Why it's healthier to cook with LARD than sunflower oil: Extraordinary experiment shows everything we've been told about cooking oils is wrong

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I would like to be brave enough to make my own lard. My father was an expert butcher, and knew how to make it.

Supposedly potatoes fried in lard are extremely tasty. I have used bacon drippings, almost the same.
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
I would like to be brave enough to make my own lard. My father was an expert butcher, and knew how to make it.

Supposedly potatoes fried in lard are extremely tasty. I have used bacon drippings, almost the same.
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In the fifties we fried potatoes in lard, and our moms and grandmothers used it for pie rust. When newly married, I did too. And many of our grandparents lived to a good old age. I remember my mom frying liver (another no no) in bacon grease and it sure was tasty!
 
utah_rose said:
In the fifties we fried potatoes in lard, and our moms and grandmothers used it for pie rust. When newly married, I did too. And many of our grandparents lived to a good old age. I remember my mom frying liver (another no no) in bacon grease and it sure was tasty!
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Bacon grease is a staple in our home. The saturated fat crusade has been shown to be bunk.

Atkins was right, the State appointed experts were wrong.
 
Most vegetable oil oxideze at the temperatures needed to fry food. Once they do they start producing some really nasty and unhealthy products that migrate to our food and wreak havoc in our bodies.

Lard on the other hand handles the high temperatures quite well.

No surprises there. Margarine is also a nasty nasty product to start with. Did you know that margarine is 1 molecule away from becoming plastic.
Think about it! I rather reduce the amount of butter I put on the bread rather that slather it with nasty margarine.

…
 
SWolf said:
Bacon grease is a staple in our home. The saturated fat crusade has been shown to be bunk.

Atkins was right, the State appointed experts were wrong.
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I remember someone telling me about a test that they ran where the put a piece of suet
out for the birds. They scooped three holes in it and filled one with the suet, one with
butter and one for margarine. The birds ate the first 2 and didn’t touch the margarine!
Smart birds.
I use coconut oil for most cooking and baking and occasionally oilve oil.
 
Some years ago, my wife came to the same conclusion, and no longer uses vegetable oils for cooking except for olive oil. Otherwise, it’s lard.
 
Olive oil can be used for cooking but not for frying, do not use extra virgin for this, also do try to consume some raw extra virgin olive oil of good quality, it helps lower the bad cholesterol and increase the good one.

…
 
Not surprised. I only use real butter. No plastic coated substitutes for me. The closer to natural, the better.

If it’s processed or refined, throw it out.
 
JerryZ said:
Most vegetable oil oxideze at the temperatures needed to fry food. Once they do they start producing some really nasty and unhealthy products that migrate to our food and wreak havoc in our bodies.

Lard on the other hand handles the high temperatures quite well.

No surprises there. Margarine is also a nasty nasty product to start with. Did you know that margarine is 1 molecule away from becoming plastic.
Think about it! I rather reduce the amount of butter I put on the bread rather that slather it with nasty margarine.

…
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Actually, despite widespread myths to the contrary, it is okay to fry with extra virgin olive oil.

seriouseats.com/2014/05/cooking-fats-101-whats-a-smoke-point-and-why-does-it-matter.html

Good quality cold-pressed coconut oil is also preferred.

I have a great interest in olive oil. Without getting too far into it, I recommend Tom Mueller’s great book, Extra Virginity. The title is in reference to the commonly available counterfeited/adulterated olive oil that’s sold everywhere. It’s very, very common for tanker ships loaded with hazlenut oil to leave North African ports and then, mysteriously, for their ship manifests to suddenly change to “olive oil” somewhere in the Mediterranean. The “olive oil” is then shipped from Italy with either a “made in Italy” or “bottled in Italy” label, and then passed us off to us as the real deal. Which it typically isn’t. So, if you’re going to consume olive, and especially if you’re going to fry eggs or whatever with it, you definitely always want to buy olive oil from California. It’s a vey long and interesting story, but that’s it in a nutshell. I wouldn’t touch lard with a barge pole.

amazon.com/Extra-Virginity-Sublime-Scandalous-World/dp/0393343618
 
Exiled_Child said:
Actually, despite widespread myths to the contrary, it is okay to fry with extra virgin olive oil.

seriouseats.com/2014/05/cooking-fats-101-whats-a-smoke-point-and-why-does-it-matter.html

Good quality cold-pressed coconut oil is also preferred.

I have a great interest in olive oil. Without getting too far into it, I recommend Tom Mueller’s great book, Extra Virginity. The title is in reference to the commonly available counterfeited/adulterated olive oil that’s sold everywhere. It’s very, very common for tanker ships loaded with hazlenut oil to leave North African ports and then, mysteriously, for their ship manifests to suddenly change to “olive oil” somewhere in the Mediterranean. The “olive oil” is then shipped from Italy with either a “made in Italy” or “bottled in Italy” label, and then passed us off to us as the real deal. Which it typically isn’t. So, if you’re going to consume olive, and especially if you’re going to fry eggs or whatever with it, you definitely always want to buy olive oil from California. It’s a vey long and interesting story, but that’s it in a nutshell. I wouldn’t touch lard with a barge pole.

amazon.com/Extra-Virginity-Sublime-Scandalous-World/dp/0393343618
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The reason extra virgin olive is not recommended for frying is because it contains lots of solids that tend to burn and give an off flavour to the food cooked in it.
Now cheaper olive oil (referred as Sansa oil) that has been filtered and contains oil pressed from even the pit of the olive, could be used for frying as it contains less solids.
Now let me clear up an important point, when the word “frying” is used, it refers to the process french fries are made for example and not for cooking a steak where you put a little oil in the pan to stop the meat from sticking.

…
 
I only use olive oil for cooking.

We very rarely fry anything but if we do, we use butter.

Otherwise we don’t use any other kind of oil.

My husband usually uses only butter when he cooks…I think he will appreciate this link.
 
JerryZ said:
Olive oil can be used for cooking but not for frying, do not use extra virgin for this, also do try to consume some raw extra virgin olive oil of good quality, it helps lower the bad cholesterol and increase the good one.

…
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There are certain nutritionists who are opposed to ALL oils, including extra virgin olive oil even for cooking, and especially for frying. Other nutritionists praise grapeseed oil in place of olive oil. In the 1970’s, polyunsaturated oils such as sunflower oil and safflower oil were thought to be healthy. Later, they were labeled unhealthy, whereas monounsaturated oils such as canola oil and olive oil were regarded as the healthier ones. Soybean oil has gotten mixed reviews during the last few decades. Today some health experts are reconsidering saturated oils and fats. In sum, we still know virtually NOTHING about nutrition. One thing I’ve noticed, however, is that well-known nutritionists in general don’t live very long.
 
dshix said:
Coconut oil for the win!!
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I agree! Sooo tasty.I even put it on my berries,let it harden then enjoy…yummy!Actually a tablespoon with a little pink sea salt sprinkled on top is pretty good too!
 
JerryZ said:
The reason extra virgin olive is not recommended for frying is because it contains lots of solids that tend to burn and give an off flavour to the food cooked in it.
Now cheaper olive oil (referred as Sansa oil) that has been filtered and contains oil pressed from even the pit of the olive, could be used for frying as it contains less solids.
Now let me clear up an important point, when the word “frying” is used, it refers to the process french fries are made for example and not for cooking a steak where you put a little oil in the pan to stop the meat from sticking.

…
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Jerry, thanks for that, because I was wondering exactly what “fry” meant. I was just picturing a cast iron skillet to just quickly cook something, and I know that that level of heat doesn’t negatively effect the lipids health-wise. As far as olive solids negatively effecting food flavor, I bow to your superior culinary knowledge.:bowdown2: Seriously, I don’t really know much about cooking, and I tend to prepare only the simplest meals, mainly just salads and soups and extremely easy stuff like that.
 
meltzerboy said:
There are certain nutritionists who are opposed to ALL oils, including extra virgin olive oil even for cooking, and especially for frying. Other nutritionists praise grapeseed oil in place of olive oil. In the 1970’s, polyunsaturated oils such as sunflower oil and safflower oil were thought to be healthy. Later, they were labeled unhealthy, whereas monounsaturated oils such as canola oil and olive oil were regarded as the healthier ones. Soybean oil has gotten mixed reviews during the last few decades. Today some health experts are reconsidering saturated oils and fats. In sum, we still know virtually NOTHING about nutrition. One thing I’ve noticed, however, is that well-known nutritionists in general don’t live very long.
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Yeah, I’ve also noted that a lot of well-known nutritionists have died surprisingly young. I wanted to recommend a book to you though, and also give you two wiki links. The book is the English translation of one of Jeanne Calment’s biographies, called From Van Gogh’s Time To Ours. The link is for a large-print version, because they seem to be out of the normal print edition.

amazon.com/Jeanne-Calment-Goghs-Extraordinary-Years/dp/0786217774/

The wiki links are for Jeanne Calment and Mariam Amash.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariam_Amash

Anyway, they touch on the longevity properties of olive oil. It’s purely anecdotal, but intriguing - anyone who lives into their 120’s is worth some study. There’s also a theory that people tend to do best on foods that they’re genetically predisposed to, and being Jewish you might actually respond best of all to olive oil, considering it’s such a staple in the Levant.🤷 Even the trees themselves tend the live a super long time. Apparently there are some in Greece and Crete which are two to four thousand years old, and still producing olives!
 
Exiled_Child said:
Yeah, I’ve also noted that a lot of well-known nutritionists have died surprisingly young. I wanted to recommend a book to you though, and also give you two wiki links. The book is the English translation of one of Jeanne Calment’s biographies, called From Van Gogh’s Time To Ours. The link is for a large-print version, because they seem to be out of the normal print edition.

amazon.com/Jeanne-Calment-Goghs-Extraordinary-Years/dp/0786217774/

The wiki links are for Jeanne Calment and Mariam Amash.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariam_Amash

Anyway, they touch on the longevity properties of olive oil. It’s purely anecdotal, but intriguing - anyone who lives into their 120’s is worth some study. There’s also a theory that people tend to do best on foods that they’re genetically predisposed to, and being Jewish you might actually respond best of all to olive oil, considering it’s such a staple in the Levant.🤷 Even the trees themselves tend the live a super long time. Apparently there are some in Greece and Crete which are two to four thousand years old, and still producing olives!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the links and the information. I had heard of Jeanne Calment but not Mariam Amash. Leave it to those olive trees! LOL
 
Exiled_Child said:
Anyway, they touch on the longevity properties of olive oil. It’s purely anecdotal, but intriguing - anyone who lives into their 120’s is worth some study. There’s also a theory that people tend to do best on foods that they’re genetically predisposed to, and being Jewish you might actually respond best of all to olive oil, considering it’s such a staple in the Levant.🤷 Even the trees themselves tend the live a super long time. Apparently there are some in Greece and Crete which are two to four thousand years old, and still producing olives!
Click to expand...
I have wondered about this for a long time. Non-Jewish western Europeans are the descendants of tribes that lived for perhaps 10,000 years on the Eurasian steppes, and were herders. One of the fascinating stories from history is the Persian king who wanted to stop raids by the steppe tribes. He brought his huge army deeper and deeper into the trackless grasslands but could never engage them because they kept withdrawing into the steppelands. Finally, he sent an emissary challenging the king of the steppe people to battle.

The reply he received was something like this: We have no cities for you to sack. We have no crops for you to burn. We have only our herds and the graves of our ancestors. But if you destroy any of the latter, then you will know whether we will fight."

The Persian king gave it up and returned to Persia.

It’s interesting to me that, of all the world’s people, Indo-Europeans are the only people, the majority of whom (about 80%) retain lactose tolerance into adulthood. Why? Is it because ten thousand years of living off herd animals induced a genetic change? Hard to think otherwise. Then, one may ask (and perhaps should ask) whether the “Mediterranean diet”, for example, is the best for an Irishman. One recalls that the very earliest Irish poem is about a cattle raid, and there are presently more cattle than people in Ireland. So there is a continuity of diet from 10,000 years ago to the present day.

Is the Med diet the right one for an Irishman? For an Englishman? Would an English diet be the worst imaginable thing for a Sicilian, but ok for most Brits?
 
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