Pesach Oil Recommendations?

ayintova

Tue, Mar 29 2016, 10:18 am

I usually use cottonseed oil but I am looking for healthier alternatives this year. What is the best KLP oil for baking (brownies, cakes)? What oil to use for frying (schnitzel)? I see safflower, olive, pistachio, grapeseed, walnut and I'm confused! I have a few baking recipes that use margarine (made from cottonseed oil). Is it safe to substitute oil for the margarine?

Raisin

Tue, Mar 29 2016, 10:29 am

I use olive oil for cooking and sauteing and walnut oil for cakes and cookies. (make sure to warn guests in case of nut allergies)

walnut oil might be better for frying then olive oil.

Oil may or may not work as a substitute for margerine, depends on the recipe.

HonesttoGod

Tue, Mar 29 2016, 10:34 am

If you fry with walnut oil it goes very frothy and burns the food fast.
I cook with olive oil and bake with walnut oil.

ra_mom

Tue, Mar 29 2016, 12:52 pm

Extra light (NOT extra virgin) olive oil is very versatile and on Pesach I use it for baking, sautéeing, etc.

For margarine, sometimes you can just use 3/4 oil instead of the full margarine. Other times you do need the solid oil and I have heard that people have success freezing oil for 3 hours until solidified and then using.

For frying, safflower oil works well.

OOTBubby

Tue, Mar 29 2016, 2:55 pm

I agree with ra_mom (as I usually do) that safflower oil is good for frying. It is very neutral so you really can use it for everything, though as she said too, extra light OO can also be used for almost everything.

I love hazelnut oil for baking and used to use it exclusively for anything sweet (including ice creams, etc.) until a DGD developed a tree nut allergy. If you don't have nut allergies, try it -- it gives a wonderful flavor to everything.

Also nice is that now Safflower oil is available with a heimishe hechsher (I think by Lieber's). Prior to last year, that was not the case.

mandksima

Tue, Mar 29 2016, 3:45 pm

Spectrum brand unrefined virgin coconut oil is okay for Pesach without an additional hechsher according to this list kashrut.com

cbg

Tue, Mar 29 2016, 5:21 pm

I bought pure unrefined cold press coconut oil, organic extra virgin by Carrington Farms, at Costco. The bottle is huge. I don't remember how much I paid, but I do remember that it was a very good price, so good I called my LOR to ask if I can use on Pesach, and bought it back in February.
I plan to use this for sautéing and baking.

Amarante

Wed, Mar 30 2016, 11:17 am

Safflower oil has a neutral taste and the highest fry point so it's most versatile for cooking.

Olive oil has a lower fry point but it's excellent for sautéing schnitzel. Even light virgin OO does have a slight taste. I like the taste it gives when sautéing chicken or for salads etc. but it does have a taste.

Margarine and oil are not interchangeable for baking. This is for several reasons. First, when a recipe calls for creaming, part of the crumb and "rise" of the finished product depends on the sugar and butter/margerine creating air bubbles which helps. Also when placed in the oven, the margarine/butter has a period before it melts and liquefies. This also provides structure to the final product. There are cakes which are made with oil successfully - chiffon cake recipes are intentionally made with oil and produce a rich succulent result. Of course many Pesach recipes aren't traditional and use almond paste or coconut and produce a dense result.

ETA - The indiscriminate subbing of oil for solid fats (butter/shortening) in baked goods is the reason that many baked goods are mediocre - of course IMHO. LOL

Because baking is actually a series of chemical reactions the end product is greatly altered if ingredients producing different results are subbed. If a recipe calls for shortening (for example) butter can't be subbed because shortening has a higher melting point than butter. And of course, absolutely nothing compares with the taste of baked products made with butter unless they have a strong flavor on their own or are meant to be made with oil. There are some great Italian rustic cakes made with olive oil for example or chiffon cakes made with oil. Spice cookies don't need butter since the flavor is lost in the spices anyway.

Fat in excess of any kind isn't healthy. Margarine and shortening got a bad name because of hydrogenated fats but now there is both margarine and shortening which don't have hydrogenated fats and so they are quite different from a nutritional health standpoint from the older types of hydrogenated fats.

ayintova

Sat, Apr 02 2016, 9:51 pm

Thanks everyone for your replies. I will use safflower oil for the baking. The walnut oil was too crazy-expensive. Also picked up the Spectrum coconut and will sub for margarine.

amother

Seafoam

Sat, Apr 02 2016, 9:57 pm

Light olive oil
I use this all year round for all cooking and baking.

sourstix

Wed, Apr 13 2016, 1:18 pm

I didnt know that light oo is good for frying. oh well I will know this for next year. I paid 22$ a bottle for oil! I thought I was loosing it when dh came home with it. it was too late to return as he got it in ny and I live in nj.

is light oo cheaper then walnut? anyone knows?

cnc

Wed, Apr 13 2016, 1:28 pm

sourstix wrote:

Light olive oil is usually more expensive than walnut, but there were many specials on OO this year so the walnut came out more expensive.

sourstix

Wed, Apr 13 2016, 1:36 pm

oh well. was bashert. hotzoas yomtov.

greenfire

Wed, Apr 13 2016, 1:37 pm

also use olive oil for everything else but cakes I use the walnut oil ... the dxh was allergic to cottonseed and I found I got used to buying the walnut oil