In Defense of Cheap Plain Old Vegetable Oil
Vegetable oil and rapeseed oil are not sexy. They are both incredibly cheap, tasteless, and come in large plastic bottles. Unlike an expensive glass bottle of olive oil or a tiny canister of pistachio oil with an idyllic label, neither vegetables nor rapeseed is something you don’t leave on the counter for guests to watch.
But even if they are not sexy, they are very useful. Lack of taste is not a mistake, but a feature. This is the oil you strive for when you want food to taste the way it is. Both truly neutral people in the look-up table, they will not distract attention by seasoning (or burning) your food. Think about it: would you prefer your perfectly seared steak to resemble meat or bitter, overheated olive oil?
Differences between canola oil and vegetable oil
Although the two oils are nearly identical in functionality, there are several differences between the two. Canola oil is obtained from rapeseed and has a smoke point of 400 ℉. Most of the vegetable oil (about 85%) is extracted from soybeans, although corn oil, palm oil, and canola oil are often used in the blend. Vegetable oil also has a smoking point of around 400 ℉, although this may vary slightly depending on the mixture. Both are practically tasteless – dip a slice of bread in each and see if you can tell the difference between the two.
Unlike the more aromatic and expensive oils that are usually extracted mechanically, vegetable and canola oils are often chemically extracted, usually using hexane as a solvent. The hexane dissolves the oil, the plant solids are filtered off, and the oil-hexane mixture is heated to remove the hexane. Volatile aromatics also evaporate with the solvent, leaving nothing but an odorless oil. This is a cheap and efficient process that produces a cheap and effective oil.
Both can also be subjected to “expeller pressing,” a process that uses friction and pressure rather than solvents to mechanically extract oil. (I never bothered about the hexane in my oil, mainly because I have done a fair amount of chemical extractions in various laboratories and know that only traces, minor amounts of solvent, if any , remain .) Some manufacturers claim the results of pressing the expeller. in butter with a different, more “natural flavor”, but taste tests conducted by the American Test Kitchen did not confirm this.
How to use vegetable oil?
If you are looking for an oil that adds greasiness rather than aroma, any of these oils will work. They’re both great for frying, searing, and stewing, but I’m also a fan of using them in vinaigrette , especially if I want the acidity to shine especially brightly. If you want a little character from olive oil or something, but not too much, you can always chop the more flavorful with canola or vegetable oil to wind it up a bit.
What about all those fancy “neutral” oils?
Peanut butter, corn oil, and rice bran oil are popular with many food lovers, and for good reason. All three have a very high smoke point of 450 ℉, but they do not taste as neutral as canola or vegetable oil and, with the exception of corn oil, are usually more expensive.
Refined peanut butter has a distant peanut flavor, corn oil has a pleasant, almost buttery flavor, and rice bran is slightly nutty. If you are not particularly averse to any of these flavors or are not allergic to peanuts, all three can be used in place of vegetable oil or canola oil, especially when frying at high temperatures. Grapeseed oil is another true neutral high smoke point oil, but again, it is more expensive than canola or vegetable oil.
I could spend all day listing the oils, their various smoke points and flavors, but as with most things, your choice of oil is down to personal preference. I love my fries cooked in peanut butter or duck fat from time to time, but there is something pure and iconic about fries that taste like crispy salted potatoes. Pepper or fruity olive oil is great for raw or fried vegetables, but it is less effective as a frying fat, especially if you want to focus on the fried vegetables .
Vegetable and canola oils give you access to these pure, unadulterated flavors, and they do it cheaply. In addition to being cheap on their own, having one oil or the other on hand means you can save your more expensive scented oils for those moments when they really appreciate. Let yourself use these cheap oils, that’s what I’m talking about. Speaking of something cheap, sometimes a cheap thing is just what you need.