Cooking Without Oil
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Is cooking without using oil even possible?
Yup, it is. I know many people would disagree, saying that using oil enhances flavour etc.
We go back to my analogy of ancient man. When we first discovered fire, we cooked our food by roasting them over an open fire. When you go camping even today, do you cook your fish that you caught in the river in oil?
Righto, you don't (you don't, right?). Well if you actually bring cooking oil out camping, I have nothing to say except "dot dot dot dot" (local Singaporean slang for "speechless").
Nowadays, cooking pans, woks and so on come with non-stick coating. If you don't scrimp and buy only cheap ones, the non-stick pan you buy today can last you for YEARS. Spend a little more, it'll last long and you'll "earn" back the cost by not having to buy a new "non-stick" pan every couple of years.
Ok why do I say cooking without cooking oil is possible? Well that's because the purpose of cooking oil is to help spread the heat from the fire out quicker and more evenly, so that all parts of the food item is cooked. Also, it helps by not letting the food item stick to the pan during cooking, and therefore you avoid charring the food. Along the way, manufacturers decided to "value-add" to the basic oil, and make food that is cooked with certain brands "tastier".
Pans nowadays are scientifically researched and engineered (if you buy the good brands), and they already do the job of whatever the oil used to do.
I cook without oil, and it's healthier. Although you need oil in your diet, and fats too, those from cooking oil could be the "excess" ones you're trying to get rid of.
Cutting cooking oil out of the equation is yet another simple and small change you can make to your current lifestyle without upsetting it too much to make you hate "dieting" :)
Yup, it is. I know many people would disagree, saying that using oil enhances flavour etc.
We go back to my analogy of ancient man. When we first discovered fire, we cooked our food by roasting them over an open fire. When you go camping even today, do you cook your fish that you caught in the river in oil?
Righto, you don't (you don't, right?). Well if you actually bring cooking oil out camping, I have nothing to say except "dot dot dot dot" (local Singaporean slang for "speechless").
Nowadays, cooking pans, woks and so on come with non-stick coating. If you don't scrimp and buy only cheap ones, the non-stick pan you buy today can last you for YEARS. Spend a little more, it'll last long and you'll "earn" back the cost by not having to buy a new "non-stick" pan every couple of years.
Ok why do I say cooking without cooking oil is possible? Well that's because the purpose of cooking oil is to help spread the heat from the fire out quicker and more evenly, so that all parts of the food item is cooked. Also, it helps by not letting the food item stick to the pan during cooking, and therefore you avoid charring the food. Along the way, manufacturers decided to "value-add" to the basic oil, and make food that is cooked with certain brands "tastier".
Pans nowadays are scientifically researched and engineered (if you buy the good brands), and they already do the job of whatever the oil used to do.
I cook without oil, and it's healthier. Although you need oil in your diet, and fats too, those from cooking oil could be the "excess" ones you're trying to get rid of.
Cutting cooking oil out of the equation is yet another simple and small change you can make to your current lifestyle without upsetting it too much to make you hate "dieting" :)
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Labels: diet, dieting, healthy diet
