5 ms·

It's a very German thing to not use olive oil for frying. It took me by surprise when living abroad, and to realise it's a common frying oil in Mediterranean co

It's a very German thing to not use olive oil for frying. It took me by surprise when living abroad, and to realise it's a common frying oil in Mediterranean countries but also in the UK.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
Economics, probably -- sunflowers and canola grow more easily. Olive oil is a nice pan-frying oil, it's what I use. Linguistic thing: When Americans talk about oil for frying, in my experience, they are a fair bit more likely than us to specifically mean deep frying, for which olive oil is no use. Way more of a deep-frying culture, from several different influences. American cooks are slightly more likely (than the Brits at least) to use the term "broiling" for shallow/pan-frying. Unusual word here.
- ryeights 5y ago
  “Broiling” would refer to using the broiler on one’s oven, I’ve never heard that term used to describe pan-frying. Terms I have heard are sautéed and seared
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    The main difference is the direction of the heat though. Top down rather than stove top. More or less the same deal otherwise. "Seared" and "sautéed" we do use! It's just we also use "frying" for that, and "frying pan".
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    As another aside, deep fat frying is quite uncommon in homes in the UK now. Many people under the age of say 25 will never have eaten deep-fried food cooked at home. There was quite a concerted campaign against it in the early 80s because so many house fires and serious injuries were caused by either unsafe fryers or unsafe technique. Safety campaigns, TV ads, fire brigade campaigns, a campaign to get people to fit extractor hoods and smoke detectors etc. Coincided with a public health campaign aimed at getting us to lower our fat intake, about deep fried food, full fat milk etc.; government "nudge unit" stuff. Time was, deep fried food was a staple of cheap home cooking; nowadays a deep fat fryer is really an enthusiast cook's appliance, in white British homes at least.
- ska 5y ago
  > use the term "broiling" for shallow/pan-frying. Unusual word here. I don't think that's right; it's more used for what you do in the oven under the "broil" setting. Americans use "saute" and "fry" in somewhat context dependent , somewhat interchangeable ways. Along with "sear" being somewhat specific to browning at high heat.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    Speaking as an American... I was aware that "broiling" was a cooking method, but I have no concept of what it involves. After checking a dictionary, I still don't -- wikipedia redirects "broiling" to "grilling", and Merriam-Webster defines "broil" as "to cook by direct exposure to radiant heat: grill", with an example given of "broil the steak in the oven". I would be more likely to use "bake" for heating something in an oven, though I'm uneasy about applying "bake" to a steak; I'd probably just say "cook the steak in the oven". I would use "fry" for cooking something in oil; I would not personally use "sauté" at all. I note further that neither Merriam-Webster nor wikipedia seems to be aware of a distinction between grilling and baking, or at least not one they're willing to articulate. I would have said that baking involves being cooked within an oven and grilling involves being cooked on top of a hot surface.
    - ska 5y ago
      Oh, I agree lots of American's don't use the word broil; I was (obviously not clearly) trying to say that those who do use it probably use it because there oven has a setting marked "broil". For ovens that have that, it usually means heat only using the top element (and sometimes only full blast), so the heat is only coming from above. I think fry is more often used than saute, and often context dependent (e.g. fried chicken may imply deep fried, fried onions doesn't) This latter may be regional.
    - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
      Grilling is _under_ a hot surface. Like broiling. But when you broil you use a different pan. Or something. Now if you want a really weird distinction: baking and roasting. Same appliance, much more similar temperatures than you might think, often only subtly different prep. You might think, no, you "bake" things that rise or are transformed by the process, like dough. But you might also "bake" potatoes and fish. Or you might say that roasting involves oil and basting, but you might baste baked fish. Or roasting involves an open dish or tray. But often so does baking. In this case it really is a kind of convention in English, in the same way that adjective order force is a convention. We generally consistently use one word for a given application or a given origin of the food. Messes with my head.

It's a very German thing to not use olive oil for frying. It took me by surprise when living abroad, and to realise it's a common frying oil in Mediterranean countries but also in the UK.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago

Economics, probably -- sunflowers and canola grow more easily. Olive oil is a nice pan-frying oil, it's what I use. Linguistic thing: When Americans talk about oil for frying, in my experience, they are a fair bit more likely than us to specifically mean deep frying, for which olive oil is no use. Way more of a deep-frying culture, from several different influences. American cooks are slightly more likely (than the Brits at least) to use the term "broiling" for shallow/pan-frying. Unusual word here.

ryeights 5y ago
“Broiling” would refer to using the broiler on one’s oven, I’ve never heard that term used to describe pan-frying. Terms I have heard are sautéed and seared
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  The main difference is the direction of the heat though. Top down rather than stove top. More or less the same deal otherwise. "Seared" and "sautéed" we do use! It's just we also use "frying" for that, and "frying pan".
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  As another aside, deep fat frying is quite uncommon in homes in the UK now. Many people under the age of say 25 will never have eaten deep-fried food cooked at home. There was quite a concerted campaign against it in the early 80s because so many house fires and serious injuries were caused by either unsafe fryers or unsafe technique. Safety campaigns, TV ads, fire brigade campaigns, a campaign to get people to fit extractor hoods and smoke detectors etc. Coincided with a public health campaign aimed at getting us to lower our fat intake, about deep fried food, full fat milk etc.; government "nudge unit" stuff. Time was, deep fried food was a staple of cheap home cooking; nowadays a deep fat fryer is really an enthusiast cook's appliance, in white British homes at least.
ska 5y ago
> use the term "broiling" for shallow/pan-frying. Unusual word here. I don't think that's right; it's more used for what you do in the oven under the "broil" setting. Americans use "saute" and "fry" in somewhat context dependent , somewhat interchangeable ways. Along with "sear" being somewhat specific to browning at high heat.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  Speaking as an American... I was aware that "broiling" was a cooking method, but I have no concept of what it involves. After checking a dictionary, I still don't -- wikipedia redirects "broiling" to "grilling", and Merriam-Webster defines "broil" as "to cook by direct exposure to radiant heat: grill", with an example given of "broil the steak in the oven". I would be more likely to use "bake" for heating something in an oven, though I'm uneasy about applying "bake" to a steak; I'd probably just say "cook the steak in the oven". I would use "fry" for cooking something in oil; I would not personally use "sauté" at all. I note further that neither Merriam-Webster nor wikipedia seems to be aware of a distinction between grilling and baking, or at least not one they're willing to articulate. I would have said that baking involves being cooked within an oven and grilling involves being cooked on top of a hot surface.
  - ska 5y ago
    Oh, I agree lots of American's don't use the word broil; I was (obviously not clearly) trying to say that those who do use it probably use it because there oven has a setting marked "broil". For ovens that have that, it usually means heat only using the top element (and sometimes only full blast), so the heat is only coming from above. I think fry is more often used than saute, and often context dependent (e.g. fried chicken may imply deep fried, fried onions doesn't) This latter may be regional.
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    Grilling is _under_ a hot surface. Like broiling. But when you broil you use a different pan. Or something. Now if you want a really weird distinction: baking and roasting. Same appliance, much more similar temperatures than you might think, often only subtly different prep. You might think, no, you "bake" things that rise or are transformed by the process, like dough. But you might also "bake" potatoes and fish. Or you might say that roasting involves oil and basting, but you might baste baked fish. Or roasting involves an open dish or tray. But often so does baking. In this case it really is a kind of convention in English, in the same way that adjective order force is a convention. We generally consistently use one word for a given application or a given origin of the food. Messes with my head.