How To Store Cooking Oil

Q: I'm wondering about oil storage. How long can you keep oil, (Olive oil, vegetable oil, flavored oils). Is room temperature OK once opened? Should any of these be refrigerated? --Stewart Wells

A: The trick to maximizing your oil's shelf life is keeping it cool and dark. In other words, do NOT store it in that pretty jar in the kitchen window. Also, don't keep it on the shelf next to the stove. Store it in your nice, cool, dark pantry. If you use your oils REALLY slowly, you can even refrigerate light oils like olive. They'll turn cloudy, but that will disappear as they warm.

As far as shelf life, I'm always hesitant to give an exact time, as we are dealing with a natural product here and thus there are bound to be variances, but as a general rule, any oil you open should be used within six months. That's why I avoid buying the monster-sized jugs of anything but peanut oil. What good is saving a few cents an ounce if you end up throwing out half the oil?

Q: I'm just getting started grilling, and I've heard bad things about using lighter fluid to start charcoal. What method do you recommend? --Jamie G.

A: The best thing you can ever, ever do for your barbecuing and grilling, and for the air you breathe, is to leave the lighter fluid off your shopping list. Forever.

Not only do the fumes from the fluid add to the already-putrid air in most of our big cities, the petroleum taste can linger to varying degrees, adding a less-than-marvelous oil tang to your burgers. Use an electric starter or, even better, get a chimney starter. That way, your charcoal will be lit free of petroleum tang and you'll use up part of your excess newspaper or junk mail circulars. I find that nothing's quite as satisfying as using wadded-up junk mail to start my charcoal.

Q: Is there a significant difference between salted and unsalted butter? I do a lot of baking and do not have to watch my salt intake. I can buy salted butter in bulk at discount stores cheaply, but they don't offer unsalted butter. --Billie

A: Unsalted, or sweet, butter is the best for baking and pretty much all other cooking for one simple reason: it's a more pure ingredient. When the milk comes out of the cow, it doesn't have salt in it other than a miniscule amount that may occur naturally. It's much easier to control the taste of your finished product if you use the purest possible ingredients in your recipe. Take "seasoned salt" for instance. The last time I was at the grocery store, there were no less than a dozen different ones on the shelf. I daresay no two of them use the same recipe.

That said, ultimately the judge is your own palate. The salt in the butter won't significantly affect the way your recipe cooks, and if you're satisfied with the taste, then rest easy!

Q: Do you know of a way to keep Vidalia Sweet Onions from going bad? I have tried wrapping them in aluminum foil, but that did not work. Since I order these wonderful onions 15 pounds at a time, I need a way to store them for use throughout the year. Any help would be appreciated! --Clifton Sturgeon

A: Your grandparents had the right idea with the old root cellar. Keep them in a cool, dark place with plenty of airflow for maximum shelf life. The whole idea is to get the onion, which is really just a big seed pod, to stop its natural process of sprouting while keeping it from rotting.

My favorite trick for storing them is using the legs of pantyhose. Put an onion in, and tie a knot in the leg right above it. Put another onion in and repeat the process until the leg is full. Hang the leg on a ceiling hook in your pantry or cellar. When you want to use an onion, cut the hose BELOW the knot to release an onion, keeping the rest of them safely contained.

I've heard the Vidalia crop this year isn't as large or as sweet as it has been in past years. I hope you got some good ones! Being in Texas, I get the 1015 onions developed by the agriculture geniuses at Texas A&M University.

Q: We just purchased Emeril's stainless steel frying pans and pots. We looked at the nonstick as well, but really did not know the difference. We've used nonstick in the past and were not really thrilled. Can you give us the scoop on the difference - why is one better than the other or is it just preference? Does stainless steel have advantages over nonstick? Should you keep the flame/heat for stainless at lower temps? Finally, how do you care for stainless steel -- cleaning, when to add salt, etc... --Michael

A: Just what Emeril needs ... a few more bucks!

Seriously, you've got some pretty good cookware there, and it will give you many years of good use if you take some simple precautions.

First off, NEVER put it in the dishwasher. Over time, the abrasives in dish detergent will score the metal, leaving a million tiny crevices for food to get in and stick.

Avoid using soap pads, such as Brillo and SOS. I know you'll occasionally have to resort to them when the queso flameado turns into hardened lava on the side of the pan, but as a daily practice, stick to a good stiff brush or plastic scrub pad. Dry it immediately and store it, preferably on a hanging pot rack. Avoid nesting pans inside each other, as they'll rub against each other and abrade themselves.

As far as comparing to nonstick, your stainless is FAR more durable. I don't recommend buying expensive nonstick pans, period. One incautious dig with a pair of spring-loaded tongs or panicked swipe with a metal spatula and you can render a $60 pan fit only for the recycle bin. Buy the $10 pan at your discount store and replace as necessary. Once you've bonded with your stainless, you'll likely find yourself using the nonstick very rarely. I basically only use mine for omelets and scrambled eggs.

Q: Hi, I'm a novice and would like to have a "Top 5" reading list that covers basics and theory rather than recipes alone. Do you have any favorites you would share? --Greg McLean

A: I love any question that gives me a chance to plug my favorite books! In no particular order, here we go:

"I'm Just Here For The Food," by Alton Brown. How many food folks do you know who won a James Beard award with their very first book? This one won the 2003 James Beard award for reference. Yes, it has a few recipes in it, but they're there more to illustrate the pages and pages and pages of cooking theory and practice. If you could have only one food-related book on your shelf, this'd have to be the one. The one thing NOT covered in this tome is baking, which is why we have ...

"The Fannie Farmer Baking Book," by Marion Cunningham. No, she's not Richie's mom, she's the caretaker and perfecter of the long Fannie Farmer baking tradition. Ask any 100 grandmas, and 95 of them will point to this as THE book to have on your shelf when it comes to the theory and practice of baking anything from cakes to pies to breads.

"The Joy of Cooking" by Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. While some of the instruction may be a bit simplistic, this is and always has been THE book for rookie cooks. It's designed for folks who really DO have trouble boiling water, and it's a must-have for your cooking information shelf.

"What Einstein Told His Cook" by Robert Wolke. What can I say about this book? Before you begin reading, take all your most cherished notions and firmly held beliefs about cooking and food and line them up on the mantelpiece to say goodbye. Mr. Wolke's not going to play nice with them. With solid science couched in a wickedly wry sense of humor, he explains in layman's language everything from why sea salt is by and large a waste of money to why eggs do some of the weird things they do.

"Cookwise" by Shirley Corriher. This frequent guest on "Good Eats" is a biochemist and culinary consultant who also just happens to be a serious foodie. Folks who watched the first week of Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show will know her as the lady who deep-fried such disparate items as an entire submarine sandwich and an audience member's watch. Her science is sound and the book as a whole forms a dynamic duo with Wolke's tome that are like a "master class" for after you've finished your "Joy of Cooking" reading.