In article >,
Dan S. > wrote:

> > On Apr 14, 6:58*pm, Kris > wrote:
> >> On Apr 14, 7:35*pm, wrote:
> >>
> >>> What do you use?

Whatever I can find in my kitchen. We often have something labeled
"vegetable oil". If not, canola oil. I just checked, and we have two
gallon containers of safflower oil. Where'd that come from? I like to
use the cheap jug of olive oil from Costco, if I think the flavor fits
in.

> >>> I have grapeseed, canola, olive, sesame on hand, but always hesitate
> >>> - do you have some kind of guideline as to what you'll use? What about
> >>> in baked goods?
> >>
> >>> This is almost as bad as 'shortening' - I hate that. *Spell it out,
> >>> cookbook writers.

So tell us how to spell it, then. "Crisco" is a brand name, used in the
US. For this newsgroup, which is international, I would think that
"shortening" would be more generic.

> >> Depends on what it is. For most savory cooking, I use olive oil. For
> >> baking, I used vegetable oil or veg shortening (unless it calls for
> >> butter of course).
> >
> > "Vegetable oil" means soya oil.

That might be, although you can find "soybean oil" for sale also. Most
vegetable oil I have seen, says it might contain[list of oils, usually
including soybean oil].

> The Army used to use "vegetable oil." It was generally bearable in
> everything from salads to chicken gravy. I might feel differently
> since my tastes have evolved. I mainly switched for cholesterol
> purposes. Soya is higher in trans-fats than canola.

I simply can't keep up with what is considered "healthier" this week.
Canola oil is lower in saturated fat, and thus higher in polyunsaturated
and monosaturated fat. I don't believe that any vegetable oil actually
has trans fat unless it has been hydrogenated. Fats of animal origin
may naturally have small amounts of trans fat.

http://www.nutristrategy.com/fatsoils.htm

> >> Crisco is not all bad. Some baking recipes call for it because it
> >> makes a softer cookie, etc, etc than just butter alone. *Don't rule it
> >> out, just buy in small quantities.
> >>
> > CRISCO IS BAD. Are you a moron, or did you just arrive in 2009 in a
> > time machine?

All fat is 100% fat. Most dietary advice I've read says that if you
need to reduce fat, then you need to reduce fat. Focussing on
substituting different kinds of fat takes you away from your goal of
reducing fat. It's true that reducing trans fat and saturated fat looks
like a good idea, but someone who eats a limited amount of those fats
isn't going to drop dead tomorrow, and in fact may have a much more
healthy diet than somebody who buys peanut oil by the gallon. It's just
not that simple.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

"[Don't] assume that someone is "broken" just because they behave in ways
you don't like or don't understand." --Miche