Boas Comidas

Glossário Culinário

Vegetable Oil

Ingrediente

Também chamado de
soybean oil, cooking oil

Vegetable oil is the liquid fat extracted from seeds and grains such as soybean, sunflower, corn and canola. With a neutral flavor and affordable price, it is the go-to fat in Brazilian cooking for frying, sautéing and making batters tender.

Characteristics

The most used types differ in flavor and heat resistance:

  • Soybean: the most common and cheapest, neutral, for general use.
  • Sunflower: light and pale, good for frying and homemade mayonnaise.
  • Corn: mild flavor, widely used in cakes and crispy fried foods.
  • Canola: light, with the lowest saturated-fat content among common refined oils.

Because they are refined, they handle high frying temperatures well without passing a strong flavor to the food.

Uses in the kitchen

It is the standard fat for deep-frying foods such as pastéis, coxinhas and fritters, as well as everyday sautés of rice, beans and vegetables. In blender cakes and pies, it keeps the crumb moist and soft. It also emulsifies mayonnaises and vinaigrettes and dresses salads when you do not want the flavor of olive oil.

Substitutions

Refined oils replace one another measure for measure in most recipes. For frying, sunflower and corn oils are good swaps for soybean oil. In cakes, melted butter or mild olive oil can step in, with a slight change in flavor and texture. For light sautés, a drizzle of olive oil or even water with seasonings does the job when you want less fat.

Fun facts

Used frying oil can be reused a few times: strain it after cooling, store in a closed container and discard when it darkens, foams or smells strong. Never pour oil down the drain — collect it in a bottle and take it to a collection point, since one liter can contaminate thousands of liters of water. And for crisper fried foods, the secret is getting the oil really hot before adding the food.

Recipes with vegetable oil

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