FXjohn

What kind and how much do you use?

I have been using peanut, olive and sesame.

I noticed "wok oil" is cottonseed oil.

DannoXYZ 

I like peanut oil the best. I can heat it up the most without it burning...

barba

peanut

cooker

sesame oil is often used in Chinese stir-fry.

mx_599

crisco

FXjohn

nope, not for me, thanks.

skinny

Olive oil that has been filtered, extra light olive oil, has a higher smoke point than peanut oil, but the best way to determine if the oil is hot enough is to put a small piece of garlic or onion in the oil when the oil is cold to watch and see when it starts to fry; then it is hot enough to add the rest of your stir fry in. Don't let oil get to the smoke point. It is already starting to degrade at that temperature.

shutterbiker

try macadamia nut oil. it's supposed to be just as good for you as olive oil, but has a
higher smoke point. i have used peanut oil also-it is used alot in chinese cooking.

steve

Guest

A recent study someone emailed me out of San Francisco said that prostate cancer growth in vitro was twice as fast when oils high in Omega 6 fatty acids were added to the mix. For men, I would say to avoid stuff like corn, canola, and vegetable oils and look towards olive and flaxseed oils and other oils high in Omega 3 fatty acids.

Disturbing stuff. My dad has prostate cancer, and it's suddenly skyrocketed, so we've moved him into foods high in Omega 3 fatty acids and completely weaned out foods with Omega 6 fatty acids.

Koffee

Garfield Cat

The Flax Council of Canada has a pamphlet on flaxseed. According to their information the fat composition of flaxeed oil are as follows: Polyunsaturated fats 73% of which 57% is Omega-3 and 16% is Omega-6; saturated fats 9%; monosaturated fats 18%.

srrs

i use a mix of sesame oil and hot chili oil, which has soybean oil in it. if i need more, i use peanut.

i tend, though, to use oil primarily for flavor. if you use nonstick cookware, you need very little oil.

AnthonyG

Well the most traditional fats used for Wok cooking was lard, palm oil or peanut oil. Now your probably not going to go for the lard given its bad publicity even though lard is classified as a mono-unsaturated fat just like olive oil. Palm oil is also highly saturated which makes it a good choice for high heat. If you prepared for the expense then virgin coconut oil is what I would reccomend although it doesn't have a strong taste of anything so I would add a little seasame oil for flavor.

Cottonseed oil and soy oil are the worst options. Cotton is classified as a non-food crop so more pesticides can be used on it than on "food" crops but then pesticides concentrate in the seeds and we use that for "food". Real cleaver! Don't start me on Soy.

While I'm all for omega-3 fatty acids they don't make for good cooking oils. Unrefined coconut oil is the healthiest option being the most heat tolerent but peanut oil with seasame oil for flavor isn't the worst option out there.

Regards, Anthony

Garfield Cat

Stir fry is most associated with Chinese cooking. Depending on what is to be cooked, the wok is fired up to a certain temperature. While the cooking oil has a taste, its the food and seasoning that ultimately decide the taste.

FXjohn

If you're doing a meatless stir fry, it can't just be done "dry" can it?

FXjohn

Not a fan of tofu?

jbonus

I second the grapeseed oil.

Stubacca

Macadamia Nut oil is fantastic. Harder to come by over here, but back in Australia I used to cook with it all the time. These days I use peanut oil for asian cooking (sometimes with a splash of dark sesame oil for flavour), and olive oil for most other cooking.

As to the 'how much do you use' question... I use a carbon-steel wok. If I heat it to a good high heat, it only needs a tablespoon or less for each new batch. For stir-fry for two, I'd brown the meat in the first batch then remove it, then add a bit more oil for the aromatics (onions, garlic, ginger, chillies, spices) and build the stir-fry from there. If it's stir-fry for four, then two batches of meat (wok loses too much surface temperature too quickly if it's all added together, so the meat would stew instead of fry).

AnthonyG

Tofu is OK in moderation because its a traditional preperation method. Soy oil, TVP and soy protein isolate are a different story. Nasty stuff.

The other traditional preperation methods are fermented soy sauce, miso, nato and tempeh. Its the modern western preperation methods that you have to look out for based as they are on ignorance and foolish pride. Tradition has a lot to teach us but even the traditionaly prepared asian products should be consumed in moderation due to their estrogenic properties.

Regards, Anthony

TheAnalogKid

I'll use sesame out of taste.

mcoine

grapeseed is a good high temp oil and healthy. Olive oil won't stand up to the heat.

Roody

Cold pressed peanut oil tastes the best IMO. Andrew Weil says peanut oil is unhealthy. For everyday use I would go to canola, expeller pressed. But it doesn't taste as good as peanut oil.

I think it's healthier to use olive oil and a lower temperature saute, but you sacrifice the oriental wokked flavor and get a more mediterranean flavor. Do you think you would like that?

Oriental flavors: peanut oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, chilis, toasted sesame oil.

Mediteranean flavors: olive oil, wine, tomatoes, basil, garlic.

Pedal Wench

chili sesame oil

FXjohn

Seems like there should be a consensus on whether peanut oil is healthy, or not...

AnthonyG

Well quality is everything so simply talking about a type of oil say's nothing. I wouldn't honestly say that peanut oil is that healthy, just a little better than most of the other easy options out there and I would deffinitely use cold pressed oil over refined oil anyday.

If you wan't a trully healthy oil use virgin/unrefined coconut oil.

Here's a reference. The WAPF puts seasame oil in the preffered list and doesn't actualy mention peanut oil in the intro which I will assume means indifference. Again WAPF considers quality to be very important. https://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html

Regards, Anthony

patc

Actually it can, I do stri-fry for dinner a few night a week. Use a non-stick wok or deep frying pan. If its been through a dishwasher, run a few drops of oil in it with a paper towel to condition the surface (most instructions with non-stick cookware tell you to do this anyway). During your stir-frying, add small amounts of water and put a lid over the wok for short periods of time - how much water depends on you veggie mix, some release enough moisture on their own. Stir a lot.

If you just quickly hand-wash your wok, no need to oil the surface at all.