Home: Oils to Deep Fry With

There are many fats and oils with which to deep fry with. The three attributes to bare in mind for a fat/oil are it's flavour, health risks/benefits and it's smoke point.

For flavour alot of people swear by frying in fats such as beef dripping or lard. Especially for recipes such as British Fish and Chips. Of course this favouring may be be desirable for Southern Fried Chicken. Sunflower oil, for example, is noted for it's clean taste, and is one of the most flavourless oils with which to fry with.

Then we have the health risk and benefits. Many take away restaurants began frying in oils such as sunflower, instead of fats, due to it's low saturated fat content, which aids cardiovascular health.

The smoke point is an important specification of an oil. It's the heat at which an oil/ fat will begin to smoke at. This is important to know, because beyond the smoke point oil can begin to catch fire and explode. It will, of course, ruin the flavour of the food being cooked, if the oil reaches it's smoke point.

Below is a list of smoking points from wikipedia.

Butter : Three hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit
Refined Canola oil : Four hunred and seventy degrees Fahrenheit
Refined Corn oil : Four hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit
Grapeseed oil: Four hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit
Lard : Three hundred and seventy degrees Fahrenheit
Refined Peanut oil : Four hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit
Semirefined Sesame oil : Four hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit
Refined Soybean oil : Four hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit
Refined Sunflower oil : Four hundred and thirty two degrees Fahrenheit