Ever tried making flavored cooking oils at home?

[kenny]

There are many kinds of cooking oil.
He doesn't say which he's using, though I'd assume it's one with high smoking temp.

Which oil would you guess he's using?

 

[Skyjems]

I've recently been turned onto safflower oil (not sunflower oil)

It has a super high smoke point and allows you to sear things at 450f+++ which gives you that instant caramelization on veggies when doing a stir fry or a beautiful sear on meats before going into the pot/oven.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I would love to try
Years ago my freind gave me a set of 3 she just wasn't using
I still think about the rosemary one
i think it was just olive oil

 

[dk168]

Peanut as in groundnut or arachis oil was the oil of choice used by my dad and the cooks, and is the preferred oil in oriental cooking as far as I am aware.

It fell out of favour due to issues with nut allergies. I used to use it at home for general cooking oil and switched to corn oil some years ago for this reason, as I am feeder and like to cook and give food away to friends etc...

Therefore, my guess would be either groundnut or corn oil as his base oil.

Another flavoured oil to make at home, and it is very easy, is to finely chopped spring onions/scallions and ginger, add lots of fine sea salt, and some freshly ground pepper. Heat the oil until it is smoking hot, then pop over the ginger/spring onion mix and stir well.

This oil/dip is very common in HK, e.g. with poached chicken, or stirred into noodles and eaten hot as well as cold, or used to make fried rice. Very versatile, and keeps well in a jar in the fridge.

@Dancing Fire what do you think?

DK

 

[dk168]

I would love to try
Years ago my freind gave me a set of 3 she just wasn't using
I still think about the rosemary one
i think it was just olive oil

I mince sun-dried tomato with fresh garlic, then mix with dried parsley, and freshly ground black pepper, put the lot into a jar and then topped with light olive oil.

After a week or so or longer, the oil will be full of tomatoey flavour, yum!

I like to keep a jar in the fridge as it is great as a cooking ingredient, and it makes a quick and easy sauce with pasta such as spaghetti or linguine with added chopped parsley and grated Parmesan.

DK

P.S. it is really not a good idea for me to talk/think about food when I am about to go to bed, as I am hungry now and need a snack, as I cannot sleep with a rumbling stomach!!!

 

[Elizabeth35]

My guess would be peanut oil--high burn point and common in Chinese cooking.

 

[kenny]

Thanks all.

When in comes to cooking oil I care about 3 things:
Healthiness
Smoke temp
Cost

That means comparing 3 charts because I prefer to settle on one oil that ranks high on all 3 charts.

So far i think Canola is the best compromize, and Costco sells 1.5 gallons cheap in two 3-qt jugs.

But I'm still in the research mode.

 

[Big Fat Facets]

Ive made infused oils like garlic oil, hot pepper oil, rosemary oil and ginger and spring onion oil for dressing a dish but not to high heat cook with.

 

[dk168]

BTW, I would never advise sticking a finger in oil while it is being heated up to test the temperature, as seen in the video!

DK

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

I try and stick to butter, ghee, olive oil (not EVOO for cooking though), coconut oil or high-oleic safflower oil.
I assume the oil they use there is either peanut oil (popular in Asian cooking) or a general neutral cooking oil.