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Comment by darth_avocado | Hacker News Reader

Okay. I bite. What’s the alternative though? Even if I don’t eat fried chicken every day, I still need to cook with something. 0 fat cooking is very tough unless you go on a raw diet. What are the options? Olive oil? Animal fats?

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Both those. And butter, avocado oil, coconut oil and numerous other more niche

Avocado oil is about 15x as expensive as vegetable oil. Other oils (including animal fats) have too strong a taste to be used in applications where a neutral oil is required (e.g. salad dressings, emulsions).

Other than deep frying, there is nothing that doesn't benefit from the application of olive oil.

But be aware that not all olive oil is actually olive oil. Particularly not if it is from Italy.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarod...

I specifically buy California olive oil because external attempts to verify (eg genetic assays) have found it actually is what it says it is.

I would love a recommendation on quality, reasonably price california olive oil (that ships) if anyone has one.

For a long time, I was able to get California Olive Ranch (which was generically fine), but that brand has switched to a blend from various countries.

Now I have to research it. I've just kept buying that brand and will need to switch now that you pointed it out.

They have both california sourced oil and a blend of international oils, I think the blend came out when they were having supply issues. They state it plainly on the label.

I fry falafels in it so good there too. Would say anything but Asian food due to the taste.

Unless you're deep frying everything, which arguably unhealthy regardless of chosen fat, it's hard to believe avocado oil is a significant component to meal cost. I just pan fried some vegetables, and I may have spent 5c on oil?

> Unless you're deep frying everything, which arguably unhealthy regardless of chosen fat

Why would it be unhealthy if the fat used is not unhealthy?

I'm with you. Even using the most expensive Avocado I could find at the Whole Foods in the smallest container I'd still only be spending $0.30 on a tablespoon, which is enough to cook a meal for 1-4 people in a cast iron pan. Doing this makes me feel a lot better than having to worry about the temperature of a teflon-coated pan.

Avocado oil has a very high smoke point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Smoke_point_of_cookin...

For cooking, non-virgin coconut oil is cheap and flavourless. The expensive virgin stuff is flavourful and nice on toast but not good for cooking.

In the uk I often find non-virgin coconut oil hidden in the Caribbean section of a big supermarket.

Be aware that almost all US Olive/Avocado Oil is adulterated with other seed oils. Estimates are 75%+

75% is not almost all…plenty of local Californian higher end brands that I find difficult to believe is half soybean oil. Just don’t buy the cheap private label stuff.

Semantics, I guess -- If you pick one at random, you've got a 15-25% chance of it being pure avocado/olive oil. Sure, you can get real stuff if you know what you are looking for.

This program tries to help consumers figure out what to buy: https://www.aboutoliveoil.org/64-certified-pure-and-authenti...

Olive oil makes everything you cook in it taste of olive oil, which you might not want.

Sunflower oil doesn't do that, and is healthier.

And also the often forgotten Camellia oil that would play in the same top quality league as the olive oil. Extracted from the tea plant and mostly unknown out of Asian kitchens, probably.

Stews and soups offer endless variation. Veggies, spices, meat, eggs.

You can get fats from whole foods like nuts and seeds. For instance, hummus is made with tahini.

In the immortal words of Chef John: "no one ever got fat from eating olive oil"

Tallow. Lard. Duck fat. Butter.

Lard is wonderful for cooking, makes everything taste better.

Ghee is a good option.

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