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Cooking with Unrefined Oils

Marinades: In place of an oil-based marinade, marinate without the oil. After cooking, dress with a poly- or monounsaturated oil.

Deep-Frying: Consider reducing your consumption of deep-fried foods. Use coconut oil for deep-frying and do NOT reuse it. Unfortunately, the logic of "I'll deep-fry with a denatured oil because it's dead all ready" is misinformed. Each time oil is heated above its healthy range, trans-fatty acids are formed.

Baking: I bake only with butter and coconut or palm oil. Disregard any baking recipe that uses polyunsaturated vegetable oil—or substitute it with a monounsaturated oil (hazelnut, olive or sesame) and do not heat above 325º F. Some manufacturers claim that you can bake with the monounsaturated fats because, for example, a muffin's interior temperature remains lower than the oven temperature. Following that logic, the muffin's interior fatty acids may not be denatured by the heat, but what about the exterior ones?

Sautéing and Stir-Frying: I recommend hazelnut, olive, sesame, coconut or palm oil or butter or ghee. Cook over moderate heat.

COOKING TEMPS –BEST OILS FOR EACH RANGE.

Below 212 F

--Cooking Methods

Boil, steam, scald, stew, simmer, steep, parboil, salad dressings

--Oils You Should Use

Unrefined canola oil (smoke point is below 225 F)

Unrefined flaxseed oil (smoke point is below 225 F)

Unrefined safflower oil (smoke point 225 F)

Unrefined sunflower oil (smoke point is below 225 F)

Below 320 F--Cooking Methods

Low-heat baking, light sauté, pressure cooking

--Oils You Should Use

Unrefined corn oil (smoke point is below 320 F)

Unrefined peanut oil (smoke point is below 320 F)

Semirefined safflower oil (smoke point is below 320 F)

Unrefined soy oil (smoke point is below 320 F)

Unrefined high-Oleic sunflower oil (smoke point is below 320 F)

Unrefined walnut oil (smoke point is below 320 F)

Below 375 F

--Cooking Methods Baking sauté, stir-fry, wok cooking

--Oils You Should Use

Semirefined canola oil (smoke point is below 350 F)

Refined canola oil (smoke point is below 400 F)

Refined corn oil (smoke point is below 450 F)

Unrefined olive oil (smoke point is below 320)

Refined peanut oil (smoke point is below 450 F)

Refined safflower oil (smoke point is below blow 450 F)

Unrefined sesame oil (smoke point is below 350 F)

Semirefined sesame oil (smoke point is below 450 F)

Semirefined soy oil (smoke point is below 350 F)

Refined soy oil (smoke point is below blow 450 F)

Semirefined sunflower oil (smoke point is below 450 F)

Refined high-oleic sunflower oil (smoke point is below 450 F)

Semirefined walnut oil (smoke point is below 400 F)

Below 500 F

--Cooking Methods

Sear, brown, deep-fry.

--Oils You Should Use

Refined avocado oil has a smoke point of below 520 F, the highest temperature of all the plant oils.

Here is a simple chart of eight common herbs, the foods they work best with and other herbs they complement. + don’t forget the garlic lemon and vinegar!

Basil partners with almost every summer vegetable and fruit. Stew it with tomatoes and zucchini, finely chop it and add it to potatoes and salads, steam it with fish, and add it to a marinade when you grill chicken.

Chives, lemon verbena, rosemary, mint and oregano complement basil.

I use fresh dill in salads, scrambled eggs and omelets, on cucumber and tomato slices, sprinkled on steamed asparagus, mixed with cooked beets, carrots and beans. It's also great when mixed with butter or margarine then spread on steamed corn on the cob.

The taste of dill is best complemented when used with lemon balm, lemon thyme and chives.

Marjoram

I have found that fresh marjoram is wonderful when used on poultry, fish and shellfish. I also use it on summer squash, eggplant, spinach, beets, beans and carrots.

Fresh marjoram works well with fresh chives, mint, rosemary and sage.

Mint

I can't think of many foods that mint does not complement. Lamb is obvious, but it also livens up the taste of fish and poultry, too. I like it best with ginger milk, peas, and zucchini. And on a cold winter day, a cup of hot cocoa with a sprig of mint is just what you need to ward away the chill. It is also great in fruit salsa.

I have found that mint combines well with every fresh herb.

Oregano

Dice oregano and sprinkle it on grilled eggplant, peppers, summer squash and zucchini. The flavor is wonderful. Oregano also enhances fish, especially the oily varieties like bluefish. Oregano combines best with chives, sage and thyme.

Rosemary

Rosemary is wonderful on a fish, poultry and potatoes but many people would never think of adding it to fruit. Try baking an apple with teaspoon of honey and a sprig of rosemary (yummy) or diced and sprinkled on citrus fruit. This is an amazing herb. The flavor is delicate and adds so much to any average tasting food.

Rosemary combines well with almost every other herb. However if you are using a strong tasting vegetable like onion, it can barely be tasted because its flavor is more delicate.

Sage

The most common use for sage is in cornbread dressings and as a seasoning for poultry. This is a stronger herb that people either love or hate. If you haven't used fresh sage you may want to try a small amount at first to see which category you fall into. I like to use a little bit of sage with fruit. Cherries, apples, pears and even citrus fruits are all complemented with a small amount of sage. It's also wonderful on winter squash, spaghetti squash, asparagus and beans.

Rosemary, thyme, fennel and the lemon flavored herbs all nicely complement sage.

Thyme

Thyme enhances the flavor of seafood and poultry, but I use it diced and sprinkled over dried fruits and apple slices. It is delicious in an omelet.

Fennel, dill, basil, lavender and rosemary are all complementary to thyme.

Cast iron lasts for years when cared for properly. It never warps or dents and cooks well at a wide range of temperatures. It can be use to fry foods on top of the stove or to bake in the oven. Its uniform conductivity makes cast iron the ideal choice for slow-cooking desserts, as well as for frying and sautees.

Cast iron skillets also add iron to our food, which many Americans lack in their diets today. Doctors often recommend cast iron skillets for patients who are anemic or borderline anemic (low iron levels in the blood).

Seasoning Your Cast Iron: Raw cast iron is a porous material which needs to be "seasoned" before use. Seasoning your cast iron will create a non-stick surface, prevent the food from acquiring a metallic favor as it cooks, and help the pan to resist rust and corrosion. The non-stick surface will improve over time. To season your new pans, preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Wash each pan in hot, soapy water and hand-dry immediately. Using a paper towel or cloth, coat the pan with a thin layer of olive (or vegetable) oil or melted shortening. Be sure to coat all surfaces, including the handle. Place the pan in the oven for one hour. Remove while hot and let cool to room temperature. When cooled, hang your pan to store. If stacking, place a paper towel between your pans.

Cooking With Cast Iron: Once your pans are properly seasoned, they should be fairly non-stick. This quality will improve the longer you use the pan. For the first little while, you may need to add a bit of oil each time you cook in the pan. Never forget your potholders! Cast iron pan handles get HOT when cooking!

Cleaning & Caring For Cast Iron: You need not wash your pans with soap and water. After use simply rub them clean with oil and a paper towel or dishcloth. To remove stuck-on residues, place salt and vinegar or oil in your pan and heat in on low heat for a few minutes, then rub clean. Alternatively you may scrub it clean with coarse salt and water. Be sure to always dry your pans throughly immediately after use. Never place cast iron in the dishwasher -- this will cause them to rust

Stainless steel cookware has many advantages: it doesn't react (as does ALUMINUM) with acidic or alkaline foods; it is corrosion-resistant, strong and easy to clean; and it doesn't scratch, pit or dent easily. The main disadvantage of stainless steel is its poor heat conductivity, a problem somewhat reduced in heavy, well-made pans. The best of all possible worlds is achieved by "sandwiched" cookware, with a layer of either aluminum or copper (both excellent at conducting heat) between two thin sheets of stainless steel.

STAINLESS STEEL - 18/0, 18/8 18/10

extremely durable

non porous,

extremely hard

smooth surface,

easy to clean

dent and scratch resistant

does not react to foods

easy to maintain mirror finish

poor heat conductor

relatively high cost

discolors with very high heat

Prolonged exposure to salt/brine or seawater may cause pitting

Wash stainless steel cookware and utensils soon after using them to minimize staining. Ordinary cleaning in the sink will suffice for stainless steel cookware.

Use an all-metal cleaner to remove heat stains from the matte finish inside of a saucepan or from the pan's polished exterior.

For heavily soiled/stained areas, scour with soap and a very fine (00) steel wool pad. Restore the finish with an all-metal cleaner.

Stainless steel is an alloy that starts with basic iron with up to 8 alloys added, depending on the quality. The major alloys in stainless steel are chromium and nickel. The chromium provides rust and corrosion resistance and durability. Nickel provides additional rust resistance, hardness, and high polishing characteristics.

The numbers 18/0, 18/8 and 8/10 refer to the percentage of content of chromium and nickel. To be classified as stainless steel, the metal must contain at least 11 % chromium (no nickel required). Stainless steel used in cookware is normally 18% chromium and 8% to 10% nickel.

Low end stainless steel cookware, mixing bowls, stockpots and accessories are usually 18/0 which are usually not highly polished, and could be subject to some rust spotting.

A simple way to test whether or not a stainless steel pan is 18/0 or 18/8 is to place a magnet against it. If the pan is magnetic, it is 18/0...if not, it is 18/8 (or 18/10). The addition of nickel neutralizes the natural ferrous properties of the iron in the stainless steel.

To make stainless steel better heat conductivity copper or aluminum, is often added to the bottom of the pan and, sometimes, all around the pan.

There are many varying qualities of stainless steel, don't skimp on quality, buy only the better ones. Features to look for include: metal handles, thick heat diffusing bottoms, 18/10 grades and a lifetime warranty.

The principal elements in stainless that have effects on our health are iron, chromium and nickel. As indicated above, iron can be very beneficial. Chromium is also beneficial in small quantities, and you would have to cook four complete meals a day in stainless cookware to come close to reaching adverse effects from chromium intake. Although nickel is poisonous in large quantities, only trace amounts go into the food; not enough to make a difference. Except if you're allergic to nickel. Then you should avoid using stainless altogether.

The Teflon® trademark was coined by DuPont and registered in 1945; the first products were sold commercially under the trademark beginning in 1946. Applications and product innovations snowballed quickly. Marketed as non-stick and convenient, the term "Teflon" is now a household name. The nonstick pans, many of which are manufactured by DuPont, are a popular choice.

On May 16, 2000, the 3M corporation stunned the rest of the chemical industry with an unexpected announcement: It had decided to stop producing a family of compounds used in Scotchgard, Teflon, and a host of other consumer products. Saying that the "perfluorochemicals" it had manufactured for half a century had been found to persist in human blood and wildlife, 3M portrayed its move as that of a conscientious corporate citizen. Read more.

U.S. Urged to Put Warning Labels on Non-Stick Cookware

News Source: Reuters

Published Date: May 15, 2003

The FDA approved Teflon® for contact with food in 1960 based on a food frying study that found higher levels of Teflon® chemicals in hamburger cooked on heat-aged and old pans. At the time, FDA judged these levels to be of little health significance.

The Environmental Working Group asked the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require manufactures of cookware to place warning labels on their products that caution consumers of the potential health risks of the non-stick coating.

EPA says it doesn't know enough about the compound to call it a human health hazard. As a result, DuPont continues to make products with PFOA and C8 ammonium salt. DuPont is now the sole PFOA manufacturer in the U.S. "The government has not assessed the safety of non-stick cookware. says John Thomas, of the division of regulatory guidance at FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "You won't find a regulation anywhere on the books that specifically addresses cookware." But, Thomas adds, when a type of cookware raises safety concerns, FDA gets involved.

The CPSC, in denying the Environmental Working Group’s petition to apply warning labels to nonstick coated cookware, said the petition did not have sufficient information to support the group’s claim that these coatings "have the ability to cause substantial injury or illness to a person through reasonably foreseeable handling or use" and that it had "not established whether humans will experience adverse health effects when nonstick coated cookware is used at normal cooking temperatures."

According to a study by the advocacy group, non-stick pots and pans could reach 700 degrees Fahrenheit (370 C) in 3-5 minutes, releasing 15 harmful gases and chemicals, including two carcinogens, two global pollutants, and MFA, a chemical lethal to humans at low doses. Non-stick coatings break down to a chemical warfare agent known as PFIB, and a chemical analog of the WWII nerve gas, phosgene.

Is Nonstick Cookware Safe?

DuPont acknowledges that the fumes given off by non-stick coatings can also sicken people, in a condition called "polymer fume fever", which can be erroneously diagnosed as the common flu. No one has never studied the incidence of illness among users of the billions of non-stick pots and pans sold around the world, or the long-term effects from the sickness.

While DuPont acknowledges that its nonstick coatings begin to deteriorate when the cookware reaches about 500 degrees, it notes that those temperatures are higher than typical cooking heats. And while it admits that birds may be harmed by the fumes, the company maintains that its pans are safe under normal use.

Non-stick pans have never been meant for high-heat cooking, as the instructions on any pan label will show. "We recommend cooking using coated non-stick cookware at low to medium heat," says Dupont's Rich Angiullo. "We know (our product) can withstand temperatures up to 500 F, well above any of the recommended temperatures for frying or baking."

But recommendations and reality don't always coincide, says Environmental Working Group president Ken Cook. "We're still searching for the person who has never left a pan on a stove top and had it get real hot." Engineers with Underwriters Laboratories say that all UL-certified electric ranges should bring a pan to 475 degrees when the knob is turned to two-thirds high, and that maximum heat would probably exceed 600-650 degrees.

For now, the EPA says it's too early to advise consumers to toss out their nonstick cookware. If you want to take precautions in the meantime, you could set aside your nonstick pots and pans until the EPA has finished its study.

If you do use (non-stick) cookware, don't let it sit on the burner for long before adding food. Doing so may permit the temperature to rise high enough to emit chemical fumes. Avoid cooking at high temperatures with nonstick cookware. Use low to medium temperatures instead. And don't forget to keep your pet birds out of the kitchen.

Here are some tips from the EWG:

* Phase out the use of non-stick cookware and other equipment that is heated in your home. If you can afford to replace it now, do so. When heated to high temperatures, Products with PFC coatings emit fumes that can be harmful.

* Do not use non-stick cookware in your home if you have pet birds. In fact, avoid any kitchen equipment that contains non-stick components that are heated to high temperature during use. Fumes from these materials can quickly kill birds.

* When you purchase furniture or carpet, decline optional treatments for stain and dirt resistance, and find products that have not been pre-treated with chemicals by questioning the retailers. Most of these chemical treatments contain PFCs that might contaminate your home and family.

* Avoid buying clothing that bears a label or other indication that it has been coated for water, stain, or dirt repellency. Many of these coatings are PFCs. By buying alternatives you will help shrink the PFC economy and the associated global contamination.

* Minimize packaged food and greasy fast foods in your diet. These can be held in containers that are coated with PFCs to keep grease from soaking through the packaging. PFCs are used in a wide variety of containers, including french fry boxes, pizza boxes and microwave popcorn bags.

* Avoid buying cosmetics and other personal care products with the phrase "fluoro" or "perfluoro" on the ingredient list. Among products that might contain PFCs are lotions, pressed powders, nail polish, and shaving cream.

Impact Of Teflon On Human Health

The EWG review finds that PFCs have contaminated the blood of;virtually every American, the environment and wildlife, and supports EPA's;findings that the associated chemicals presents health risks for women ;and girls. "These chemicals have been in use for 50 years, they've found their;way into the body of every American, and we're just now starting to understand ;the health effects. That means we need a better system for testing industrial;chemicals' health effects -- before we permit their use," said EWG Senior;Scientist Kris Thayer.;

Environmental Working Group (EWG) scientists spent the last three years;reviewing 50,000 pages of regulatory studies and government documents;obtained from EPA; internal industry documents disclosed in ongoing;litigation; and a growing body of independent studies on the toxicity and;environmental occurrence of perfluorochemicals (PFCs). The chemical,;abbreviated in scientific literature as PFOA, is also known as C-8 at the;DuPont Company, which manufactures it. A Canadian study in 2001;discovered C8 was one of the chemicals released when Teflon is heated ;repeatedly. The EPA is still collecting data, and it could be several months;before the agency concludes its investigation. "We just don't have answers;right now," says EPA spokesman David Deegan.

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