Cooking Oils Declassified Are You Using Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Wrong?
Not all cooking oils are created equal. Some cooking oils have distinct flavors, while others are suited for high temperatures. Every oil is unique. Here are six common oils and their best uses. EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL An often misused oil, extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) should not be used for cooking or frying. It’s simply too delicate and cannot withstand high temperatures, which can damage the flavor, ruining dishes. Instead, use it as a finishing oil — drizzle it over pasta, salad, or bread. OLIVE OIL Unlike EVOO, standard olive oil can be used for cooking and frying. It can withstand temps up to about 460 degrees. In many cases, you can use it in place of other cooking oils — just be sure you’re using plain olive oil and not EVOO.
COCONUT OIL Better for baking than cooking,
coconut oil is generally solid at room temperature. It can be used for some cooking, but like EVOO it doesn’t play well with high temperatures. Keep it at 350 degrees or below and use it as a butter substitute. CANOLA OIL/VEGETABLE OIL A good option for high-heat cooking, baking, and frying, these utilitarian oils are completely neutral in flavor, but they’re not heart-healthy. Vegetable oil is a generic mix of oils, including soybean, canola (rapeseed), and palm oils, making it the most inexpensive cooking oil. PEANUT OIL Great for high-heat cooking, frying, and deep-frying, peanut oil has a neutral flavor, so you can easily use it in just
about any dish that needs a cooking oil. It’s also a more heart-healthy option than canola and vegetable oils. AVOCADO OIL When you need an oil to withstand high temps, this is your oil. It has a smoke point of 510 degrees, making it perfect for grilling and stir-frying. What makes avocado oil particularly unique is it can also be used as a finishing oil, like EVOO. It’s light yet resilient.
MORE TO THE STORY Suing the Phone Company over a DUI
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan made a speech for the American Tort Reform Association in which he gave an example of how the tort system was out of control: “In California, a man was using a public telephone booth to place a call. An alleged drunk driver careened down the street, lost control of her car, and crashed into the phone booth. Now, it’s no surprise that the injured man sued. But you might be startled to hear whom he sued: the telephone company and associated firms.” This sounds ridiculous, but much like the infamous McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit we covered last month, there’s a lot more to the story. The phone booth accident, which took place in 1974, resulted in the injured man, Charles Bigbee, losing his leg. At the time, Bigbee worked as a janitor, and his severe injury meant he was out of a job. Bigbee did sue the driver who hit him and the bar that served her, but strangely enough, the police failed to give the driver a blood alcohol test at the scene of the accident. Where does the phone company come in? To start, Bigbee was in one of three phone booths lined up next to a dangerous intersection. The people in the other two phone booths and the man waiting to use the booth Bigbee was in all managed to escape before the collision. But witnesses reported that the door of Bigbee’s booth had
stuck, and Bigbee had been trapped inside. This defect was likely the result of a previous accident. Less than two years earlier, that same phone booth was struck by another driver and was poorly repaired. Despite knowledge of the previous accident, the phone company failed to put safety measures in place.
Over a decade after the accident, Bigbee’s case reached the California
Supreme Court, where the phone company finally agreed to settle for an undisclosed (but reportedly large) sum. After hearing President Reagan’s speech, Bigbee went to Washington, D.C., to set the record straight, stating, “I think it is very unfair that the President would distort the story so they can justify limiting the truth or tell half the story … of people who have been injured like myself.” Though phone booths are a thing of the past, the act of reframing serious accidents to make a lawsuit seem unnecessary is still painfully common. The truth is, when negligence leaves someone hurt, no lawsuit is frivolous.
2 www.blocklaw.com
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