My oil of choice for potatoes is WD-40! Wait, let me clarify that: Extra Virgin WD-40!

3) I can't find any evidence that olive oil gives off significantly more carciogens in general cooking, despite the lower smoke point [*]. I can find evidence that it, potentially, breaks apart in less dangerous ways.

[* depends on the quality of the oil]; some olive oil has higher smoke points]

Mmmm so yummy thinking about potatoes. Consistently favorite food medium has always been potato for me. When I get the chance, I'll probably Necro-Post this and post up a really yummy Chinese potato dish. ^_^

I am actually adverse to sweet potatoes. Growing up in a Chinese family, I have had my share of them up until my late teens where I put my foot down finally and waved my fist into the sky yelling: "This is where I draw the line! NO MORE SWEET POTATOES!"

Where are you getting that I'm saying olive oil gives off more carcinogens? Please point out to me any post in this thread where I said that even one time because I haven't. I've always said that all oils give them off.

What I keep saying and will say again is that olive oil begins to smoke at lower temperatures. That doesn't mean it gives off more carcinogens! It has no correlation to that at all. You're confusing one thing for another and thinking that a lower smoke point means that it releases more carcinogens. That's not what I'm saying at all.

I edited my post before this one as well with a few pics that a quick search on google brought up. I put 3 pics up but for some reason only 1 is showing. Heres another:

(emphasis mine)

After that you recommend an alternative that is better for frying, due to the higher smoke point. That, to me, indicates that you say that grapseed oil releases less carciogenic particles when used for frying. I can't find any studies that point to that - I can only find studies that say that there aren't really any differences. Here is another. A lot of people / websites out there say what you say - but my hang up with the whole thing is that there is no evidence and, from a health perspective, a lot of other oils are worse for you. Including Grapeseed oil.

As pointed out there's a difference in how various oils break apart. Grapeseed oil is largely polyunsaturated; olive oil largely monounsaturated - they react widely different to heat. See here: http://www.eatnakednow.com/eatnaked/2011/04/12/smokin-hot-or-unsafe-is-cooking-with-grape-seed-oil-a-good-idea/ Grapeseed oil is likely to break apart in a lot more free radicals when heated - those are definitely not healthy.

See:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0014579394011478
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814605003031
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0278691594900116

What the fuck do you folk smoke when im not around?

Not oil, obviously.

I give you that her numbers re: smoke points are off. Doesn't contradict the fact that as an oil for cooking grapseed oil is not really better than olive oil; they are not like each other - see the additional research links included in previous post.

how to cook a potato

1. throw potato out window

2. grab beer

3. drink beer

4. go apeshit and destroy your house

5. pass out

It does make it better when cooking with high heat for the simple reason that it's not going to start smoking on you. You start cooking on high heat with olive oil and it smokes too easily; once it's smoking it shouldn't be consumed and that goes for any oil. If you're cooking with low-mid heat then they both are fine to use but since my first post I've only said when using high heat. I saw the articles and once again just like yesterday, 180C test, 190C test. That's not high heat; thats perfect heat for olive oil. Stoves get way hotter.

Depending on the type and quality of the oil (some types of grapeseed oil don't have a high smoking point, either). Some types of light olive oil can go up to 468 Fahrenheit before reaching the smoke point (lower than the claims in above article; not that much lower than the highest smokepoint of good quality Grapeseed oil - 485F)

See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point
and here
http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/CollectedInfo/OilSmokePoints.htm

I've never seen a grapeseed oil smoke point under 420F. Not saying it's not possible, but personally never seen it. conversely, I've seen extra virgin olive oil as low as 190F.

Well if you want to talk about light olive oil then that totally eliminates the health argument for you because light olive oil is absolutely terrible for you compared to extra virgin. The word "virgin" in the case of olive oil is used to indicate that it's pure and unrefined. Light olive oil on the other hand goes through chemical processing as well as other methods in order to refine it and make it "light" but it suffers by losing alot of it's benefits in the process. Also, alot of manufacturers add canola oil to the olive oil in order to dilute it so that they can call it "light" as well as give it that higher smoke point that you referenced.

When I started talking about olive oil in the first place I thought it would be known I'm referring to extra virgin because that's the type that everyone buys and uses. Light olive oil is cheap and un-pure in comparison and since it's often mixed with canola I wouldn't even really consider it a true olive oil. Also, I believe every scientific study you referenced specifically used extra virgin, or most every one.

Edit- here's a link to how olive oil becomes "light"

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-extra-light-olive-oil.htm

Yes, but likewise most grapeseed oil 'ordinarily bought' is heavily refined; I already pointed out the quality of oil is important; that, too goes for ANY type of oil. You can get light olive oil that's fine. You can get bad grapeseed oil, depending.

The important aspect is, between just these two oils that the very base composition of grapeseed oil as shown above, doesn't react to heat well. Olive oil is better - it's not the best monounsaturated oil out there for frying, but grapeseed just doesn't take heat well in comparison. Both release cancerous aspects when they reach the smoking point so that's something to avoid. Yes you can reach higher temperatures with most readily available grapeseed oil before it smokes; the way it breaks apart makes it less healthy in comparison.

And as I also mentioned earlier - despite whatever oil you use it is sensible to use lower heat and longer cooking time IF health is important aspect of how you cook. High heat for frying / cooking = bad. Most cooking / frying doesn't need to go beyond 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Most works fine even below that. It's important not just in terms of the reaction of the oil to heat, but what higher temperatures do to whatever you are cooking.

Baking is a different shoe - but again there's better monounsaturated alternatives to grapeseed around.

Perhaps it's possible to come across grapeseed oil that isn't of the best quality, but saying that most grapeseed oil is heavily refined is definitely incorrect. I've been buying grapeseed oil for years and every bottle that I've ever bought clearly stated that it was "pure" grapeseed. It's not as common as olive oil so theres not as many brands to choose from which means the quality doesn't vary nearly as much as olive oil does.

If cooking with low-mid heat then yes I'd say cook with olive oil over grapeseed all day long. But with respect to high heat cooking, which is the type of cooking I've been talking about all along, I totally disagree. I'd much rather use grapeseed oil even if it's predominantly polyunstaurated than use olive oil that's going to smoke. Once the oil starts smoking, it turns rancid and should not be consumed at all. Even breathing in the fumes of the smoke is harmful which is worse than the polyunsaturated content of grapeseed. Also, lets not act like olive contains no polyunsaturated fats. Lets also not act like grapeseed oil doesn't contain a fair amount of monounsaturated fat.

Of course it's ideal to say people shouldn't cook over 350 degrees because that's around where the smoke point of olive oil is, but it's also very unrealistic. Most stovetops don't even allow you to measure the temperature at which you're cooking. They usually just measure heat intensity with numbers such as 1-10 or something along those lines; and using 6-10, which pretty much everyone does, is more than likely going to smoke olive oil every time.