Coconut Oil/Oil Question

[Debbiefish]

Okay...I like Coconut Oil by the spoonful...I like it in my smoothies...but I DON'T like it for cooking with - like in a pan with veggies. It tastes too much like coconut!

I know I can use olive oil for low heat stuff...like to saute veggies...but what can I use if I fry (not very often)? Like maybe once or twice a year I'll make chicken fried steak (I live in Texas so I kinda have to!)...and maybe twice a year fry okra...but that isn't working so well...and I use Canola oil.

What do you guys think?

TIA

Debbie

[onebzmomma]

Boy, I hear ya! My family loves my fried chicken. I only make it twice a year (first day of fall and New Year's day) because it's soooo bad health wise. But because I only make it twice a year I do it up right-throw caution to the wind! Enjoy your fried okra and chicken twice a year the old fashioned way! We even have smashed potatoes AND gravy with it. Yup, we're rebels.

I will say, though, I used coconut oil to fry my excess of zucchini and it was really good.

[Callicrowe]

If you use expeller-pressed coconut oil it doesn't have the coconut taste to it.

[Debbiefish]

onebzmomma- I hear ya! And yes...when I make chicken fried steak...I make cream gravy and mashed potatoes and green beans (canned...not cooked to death!).

Peggy - I have the Nutiva brand I got off Amazon...will it say expeller-pressed? After reading bunches of posts about coconut oil...that's the one I chose.

Debbie

[MaryCB]

I get my coconut oil from Tropical Traditions also. I get both VCO and expeller-pressed. I do my cooking with the E-P and use the VCO in place of butter on bread and that type of thing.

I use the E-P for my popcorn and everyone in the family (and friends) all rave about it. Coconut oil was used for theater popcorn before the saturated fat scare. And my popcorn tastes just like it. Yum. Of course, I use Vege-Sal, not table salt and that adds an even better flavor.

I have never tried palm oil but I just might. I used light tasting olive oil for everything, including baking cakes, before trying coconut oil. Now I do all my baking with the coconut oil and it adds such a good texture and moistness that I don't think I will ever go back.

My husband does mind the smell of the coconut oil when I heat it up to fry eggs. But he doesn't mind eating the eggs. :-)

[Vanetta]

I LOVE the taste of coconut...don't mind the oil flavoring a lot of my food. I don't mind coconut chicken, and I LOVE curry with coconut. I make what we call "Hawaiian Haystacks" which is basically chicken and rice. The rice and chicken mixture go on the individual plates to which a choice of many options is placed on top. The choices can literally be anything: pineapple chunks, coconut shreds, raisins, cheese, grated carrot, chopped celery, chopped onion, sliced olives, diced avocado, diced tomatoes. slivered almonds........literally, if you can think it and like it, it can be placed on top.

I make another version that is curried chicken and rice. We call this one "Snow on the Mountain." You put the same kind of toppings on it too. Coconut is a fave at our house on either version.

Just a thought about how the flavor of coconut CAN go with foods you might not think could before. I know you were talking about coconut oil, but I cook my chicken in it...not a lot, though, b/c I never 'fry' my food, except in stir fry. I like coconut oil in Asian recipes too.. Maybe I'm just odd, though.

[TamiR]

Debbie, I'm new to coconut oil, but I'm learning that "expeller pressed refined" doesn't have the coconut flavor. I think if it says "virgin" you get more coconut flavor. I don't know, because I've only bough "refined" so far because I'm not a coconut fan - for me, it belongs with chocolate or in a pie! I've not had a coconut flavor with the refined. It has worked with everything I've done - no deep frying yet, but it makes great popcorn. By the way, I'm originally from Mississippi, and when you mentioned fried okra, I just wilted. Yum!!

[Debbiefish]

Tami - thanks for the info. (as well as everyone else) I'll have to look into the coconut situation again. I like the taste of coconut...mostly in German chocolate cake! But I don't like the taste in veggies or anything like that!
As for okra...I grew up in Washington state and my mom very rarely fried anything nor did she cook veggies to death! I'm not the greatest okra fryer but once in a while in comes out right. My hubbies favorite summer dinner is blackeye peas or pinto beans, cornbread, fried okra, tomatoes, cucumber and Pecos cantelope. :-) I like most of that. Oh...and greens/turnips too!

And is it okay that the coconut oil completely melted during the summer but is now a solid again??

[Callicrowe]

And is it okay that the coconut oil completely melted during the summer but is now a solid again??

That's normal, no problem.

The coconut oil will say "refined, expeller-pressed" on the label. (I must be weird or have non-sensitive taste buds because none of the coconut oil I've used has seemed to have much coconut flavor, but other people can taste it distinctly.)

[TamiR]

Debbie, with our last mess of okra this summer, we had it fried, served with a big pot of purple hull peas and salty cornbread. So simple, but so good!