Why we cook food in oil
video description
1) (just like you say) it forms a layer between the food and the pan, which helps provide a more consistent temperature across the food surface
2) Oil doesn't burn off (like water does) so it stays throughout the cooking process, providing more consistent temperature throughout the whole duration of cooking
3) Oil is fatty, which of course helps with flavor, but it also helps add that color that doesn't come with cooking straight protein or carbohydrates
4) The properties from #1 help to prevent the food from sticking to the pan, when they stick they create hot spots that make food cook unevenly (as you demonstrated)
Date: 2021-10-26
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Comments and reviews: 9
Dicky
No, because I mainly use oil to season my pans. Most foods calling for oil and be baked without it, as this the primary reason it's used in non-caste iron pans. About to watch this, but there's certain breads and dishes where the oil is there for consistency of product, flavoring, and some times to prevent yogurt from. forgot the word for this, but basically it causes clumping in some flat breads if a fat isn't added. I haven't cooked with oil at all this month because I ran out last month and was too lazy to. I often use it in my morning noodles with ham, nori and egg, because there's no oil them. It creates a barrier so that the flavor can't escape while the dish is sitting there as I eat. Clicking play again now as I'm just waking up and there's a whole host of reasons a person would, wouldn't, and play old has to use it. Problem is as I already said, a lot of food doesn't require it. Most beef cuts have a lot of oil in the cooking process anyway, so there's no need to add any if cooking mostly with beef.
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No, because I mainly use oil to season my pans. Most foods calling for oil and be baked without it, as this the primary reason it's used in non-caste iron pans. About to watch this, but there's certain breads and dishes where the oil is there for consistency of product, flavoring, and some times to prevent yogurt from. forgot the word for this, but basically it causes clumping in some flat breads if a fat isn't added. I haven't cooked with oil at all this month because I ran out last month and was too lazy to. I often use it in my morning noodles with ham, nori and egg, because there's no oil them. It creates a barrier so that the flavor can't escape while the dish is sitting there as I eat. Clicking play again now as I'm just waking up and there's a whole host of reasons a person would, wouldn't, and play old has to use it. Problem is as I already said, a lot of food doesn't require it. Most beef cuts have a lot of oil in the cooking process anyway, so there's no need to add any if cooking mostly with beef.
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SingerOfSongs
My guess is that oil stops meat from sticking to the pan because it interferes with the metal-protein complex forming. Here s my best educated guess, though take this with a grain of salt as I am not a food scientist and have not (yet) read any research on the subject:
Oil molecules are polar, aka partially charged. Proteins are long chains of amino acids, some of which are polar, others of which are nonpolar. Because meat cells are a watery environment, the proteins are folded in such a way that the polar amino acids face outwards, which means they ll readily interact with the partially charged ends of the oil molecules. The oil would stick to the bottom surface of the meat because of these protein interactions, which forms a molecular barrier between the proteins and the pan, thus making it difficult to form a complex with the metal.
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My guess is that oil stops meat from sticking to the pan because it interferes with the metal-protein complex forming. Here s my best educated guess, though take this with a grain of salt as I am not a food scientist and have not (yet) read any research on the subject:
Oil molecules are polar, aka partially charged. Proteins are long chains of amino acids, some of which are polar, others of which are nonpolar. Because meat cells are a watery environment, the proteins are folded in such a way that the polar amino acids face outwards, which means they ll readily interact with the partially charged ends of the oil molecules. The oil would stick to the bottom surface of the meat because of these protein interactions, which forms a molecular barrier between the proteins and the pan, thus making it difficult to form a complex with the metal.
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ad_astroturf
Oil transmits heat at a higher temperature to the food than water. Natural water present in foods steams away, cooking the food faster, which is why you get things like burgers and fries shrinking after they cook. Cooking in water is slower because not only does the temp not climb higher than 100 C, it is in equilibrium with water in the food, allowing the water inside to remain inside and not turning into steam and cooking the food while leaving it.
The oven experiment was conclusive because the air inside is hot enough that it wraps around the foods cooking them from every side, while open faced pans use a different hot medium to wrap around the food to cook them from all sides, oil.
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Oil transmits heat at a higher temperature to the food than water. Natural water present in foods steams away, cooking the food faster, which is why you get things like burgers and fries shrinking after they cook. Cooking in water is slower because not only does the temp not climb higher than 100 C, it is in equilibrium with water in the food, allowing the water inside to remain inside and not turning into steam and cooking the food while leaving it.
The oven experiment was conclusive because the air inside is hot enough that it wraps around the foods cooking them from every side, while open faced pans use a different hot medium to wrap around the food to cook them from all sides, oil.
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Dicky
The oil sold as oil today actually isn't good for the human body. There's a lot of studies on NIH/PubMED documenting this claim. Wouldn't really push back on anything else here as there's more to add than take away. Most of the beef sticking issues are because you're cooking beef off of cast iron with a bad technique. Can't fault anyone on this as this is normally passed down by families directly. You spend a lot more time granted, but you start by heating up the pan for at least 15 minutes, then add water to pull out the oil from the meat. This is more like slow cooking as it''s done on a lower heat. .I'm not typing this process out given he's not even going to read this.
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The oil sold as oil today actually isn't good for the human body. There's a lot of studies on NIH/PubMED documenting this claim. Wouldn't really push back on anything else here as there's more to add than take away. Most of the beef sticking issues are because you're cooking beef off of cast iron with a bad technique. Can't fault anyone on this as this is normally passed down by families directly. You spend a lot more time granted, but you start by heating up the pan for at least 15 minutes, then add water to pull out the oil from the meat. This is more like slow cooking as it''s done on a lower heat. .I'm not typing this process out given he's not even going to read this.
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jdjk7
Recently, when cooking sausage to put in pasta sauce, I had the idea of trying to cook the sausage in wine, basically just dumping wine in the pan and stirring it all around with the sausage. I put in small amounts at a time to prevent it from becoming a braise. Is all this really doing anything? When the alcohol boils, it is leaving much behind for flavor? I think it tastes just fine at the end, but I haven't yet conducted anything scientific side-by-side.
(I should say the reason I decided to try this this is my parents have an absolute shitload of really cheap wine. i've been using pinot grigio.
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Recently, when cooking sausage to put in pasta sauce, I had the idea of trying to cook the sausage in wine, basically just dumping wine in the pan and stirring it all around with the sausage. I put in small amounts at a time to prevent it from becoming a braise. Is all this really doing anything? When the alcohol boils, it is leaving much behind for flavor? I think it tastes just fine at the end, but I haven't yet conducted anything scientific side-by-side.
(I should say the reason I decided to try this this is my parents have an absolute shitload of really cheap wine. i've been using pinot grigio.
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Ryan
You mentioned oil and water as thermal interfaces or mediums of heat transfer, but air is as well. The cool times are obviously a function of heat transfer. With a less dense medium such as air, you have to circulate a greater volume to contact the food such as in an air fryer or convection oven. One issue with using air is that the moisture in your food, turns to steam and dissipates out of the food and is circulated away. With oil, some of the moisture seems to be encapsulated. I always lightly toss veggies in a bit of oil before roasting to prevent
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You mentioned oil and water as thermal interfaces or mediums of heat transfer, but air is as well. The cool times are obviously a function of heat transfer. With a less dense medium such as air, you have to circulate a greater volume to contact the food such as in an air fryer or convection oven. One issue with using air is that the moisture in your food, turns to steam and dissipates out of the food and is circulated away. With oil, some of the moisture seems to be encapsulated. I always lightly toss veggies in a bit of oil before roasting to prevent
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Johannes
i will use this as an opportunity to post my unpopular opinion here.
Broccoli and a bunch of other green vegetables are imo at their best when everyone else would call them overcooked. Crunchy and brown Broccoli just doesn't feel right to me, and i've tried it a bunch of times. I still like it the most when it's boiled to the point of being soft, and then just eaten with a bunch of butter on it or put in some kind of sauce. Cream sauce works really well. But i never understood why people like browned (or even fried) Broccoli.
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i will use this as an opportunity to post my unpopular opinion here.
Broccoli and a bunch of other green vegetables are imo at their best when everyone else would call them overcooked. Crunchy and brown Broccoli just doesn't feel right to me, and i've tried it a bunch of times. I still like it the most when it's boiled to the point of being soft, and then just eaten with a bunch of butter on it or put in some kind of sauce. Cream sauce works really well. But i never understood why people like browned (or even fried) Broccoli.
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PETARDAwNABIAL
NO, ITS NOT - oil is a thermal isolator, not conductor. Thats why animals grow fat - to keep warm. Oil requires higher temperature to boil, than water and doesnt evaporate til then - it allows for greater heating of the food and doesnt soak in, dilute it and turn it into paste
in baking, the thermal interface is the air. And its everywhere in the oven. The vegetables seem dry, cuz oil didnt form a barrier for the water and it evaporated
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NO, ITS NOT - oil is a thermal isolator, not conductor. Thats why animals grow fat - to keep warm. Oil requires higher temperature to boil, than water and doesnt evaporate til then - it allows for greater heating of the food and doesnt soak in, dilute it and turn it into paste
in baking, the thermal interface is the air. And its everywhere in the oven. The vegetables seem dry, cuz oil didnt form a barrier for the water and it evaporated
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moendopi
Just a guess on the oven-oil experiment, but I would think that an ambient, mostly homogenous indirect temp would took the food both slower and more evenly, allowing the meat the render fat more easily where as in the pan, you have high, direct heat cooking one side quickly, while the opposite side is getting effectively no heat.
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Just a guess on the oven-oil experiment, but I would think that an ambient, mostly homogenous indirect temp would took the food both slower and more evenly, allowing the meat the render fat more easily where as in the pan, you have high, direct heat cooking one side quickly, while the opposite side is getting effectively no heat.
reply
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