cooking with olive oil or coconut oil?

[justanothagirl]

okay so i always thought that cooking with coconut oil was the safest way... so if i rub in chicken breasts with coconut oil, and put it in the oven at 220 degrees celsius... its already reached its smoking point of 177 degrees celsius according to this website http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article.php?id=50 and according to that same website it passing its smoking point makes it unhealthy

then olive oil for instance... its good to cook with right? but i was wondering, my sister told me a whole ago she read somewhere that cooking with extra virgin olive oil was a big no-no... so i automatically assumed it had something to do with hydrogenating it... then i read on this website that olive oil is a much much safer oil to cook with than say corn oil, so i do a little research on cooking with extra virgin olive oil, but i cant find a single thing specifically about cooking with the extra virgin type on google... so is it just as safe to cook with exrta virgin olive oil as the cheap one and was my sister just telling me bull**** (as always)?

is it safer to cook with olive oil than coconut oil at high temperatures because it has a higher smoking point?

thanks.. i will rep anyone whos being helpful

[djdefcon]

Im probably a bad person to be answering since I don't use either oil's to cook, I use the olive oil cooking spray.

But based on a health aspect, I would think that Olive Oil is healthier to cook with since olive oil is a source of healthy fat. I would never use vegtable oil or say canola oil. I never even thought of coconut oil and there are different opinions concerning coconut oil. Some say its bad because its loaded with un-healthy fats and some say its the new health oil (http://www.mercola.com/2001/mar/24/coconut_oil.htm), i dunno.

Based on the smoking point, yes, its better to cook with Olive Oil as opposed to vegtable or canola because you can cook at a higher temp without destorying the fat.

[garlichead]

Originally Posted by djdefcon

Based on the smoking point, yes, its better to cook with Olive Oil as opposed to vegtable or canola because you can cook at a higher temp without destorying the fat.

You have that the wrong way around.........sort of.........EVO has a low smoke point in general,but for most cooking applications the oil never gets hot enough to break down unless your cooking over extreme high heat.And if you are,then olive oil is not a good choice..... a rape seed or peanut oil would be better.

Keep in mind like everything there are different grades and designations for olive oils........from Extra Virgin Olive Oil to just Olive oil,acid content,smoking points and other than Extra virgin sovents are used to extract the oil,so if your going to use olive oil make sure it's extra virgin.

[justanothagirl]

Thank you... what do you mean with EVO? extra virgin oil? does that apply to both coconut and olive oil?
which temperatures are good for me to use them and at which temperatures should i switch to grapeseed/peanut butter oil?
thanks

[justanothagirl]

anybody? im so confused about coconut oil even more now after doing some research

okay which of the following is true:

1) coconut oil is a good oil to cook with because its low in unsaturated fats so wont get damaged
2) coconut oil is a bad oil to cook with because it has a low smoking point
3) coconut oil is a good oil to cook with because it has a high smoking point

anyone? please?

[psychojoe]

I usually dont add any oil for cooking, but when I roast veg I sometimes use olive oil, never had a problem. I should think olive or coconut are both ok dude

[justanothagirl]

thank you... so does anybody know the smoke point of coconut oil? on these websites:

http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/mod...ticle&sid=2385 and http://www.vastorange.com/articles/Smoke_point it says it's 230 degrees celsius but on numerous of other sites it says 167 degrees

big difference

so which one is it, i would really like to know at which temperatures i can cook with it

thanks

[Hercule]

Without a doubt coconut oil is better, its definately more stable at high temperature, at room temperature its solidm EVOO is most certainly not.

High temp (over 100C) = butter/lard/beef fat/coconut/

Low = olive oil,

No heat what so ever = extra virgin olive oil/fish oil/flax oil.

If your olive oil smokes throw it away and start again.

You CANNOT hydrogenate an oil without sophisticated apparatus and a hydrogenating agent. So this isn't going to happen.

What will happen is the fats will become denatured or polymerized.

[justanothagirl]

okay so coconut oil all the way if i decide to use it in the oven, what should be the maximum temperature? thanks