temperatures, rice bran oil does not absorb the flavor of foods cooked in it, so it can be used more times than many other oils. It is used widely in Japan. Its delicate, neutral flavor also contributes subtlety to baked goods and stir-fries.
Walnut: The darling of dietitians, walnut oil is rich in omega 3s, the heart-protecting fatty acids that counterbalance the omega 6s so prevalent in the American diet. Discerning cooks appreciate it for its flavor, however, and find that using it in the skillet or muffin tin adds terrific walnut flavor even in small amounts.
–Robin Mather Jenkins
Using edible oils
OIL: Olive
USE FOR: Low-temp frying, sauces
SMOKE POINT: 325 degrees
LOOK FOR: Pale yellow to green color
OIL: Walnut
USE FOR: Baking, sauteeing
SMOKE POINT: 400 degrees
LOOK FOR: Pale golden
OIL: Canola
USE FOR: Baking, sauteeing
SMOKE POINT: 400 degrees
LOOK FOR: Buttery yellow
OIL: Grapeseed
USE FOR: Baking, sauteeing
SMOKE POINT: 425 degrees
LOOK FOR: Very pale yellow
OIL: Hazelnut
USE FOR: Baking, sauteeing
SMOKE POINT: 430 degrees
LOOK FOR: Very pale yellow
OIL: Rice bran
USE FOR: All-purpose cooking
SMOKE POINT: 490 degrees
LOOK FOR: Rich golden
OIL: Almond
USE FOR: All-purpose cooking
SMOKE POINT: 495 degrees
LOOK FOR: Pale golden
OIL: Avocado
USE FOR: All-purpose cooking
SMOKE POINT: 510 degrees
LOOK FOR: Pale golden to pale green
Sources: California Rice Oil Co., Spectrum Organic Products, La Tourangelle California Gourmet Oils
All-corn biscotti
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Yield: 60 cookies
“These delicate, crunchy biscotti are wheat- and gluten-free,” writes Nick Malgieri in his book, “Cookies Unlimited.” It’s important to let the baked cake cool after the first baking, he noted, or it will be difficult to slice. We adapted this recipe to use almond oil instead of melted butter or vegetable oil.
2 cups whole unblanched almonds
1 cup each: yellow cornmeal, cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon each: baking soda, ground cinnamon
1 egg
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons almond oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13-by-9-inch pan; cover the bottom with parchment or foil. Line two cookie sheets with parchment or foil.
2. Place 1 cup of the almonds in a food processor; pulse until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl; add the remaining whole almonds, cornmeal, cornstarch, baking soda and cinnamon. Stir well to mix. Whisk the egg in a separate bowl; whisk in, one at a time, the sugar, honey, almond oil and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until stiff dough forms.
3. Scrape the dough into the pan; press with the palm of your hand to make an even layer covering the bottom of the pan, about 1/2-inch thick. Bake until firm, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven, leaving oven on. Cool biscotti in the pan 5 minutes; invert out onto a cutting board and cool completely.
4. Set the oven racks in the upper and lower third positions. Cut biscotti into three 13-by-3-inch strips; slice crosswise into 1/2-inch strips. Arrange the biscotti on the prepared cookie sheets; bake 10 minutes. Cool completely. Store between sheets of parchment or wax paper in a tin or plastic container with tight-fitting cover.
Nutrition information per cookie:
55 calories, 35% of calories from fat, 2 g fat, 0.2 g saturated fat, 3.5 mg cholesterol, 8 g carbohydrates, 1 g protein, 5 mg sodium, 0.4 g fiber
Watercress salad with pears and creamy goat cheese dressing
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Resting time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
“This salad is a happy blend of tastes and textures,” according to Leslie Revsin in “Sensational Home Cooking in 3 Easy Steps.” We adapted Revsin’s recipe by using 2 tablespoons hazelnut oil in place of the original extra-virgin olive oil she suggested.
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons log-style goat cheese
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons hazelnut oil
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Salt, freshly ground pepper
1 ripe pear
1 bunch fresh watercress (about 4 cups)
1. Puree 1/4 cup of the goat cheese, milk, hazelnut oil and lemon juice in a blender until smooth, about 1 minute. Season with salt and freshly ground pep-per; set aside.
2. Cut pear in half; core. Thinly slice lengthwise. Arrange slices fanned out on four plates.
3. Trim lower third of watercress stems. Toss watercress with 1/4 cup of the dressing to lightly coat. Mound next to pears. Drizzle remaining dressing over salads. Crumble remaining cheese over tops. Grind pepper to taste over salad.
Nutrition information:
135 calories, 66% of calories from fat, 10 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 8 mg cholesterol, 8 g carbohydrates, 4 g protein, 74 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
Bulgur and walnut pilaf
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Resting time: 10 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
“Bulgur and walnuts go together like ducks and water, tomatoes and basil, rhubarb and strawberries, love and marriage, and more,” writes Victoria Jenanyan Wise in “The Armenian Table.” We used walnut oil instead of butter to further emphasize the pairing.
2 tablespoons walnut oil
1/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped yellow or white onion
1 cup medium or coarse bulgur
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or water
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the walnuts and onion; cook, stirring, until the walnuts are light golden, 3 minutes. Stir in the bulgur. Decrease the heat to medium; cook until the bulgur is lightly toasted, 2 minutes.
2. Stir in broth and salt; heat to a boil. Decrease the heat to low; cover. Simmer until the liquid is mostly evaporated, 25-30 minutes. Remove from the heat; let sit until fluffy and no longer moist, 10 minutes. Serve warm.
Nutrition information:
178 calories, 44% of calories from fat, 9 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 20 g carbohydrates, 6 g protein, 416 mg sodium, 5 g fiber
