Usually, chefs choose a very small range of oils - the basic are cotton seed for frying, any vegetable oil for general purpose, olive oil for light cooking (some places would use this for salad dressing) and extra virgin olive for salads, or finishing an entrée or a main course with a drizzle around the plate.
Grapeseed oil is light green in color and prized by restaurant chefs for its high smoke point (420°)—but also for its clean, plays-well-with-others taste. It's often used in vinaigrettes because it's less expensive than EVOO and allows other ingredients (like specialty oils or herbs) to shine through.
Global culinary icon Gordon Ramsay is known for his fiery personality, his hard-fought Michelin stars and his deep and abiding love of olive oil. Nearly every Ramsay recipe, from his early days on Boiling Point to Uncharted and the current critic's darling, Scrambled starts with "just a drizzle" of his beloved EVOO.
With a mild, neutral flavor and a high smoke point, canola oil is ideal for various cooking methods such as frying, baking, and sautéing. Its versatility makes it a popular choice for both home cooks and professional chefs.
Canola oil has a higher ratio of monounsaturated fat to saturated fat, and free of trans fats, which is considered more heart healthy. While vegetable oil has 2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon, canola oil has only 1 gram. Vegetable oil tends to be the more cost-effective alternative of the two.
Oils: Oils are used in French cuisine for both cooking and in vinaigrettes. Unlike Italian cuisine, in which olive oil is the oil of choice, French cuisine often calls for flavorless oils, like peanut, vegetable or canola. Olive oil is generally reserved for Mediterranean-inspired dishes.
Due to its high smoke point, vegetable oil is the best oil for deep frying. Canola oil and peanut oil are other popular options. While vegetable oil, canola oil, and peanut oil are the most popular oils for deep frying, there are several other oil options you can choose: Grapeseed Oil.
Peanut oil has been a top choice with commercial kitchens for years. It has all the ideal traits: affordability, a high smoke point, and a neutral flavor. The price point rivals that of vegetable oil, which makes it an enticing option for restaurants looking to cut costs wherever possible.
Although Italians do eat butter, particularly in the north of the country, olive oil is the undisputed foundation of Italian cuisine.
Jamie Oliver wrote in his blog a very interesting blogspot on the benefits of frying with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and declared that it is not only the best frying oil but that, contrary to popular belief, it is good for the health. When the oil is heated at a very high temperature its chemical composition is altered.
Chinese wok cooking calls for oil that can withstand extremely high temperatures without burning or smoking. Usually, this would be peanut oil but lard is also common. Sesame oil is used primarily as a seasoning and is only added to the food after cooking due to it's low smoking temperature.
Oils with more monounsaturated fats, such as rapeseed and olive, are also less susceptible to heat. Rapeseed oil (often sold as generic vegetable oil) and inexpensive olive oil are therefore the best choices for cooking.
Chefs cook with extra virgin olive oil because it has a high smoke point, which can offer a higher heat temperature without smoking or burning. This makes it ideal for sauteing, frying, and even baking. Extra virgin olive oil also has a unique flavor that enhances the taste of food.
Italians cook pretty much everything with olive oil. We use it to cook, to fry, and to make cakes; we even make ice cream from it (have you tried it?
Deep frying
However, if you do need to deep fry your food, our long-standing advice is that oils like corn and sunflower oils are not recommended for high temperatures.
Soybean oil is a type of neutral-flavored vegetable oil, so it's a wonderful option for deep frying. Cook anything from breaded shrimp to traditional funnel cakes without adding any competing flavors.
In his latest cookbook, 5 Ingredients: Quick & Easy Food, Oliver recommends having five non-perishable flavour-boosters on hand at all times: olive oil (for cooking), extra virgin olive oil (for dressing), red-wine vinegar, sea salt and black pepper.
Olive oil has been a part of Italian cooking for ages. Italy is one of the largest producers of olive oil and also one of its largest consumers as well. Many Italian foods make the most of olive oil's benefits, taste, and aroma.
Refined peanut oil is the best oil to use for making french fries. You can also use canola or safflower oil. Additionally, restaurant fries are so crispy because, among other things, they use old oil continuously.
You can use vegetable oil when it calls for canola oil and vice versa. Although they have slightly different tastes, the result will be the same when you cook with either, whether you're frying, sautéing, baking, etc. If saturated fat is a concern, you may prefer to go with canola oil.
Canola oil is generally considered a “healthy” oil because it is very low in saturated fat (7%). Like olive oil it is high in monounsaturated fat (63%).
Vegetable oil tends to be considerably less expensive and is commonly used when a large quantity of oil is needed, such as when frying or making large batches of quick breads. It also tends to be more heat-stable than extra-virgin olive oil, so it's the oil of choice for high-heat cooking, such as in wok-cooking.