Is olive oil safe at high heat? Does it taste bad?
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN points to it to debunk the stubborn olive-oil-at-high-heat myth, valued for its cited sources and food scientist interviews.
What it is
Adam Ragusea examines whether olive oil is unsafe for high-heat cooking and whether it tastes bad when heated. He cites studies showing it is among the most stable cooking oils and that smoke-point worries are overblown.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 5 different months, 2021 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec KozmoNau7 · 2021-04 · on “How a carnivorous mushroom poisons its prey”
That's a very common misconception and a stubborn myth: [this video] I fry mushrooms (and many other things) in olive oil all the time. It works great, tastes great and as long as you use extra virgin oil, doesn't create any more harmful substances than using rapeseed or sunflower seed oil, probably a lot fewer actually. You can even deep fry in it, which some celebrated chefs do.
Strong rec KozmoNau7 · 2021-07 · on “What I know about cleaning and seasoning cast-iron skillets”
The majority of chefs from countries bordering the Mediterranean would laugh at your claim that extra virgin olive oil is not suitable for frying. Obviously you shouldn't go using your fancy $100 bottle for deep frying, but mostly because it would be a waste of money, and because frying dulls the flavor. You want to save the really flavorful and expensive oils for salads and as a finishing touch. I've been pan frying eggs, onions, pork chops, chicken, potatoes, fish, basically anything interchangeably in extra virgin olive oil and butter/ghee for decades. There is certainly a flavor difference, but that's because the olive oil is much milder in flavor than butter, and the process of frying d
Recommends donatj · 2022-02 · on “Soybean oil affects hypothalamus, causes genetic changes in mice: study (2020)”
The olive oil bit is a myth - see: [this video] Olive oil is actually one of the chemically safest oils to heat.
Recommends cthalupa · 2022-09 · on “Prenatal cannabis exposure associated with mental disorders in children”
Adam Ragusea does a lot of well researched videos around food science, and did one around using olive oil, even past the smoke point, fairly recently - [this video] Some good interviews with food scientists, etc. Interesting for anyone wanting to learn a bit more on this subject. I've swapped to using EVOO for most anything where it won't be too overpowering of a taste.
Recommends funklute · 2024-03 · on “Combating olive oil fraud with nuclear innovations”
That's not the whole story though. Often, what is more important is how stable the oil is below the smoke point. There's a pretty decent video on this by Adam Ragusea: [this video]
Cites KozmoNau7 · 2021-07 · on “What I know about cleaning and seasoning cast-iron skillets”
The wisps you see from olive oil on a frying pan is steam, unless of course the pan is crazy 10/10 hot, at which point any cooking oil will burn. I fry most things in either extra virgin olive oil or butter. The olive oil stands up to the heat better than butter (the milk solids will burn). [this video]
Cites Pyramus · 2022-02 · on “Soybean oil affects hypothalamus, causes genetic changes in mice: study (2020)”
Yes, what I'm saying is I haven't seen evidence that change in the oil at smoke point is correlated with safety/toxicity. Found the video: [this video]
Cites gilbetron · 2022-10 · on “Only virgin type of olive oil consumption reduces the risk of mortality: study”
"Smoke point" concerns are usually overblown, it's really just the flavor that goes away making it pointless (and more expensive) too cook with EVO. [this video]