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. ...

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