sunny@sun.uucp (Sunny Kirsten) (11/09/84)
> One thing *not* to do is use olive oil to season pans, woks, etc. > Peanut oil is much safer. If you do use olive oil, have a > halon dispenser handy. Olive oil has one of the lowest "burning" temperatures, while peanut and safflower oil have higher boiling points. Peanut oil tends to carry a heavy peanut flavor into your cooking, which is fine for chinese stir-fry, but safflower is lighter in flavor for more delicate fried dishes. Olive and sesame oil are more valued for their flavor, sesame oil being used more for it's flavorful seasoning than for it's oil-ish properties. Sesame oil tends to go rancid in a hurry unless sealed and refrigerated. Air is enemy to storage of any oil. There's no substitute for a good flavored virgin olive oil for salad dressings, peanut oil is pretty essential for deep frying. And then there's *hot* oil... -- mail ucbvax\!sun\!sunny decvax\!sun\!sunny ihnp4\!sun\!sunny<<EOF EOF
nemo@rochester.UUCP (Wolfe) (11/13/84)
> ... And then there's *hot* oil...
I had great success making my own home brew hot oil, from both dried and
fresh peppers. For dried peppers (obtained from a local oriental food
store at a very reasonable price), I just put them in vegetable oil, and
let them soak for a couple of months. It was not very hot at first, but
now it really cooks! I also bought an "ornamental" pepper, described as
inedible, but I'm not dead so I guess they were refering to how blisteringly
hot the fruit is, and have used fresh hot peppers from it. They beg to
be heated up, either by tossing in the oil of a stir-fry about 30 sec before
the other ingredients or by slight roasting. For the hot oil, I cooked them
slowly for about 5 min. then saved the oil with the peppers still in it.
Be sure you use low heat so the oil doesn't break down, and beware of the
rather intense fumes which may be produced when you heat the peppers --
you know they're ready when you can't go near them anymore.
Nemo