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Fat is one of the most important ingredients in cooking, and it’s one of the few things, along with salt, that you’ll use nearly every time you cook.
Fats serve a few essential roles in cooking. The first is flavor— different types of fat each have their own flavor, and they also amplify and carry other flavors. For example, if you saute some garlic in olive oil and then add that to a pasta, the flavor of the garlic will infuse into the oil and carry that throughout the dish.
Fats also contribute a lot to texture. They help us get crispy textures in fried foods, browning and crust on seared meats, creaminess in sauces, and they prevent foods from drying out and help to retain moisture.
Finally, fats serve as heat conductors. They form a layer that acts as a barrier between your food and the cookware that you’re using. This helps to distribute heat evenly, develop certain textures and flavors, and prevent sticking.
Different fats taste and perform differently. The key to using fats properly is simply knowing which ones to use at which times. There are two core considerations here:
In this lesson I’ll cover which fats work best with different techniques and heat levels, as well as which fats work best with different flavor profiles. I’ll talk about how to select the right oils, give an overview of the ones I use most often, and provide some brand recommendations.
Let’s dive in.
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Recently, especially in the health world, there’s been a big push away from industrial seed oils (also known as vegetable oils). It’s outside the scope of this lesson to explain why they’re so bad for your health, but Jeff Nobbs does a good job of explaining why in this blog post.
The vast majority of food that’s cooked today, especially in restaurants, is cooked in industrial seed oils. These oils aren’t meant for human consumption— they were originally manufactured as industrial lubricants and later pawned off onto consumers because they’re so cheap to make. That’s why, in my opinion, it’s even more important than ever to seek out and use high quality, real oils at home. I avoid industrial seed oils because I care about my health, but I also avoid them because, as a chef, I think they’re inferior for cooking.
You’ll often find that modern recipes call for a “neutral” oil, meaning an oil that doesn’t itself impart any flavor. In most cases, they’re referring to vegetable oils like canola, sunflower, or grapeseed oil. I personally don’t believe in the concept of neutral oils in cooking, since neutral oils don’t actually occur in nature. All naturally occurring fats have existing flavors, and that’s a good thing! Neutral vegetable oils, on the other hand, are a modern invention. They’re really only possible with industrial processes that bleach and deodorize the oil. The vast majority of cooking that’s been done throughout history has been done with naturally occurring oils that have flavor. This is a beautiful thing, and you can leverage this to your advantage.
The idea that fat should be a flavorless component of food is silly. Fat is a major category and should be a core consideration as you plan out a dish. You should seek out the right oil for what you’re cooking and incorporate its flavor into the dish. Occasionally you may want to highlight other flavors more, and there are options for that. But you shouldn’t be scared of the natural flavors in oils! The only “neutral” oil I sometimes use is refined avocado oil, which is minimally processed if sourced well. But I still prefer other oils for 95% of my cooking.
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The first consideration when you’re deciding which oil to use is heat level. Certain oils stand up better to heat and are thus more suited to certain high-heat cooking techniques like searing, pan frying, and deep frying.