Cooking with Grease and Oil

Written by Doris Donnerman (last updated August 25, 2021)

Grease comes in solid or liquid forms, and each is valuable for different types of cooking. You can use different oils to give different tastes to foods or to help fry items a golden brown.

When you heat grease or oil, you need to be careful with how you handle it. Grease and oil can pop and spatter, and may cause serious burns. (Heaven forbid you should spill hot oil on you or someone else in the kitchen!) In addition, if you heat the oil too much, it will start to smoke and may catch on fire.

You can reduce grease spatter by holding back on the salt before frying food. Salt attracts moisture, leading to spattering when you place salted food in hot oil. Shake your salt at the table after the cooking is all done.

Another way to reduce spatter is to place a metal colander over your frying pan. It allows steam to escape, so your fried food won't be soggy; but best of all, it keeps bits of food and grease from flying out.

You can make your cooking oil last longer by storing it in dark-colored plastic bottles made for condiments like ketchup and mustard. They're easy to pour, and the oil will last longer there than in clear plastic or glass. Just make sure that you label the bottles so no one accidentally squirts oil on a hot dog!

Author Bio

Doris Donnerman

Doris is a jack of all trades, writing on a variety of topics. Her articles have helped enlighten and entertain thousands over the years. ...

MORE FROM DORIS

Repel Ants with White Pepper or Sage

Instead of reaching for that can of bug spray or buying toxic pesticides and insecticides, use two common household ...

Discover More

Turkey Casserole

You need a fast meal with a lot of taste. You have a lot of leftovers and would like to use them up instead of throwing ...

Discover More

Freezing and Defrosting Meat

Sick of throwing out the chicken you've been storing in the freezer? Learn how to avoid freezer burn and defrost meat ...

Discover More
More Cooking Tips

Choosing a Farmers' Market

Going to the local Farmer's Market can be a fun experience. Choosing the right market for you might be a bit confusing. ...

Discover More

Cooking Quickly

Perhaps one of the longest standing debates in the cooking world is about what can make food cook quickly. Some will say ...

Discover More

High Altitude Cooking

When it comes to cooking, one of the trickier things to do is learn how to cook at high altitudes. High altitude cooking ...

Discover More
Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 3 + 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)