Frying food in coconut oil.

messtafarian

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So I just took two plain corn tortillas ( El Milagro FTW -- corn, lime, water are the ingredients) and dunked them in sizzling coconut oil, and dusted them with salt.

Ohhhhhh...bliss. People, you have got to try this, they're unbelievable. Melted an ounce of queso fresco on top for pure happyhappy.

But then I got to thinking. What is your opinion, really, on frying stuff, frying food in general; and frying tortillas in coconut oi? I will tell you what, I could eat a *lot* of that every day but usually when something tastes that good I find out I shouldn't be eating it.

It's all over the internet that Ray Peat "recommends" tortilla chips fried in coconut oil but I am not sure he exactly said that. What he said was he had met people who got thinner and thinner eating this and he was annoyed when snack companies stopped using coconut oil; but I don't know if that is exactly a recommendation.

I've also read that frying food is really bad for you and that if you fry stuff you'll give yourself heart disease and become a mutant alien and quickly grow out of your pants.

What do you guys think of all this?
 

HDD

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For salty cravings, Peat recommends tortilla chips fried in coconut oil, and chicharrones (pork rinds) with no additive but salt (puffed in hot air). Another snack is popcorn popped on the stove in coconut oil, then salted & buttered; the oil and butter are protective against the starch, but it's harder to digest than tortilla chips or chicharrones.



This is from the thread on dietary recommendations.
 
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messtafarian

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Thanks Diane -- I have seen the recommendations but I am wondering if these were really recommendations or things that people picked up via Peat Whispering. Because I could eat these things night and day.

And also -- if frying food in coconut oil is somehow much healthier than frying in corn oil. Basically if coconut oil makes frying safe, or if it just makes things not quite as bad.
 

Peata

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I only use coconut oil for frying. Sometimes some butter, but that's more to finish off what I cooked (example, frying liver in coconut oil, but adding butter when it's done and stirring it around to melt to add flavor).

I'd say if nothing else, coconut oil is much better simply because of the pufas in corn or other veg. oil.
 

juanitacarlos

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I think culturally, we equate fat and frying with disease and obesity. How much of that is true? I'm not sure anymore. I'm thinking a hundred years ago and more, perhaps frying food did not have negative connotations as there were not really any apparent negative health consequences. And of course that has changed since the introduction of vegetable oils. I remember quite clearly even as a youngster these pictures of saturated fats, which are solid at room temperature, being equated with clogged pipes - you know, clogged arteries. What bull**** that is! So I think it's ingrained that frying in fat is bad, but you need context, most specifically, what oils you are using. And I'm sure there is some point temperature wise, that you might be doing some damage. But I think frying, with something like coconut oil, or even beef tallow, is not a problem and won't make me fat or give me heart disease.
 
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messtafarian

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You know, I would have no problem doing an experiment modeled after Peat's single statement that the more he ate tortilla chips in coconut oil, the leaner he got. It would be really fun, either way :)
 

Dutchie

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I think frying is connected to heartdisease bc the fats they use turn rancid into transfats. I dont think coconut oil turns into transfats when highly heated.
 

jyb

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Jenn said:
Saturated fat protects against starch entering the blood stream. Coconut oil fries are the ultimate health food, IMO. Pufa fried potato chips are evil.

Is there something specific about the frying? I occasionally boil potatoes (in thin slices so that it cooks quicker) until very well cooked, which I then eat with butter. I don't always feel good after it, and reminds me why I love starch-free food so much.
 

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