Best Cooking Tip...Easy.

I don't know why it took me 45 years to figure this out, and I may be the last person on Earth to not already know this, but I figured I'd share...just in case.

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but olive oil is an absolutely essential thing in our kitchen. But dealing with a big jug of olive oil all the time can be a PITA, and it usually winds up making a mess at some point. That, or you wind up with too much olive oil in whatever you're doing.

Over the years I must have bought twenty different thing-a-majigs to deal with olive oil. I think I've got about 7 different kinds of sprayers alone...and they all suck. About 9 times out of 10, all I need is just a little bit of olive oil, not a cup...or a gallon.

Well, I finally came upon the most simple solution, and it's really handy too. I went to the dollar store and picked up one of those generic catsup squeeze bottles. You know, the ones which are just clear plastic with a screw on lid that you squeeze to get catsup out. I fill one of those up with olive oil and just leave it out where it's easily accessible. Need a little oil? Just grab and squirt some into a pan.

It's so simple even a caveman could do it, and I can't believe it took me all these years to figure this out!

You're probably laughing at me right now, because you figured this out decades ago, but just in case you're like me...well, there you have it.

A super easy way to deal with olive oil.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's how I've always done it, lol.. especially my chilli oil. but I do enjoy a stir fry, spicy..

old sauce bottles work too, well they're the same thing, but you don't throw them away when they're empty. and I make enough hot sauce to last months, not that it lasts months.. I'm a guts.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Too funny and too true.
I have a little glass carafe with a stopper lid....but your idea is unbreakable....and lots cheaper

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Great tip, and you do seem very knowledgeable on cooking, thus I have a question....

With the outdoor bbq season upon us, what do you prefer.....lump charcoal or briquettes.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Not laughing at you but I was using a sauce bottle for quite a while. They weren't the clear type so I would always have to check that I wasn't going to pour chili sauce or tomato sauce onto the frying pan. I solved the problem by recycling a disposable 300 ml water bottle and cap, easy to funnel into from my 4 ltr olive oil tin.

I tried using a detergent/cleaner/sprayer - eventually the pump trigger fouls or would always be clogging.




You've probably already tried the bar pourers?

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

PS I forgot to ask - whats the progress on your kitchen? Completed yet...did you post pictures yet?


thanks

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

I use a bar pourer for my bottle of avocado oil.....works like a charm!!!!

a reply to: olaru12

I actually use a combination of natural lump charcoal and pieces of cut up hardwood.

Natural lump charcoal burns faster, but it burns hotter than briquettes. I like a really hot grill (950F - 1,000F) for grilling. Much better tasting food with all the juices sealed in.

I buy the pint bottles, we do not use much olive oil, maybe a pint every couple of months. A 46 oz bottle of decent vegetable oil is also a staple, that lasts about two months too.

We buy the regular olive oil, the light, and the extra light. Three kinds are usually always available. Each has it's own use. I do not buy the extra virgin for anything, I have some older Italian friends and they all avoid the extra virgin, my mason explained how to use the different types one day when we were having a beer at his home years ago. Not one of the old Italians I know uses extra Virgin olive oil, they said that stuff is not good for you...every one of them, that is about ten good Italian friends over eighty and healthy that told me that over the years.

So I researched it, I guess they started pushing it as healthy so they could lower the toxic load of the removed Extra virgin crap that was poisoning their environment. I actually watched a video on this subject, a video of a meeting in Italy of people addressing the toxic overflow of the removed extra virgin crap. If I want to get the chemicals that create the extra virgin for a health reason, I will just eat a couple of olives, two olives has about the same good chemistry as a quarter cup of extra virgin crap.

The plain old virgin oil is pretty good, a hint of the taste of olives, great for some salad dressings. The light is a good oil for multipurpose, the extra light is great for higher heat applications. We use corn oil for our frying of french fries, the only thing that actually ends up in our electric fryer is french fries. The solonine actually goes into the oil and if you cook anything else breaded in the oil the solanine from the potatoes goes into the coating...which is not good. Restaurants usually do not fry their fries in the same oil as other things, I did not know it was because the fries actually mess up the other things. Learned something new. We usually bake our fish and meats or if needed will panfry our fried meats. I am still wanting to use our bacon grease to make southern fried chicken, I am not afraid of saturated fats in moderation

The people I know who are old and mellow and healthy eat a lot of butter. They will say that they will never give up the butter, it is not worth living if you do not treat yourself. Butter contains buterate, which is a part of GABA. It helps to mellow people. If you want to be stuck permanently in the rat race, skip the butter, I now understand a lot more of how I was stuck in the rat race so long.

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

Yeah, I've tried those, but the thing I don't like so much about them is when you tip the bottle, if you don't do it slowly the oil sloshes up to the top and a little spurt comes out (on your counter or stove). The squeeze bottle prevents this.

But there's an even bigger reason I don't use those anymore. All of our countertops are granite and now quartzite, and glass and granite/quartzite just don't like each other...at all! Set a glass bottle down too hard, or accidentally knock it over, and now you've got an ungodly mess of oil and broken glass to clean up! Squeeze bottle gets around this too.

a reply to: rickymouse

From my perspective, the only thing EVOO is good for is salad dressing. I don't use much of it at all. Just regular "real" olive oil.

P.S. Did you know there are tons of olive oil imposters out there??? I've heard numbers suggesting upwards of 75% of the products out there labeled "Olive Oil" are fakes. Seriously. It's a huge racket, much of it perpetrated by organized crime in Italy and Greece.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: rickymouse

From my perspective, the only thing EVOO is good for is salad dressing. I don't use much of it at all. Just regular "real" olive oil.

P.S. Did you know there are tons of olive oil imposters out there??? I've heard numbers suggesting upwards of 75% of the products out there labeled "Olive Oil" are fakes. Seriously. It's a huge racket, much of it perpetrated by organized crime in Italy and Greece.

Ding, ding! Yes, thats true. In the dietary supplement world (the good stuff anyway) we have to qualify all suppliers and olive oil, is one of the biggest pains in the butt to find a clean audit trail.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: rickymouse

From my perspective, the only thing EVOO is good for is salad dressing. I don't use much of it at all. Just regular "real" olive oil.

P.S. Did you know there are tons of olive oil imposters out there??? I've heard numbers suggesting upwards of 75% of the products out there labeled "Olive Oil" are fakes. Seriously.

Yeah, I read that a while back, even checked out the testing results.

If you want to make something you cook taste a little better, add some refined coconut oil to the oil to fry it in. It somehow increases the flavor and makes everything taste better. Popcorn really gets good if a little refined coconut oil is added, so do some cakes. We use coconut oil and butter to fry pancakes, I make them crispy edged, everyone seems to love the way I make the pancakes, no need to add butter on the pancakes when I make them that way.

I am not bound to have to follow the recipes that people have created over the years, I researched food chemistry and can identify chemistries that should not be mixed now and can skip the trial and error mistakes others make. Some food recipes we have seen actually create toxins in the foods, but they taste good, I now examine every recipe and evaluate them.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk


As a former chef I know the value of squeeze bottles, I have a few with different types of oils ready to go so I don't need to have the larger ones laying out where they can be exposed sunlight.

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

The kitchen is coming along. We got the island all completed and the countertops set. It took five people helping to get the island top off the truck, inside the house and set. Weighs 1,800 lbs. All one solid monolithic slab.

ETA - Still have to do the stove and sink side yet. We're at a good stopping point for the moment. Had too much stuff going on at the same time and had to do some load-shedding. We'll pick back up again come spring. Plus, I've been traveling a lot recently and that puts a damper on progress.

Thanks for askin'

Its a great idea, LOL saw this years ago in the kitchen of one of those bustling and busy holes in the wall Chinese food restaurants. Now obviously it wasn't EVO but both of the wok work stations had every other liquid ingredient right there labeled in thoses ketchup squirt bottles LOL and big mondo bottle of soy sauce.

a reply to: putnam6

HA!! That's actually where I got the idea, from a Chinese place just like you describe!

Boy, I'll tell ya what, you watch one of those guys run one of those big Wok set ups, and if he/she knows what they're doing, it's a sight to see. They can cook up more food in 10 minutes than most of us could cook in a day!

The big ol' wok stoves with the foot pedal controls are awesome. Sounds like a fire breathing dragon when they fire one of those bad boys up! Then it's like blur of sauces, meats, veggies, wok implements and...BOOM...done! On to the next one.

Just amazing to watch those guys! I call it the "Kung Pao Ballet".

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Thanks for the update - look forward to the pics when completed.

As others have suggested we stopped using extra virgin as it lacks flavour but also it seems like a contrived marketing ploy.

Lower smoking point, we're back to using canola or sunflower to sear steaks.

originally posted by: TheConstruKctionofLight
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Thanks for the update - look forward to the pics when completed.

As others have suggested we stopped using extra virgin as it lacks flavour but also it seems like a contrived marketing ploy.

Lower smoking point, we're back to using canola or sunflower to sear steaks.

My go-to lately has been coconut oil, I just like the flavor, its light gives a good sear. Taste well with vegetables and meats alike.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: putnam6

HA!! That's actually where I got the idea, from a Chinese place just like you describe!

Boy, I'll tell ya what, you watch one of those guys run one of those big Wok set ups, and if he/she knows what they're doing, it's a sight to see. They can cook up more food in 10 minutes than most of us could cook in a day!

The big ol' wok stoves with the foot pedal controls are awesome. Sounds like a fire breathing dragon when they fire one of those bad boys up! Then it's like blur of sauces, meats, veggies, wok implements and...BOOM...done! On to the next one.

Just amazing to watch those guys! I call it the "Kung Pao Ballet".

LOL now Im going to have to bust out my Wok haven't used it in a while.