Cooking Oils

[ktothev]

Disclaimer: I am not currently on a Whole30 but am "prepping" for it. I started a mostly primal type diet a month ago and plan on doing my whole30 starting January 1.

 

While I love cooking and enjoy a lot of different types of flavors, since starting this process I have not really warmed up to either coconut oil or ghee for cooking (I love butter - go figure). I'm wondering if these are a kind of aquired taste and I just need to get used to them, or if there are other oils I can try that will stand up to high heat (I love evoo, but use that mostly for drizzling or roasting, not for high heat cooking).

 

Any suggestions?

[Tom Denham]

I like both high quality ghee and coconut oil and did from the start. Although, my first experience with coconut oil was a cheap store brand that left me completely unimpressed. You might try rendered fat for high heat cooking - beef tallow or pork lard. 

[GFChris]

If you love butter, how about making your own clarified butter and using that? http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/03/how-to-clarify-butter-recipe/

[SpinSpin]

I use coconut oil in stir fries and full flavored sautes and roasting vegg with garlic and I have discovered that a touch of salt helps to calm the flavor of the coconut. You can also find refined coconut oil that doesn't have a taste. What is it that you don't care for with the ghee? is it the toasted flavor of it? If so, you could do a light ghee or maybe make it with various herbs? 

[ktothev]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to look into the refined coconut oil, and I'll try clarifying my own butter. I didn't realize that there was a difference between ghee and clarified butter but after doing a little research there IS a difference.

 

The ghee is just too "strong tasting" or fatty tasting for lack of a better term (and I despise the smell). It seems to lack the softness/sweetness of butter. I think clarifying is the way to go for me. I can get a batch clarified and have it ready for when I start my whole30.