Five cooking oils that you should be using

Ask any cook about his or her pantry staples and olive oil will probably be mentioned. It can add a fruity or peppery zing to many types of dishes. But you should consider other delicious oils to perk up your food, says The Wall Street Journal. The article presents five different, flavorful oils made from nuts, seeds and vegetables. Cooks should always be “thinking through every opportunity to add flavor to your food,” San Francisco chef Matthew Accarrino tells the WSJ. “The different applications for oils are endless.”

For frying or sauteing, consider avocado oil. It can handle the higher temperatures associated with frying and its neutral flavor doesn’t overwhelm the other ingredients. In somewhat of a surprise, canola oil gets a mention – but not the neutral processed type that most of us know. Cold pressed, extra virgin canola oil can add an intense, grassy flavor when used as finishing oil.

Pistachio oil also made the list, with its sweet flavor performing well in vinaigrettes and in baking applications like cookies. Roasted pumpkin seed oil is praised for its intensely nutty flavor, and a rare oil rounds out the WSJ picks: argan oil. Hailing from Morocco, this oil is a “delicacy made from the nuts of the argan tree,” and is “famed for health benefits including reducing inflammation and hypertension.” Read more about these oils, including recommendations on which brands to try. 

Photo of Insalata tricolore bruschetta with pistachio oil from Fuss Free Flavours