Types of Cooking Oil and Which One for Which Use

The oil shelf now holds ten bottles, each claiming to be the healthiest. The right choice is not a slogan — it is one simple number called the smoke point, and after that, taste and price.

Smoke point: the first criterion

The smoke point is the temperature at which an oil begins to break down and smoke.

At that point three bad things happen: the taste turns bitter and acrid, the vitamins are lost, and harmful compounds such as acrolein form.

The rule: choose an oil whose smoke point is above the cooking temperature you will use.

Smoke point table

• Refined avocado oil: 270°C — the highest.
• Palm oil: 235.
• Refined sunflower oil: 230.
• Corn oil: 230.
• Peanut oil: 230.
• Refined (light) olive oil: 215.
• Ghee: 250 — far higher than butter.
• Refined coconut oil: 200.
• Extra virgin olive oil: 190.
• Butter: 150 — it burns quickly.
• Unrefined sesame oil: 175.

Refined versus virgin

This explains why the same oil has two different numbers.

Virgin oil is cold-pressed with no processing — it carries solids and plant compounds and a strong flavour, and its smoke point is lower because those solids burn.

Refined oil has been filtered and processed — neutral in taste with a higher smoke point, but it has lost some of its antioxidants.

The conclusion: virgin for flavour and benefit uncooked, refined for high heat.

Which oil for which use

• Deep frying: sunflower, corn or palm — cheap and stable.
• Shallow frying and sautéing: any vegetable oil, or refined olive oil.
• Salads and finishing: extra virgin olive oil.
• Baking: a neutral oil (sunflower) or butter depending on the recipe.
• Asian cooking: toasted sesame oil — in small amounts and at the end.
• Traditional Egyptian cooking: ghee — a high smoke point and a distinctive flavour.
• Grilling: a neutral oil on the meat itself, not on the grate.

Olive oil: myth and reality

There is a widespread belief that cooking with extra virgin olive oil is 'harmful'. That is overstated.

Extra virgin olive oil is relatively stable thanks to its antioxidants, and works perfectly well for shallow frying, sautéing and the oven up to 180°C.

What makes no sense is deep frying with it — its smoke point is below what is needed, and its price makes it wasteful.

And its strong flavour also masks many others — so it is not suited to everything.

Ghee

Ghee is butter with the water, protein and lactose removed.

That gives it a high smoke point (250), a long shelf life without refrigeration, and a distinctive nutty flavour.

And it is practically lactose-free — so it suits most people with a dairy intolerance.

It is a saturated fat, so moderation applies — but it is unquestionably the right choice for traditional Egyptian cooking.

Coconut oil: an honest assessment

Widely sold as a 'superfood', and the reality is calmer than the advertising.

It is 90% saturated fat — higher than butter itself, and it raises LDL cholesterol like any other.

Its sensible use: in Asian food, curries and desserts where its flavour adds something — not as a general daily substitute.

The refined kind is neutral in taste with a higher smoke point; the virgin kind has a strong aroma.

Oils to avoid in heat

• Flaxseed oil: smoke point 107°C — for salads only, and it must be refrigerated.
• Walnut oil: 160 — for finishing.
• Toasted sesame oil: for flavour at the end, not for cooking.

Storing oil

Oil has three enemies: light, heat and air — and all three cause rancidity.

• A dark bottle or metal — not clear plastic.
• Away from the stove — the commonest mistake in kitchens.
• Tightly closed after every use.
• Buy a size you will use within 3 months.

The smell of rancidity is like wax or old paint — at that point the oil is thrown away, not used for frying.

Reusing frying oil

Three times at most, if it is strained while warm and stored sealed in a dark place.

Throw it out immediately if: the colour has darkened considerably, it has turned viscous, it smokes at a lower temperature than before, it foams oddly, or its smell has changed.

And never mix used oil with fresh — the fresh becomes contaminated with the degraded compounds.

A note on omega-6

Vegetable oils (sunflower, corn, soy) are rich in omega-6.

It is an essential fatty acid we genuinely need, but the modern diet contains far too much of it relative to omega-3.

The practical answer is not to eliminate those oils — it is to increase omega-3 from oily fish, walnuts and flaxseed, and to vary your oils rather than relying on one.

Summary

Smoke point is the criterion: above 200 for deep frying, extra virgin olive oil for salads and moderate heat, and ghee for Egyptian cooking. And vary your oils rather than relying on one.