Some oily lessons from Alton Brown

The smoking points of olive oil and butter are the lowest.

The smoking points of canola and corn oil are average.

The smoking point of safflower oil and peanut oil is among the highest.

Why is this important to know?

Because when oil reaches its smoking point, it begins to taste bad, so when you cook food that needs to be really hot, you don't want to use oil with low smoking point.

This means, then, that when searing steak, you want to use an oil with a lower smoking point. Not olive oil or butter, then.

I read elsewhere that vegetable oil also has a low smoking point.

Helpful advice, isn't it?

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