The Great Canola Oil Flip-Flop

The food section of the Times today has an article by Mark Bittman about the wonders of frying foods at home. Tien mentioned it in his side blog and I left a comment there. I didn't read the article until I got home this evening. Something struck me as odd when I read this paragraph:

"I cannot recommend canola or soy oil for frying, or much of anything else; they have off flavors..."

I can't make any great claims for my cooking, but my reading comprehension is pretty good and I remember reading more than once that canola oil is a neutral oil that does not impart its flavor and has a high smoking point. Both of those qualities make it ideal for frying.

Where did I read that? I grabbed the biggest cookbook on my shelf, "How to Cook Everything", and turned to page 88, where it states:

The author says canola oil is good for frying and he uses it when "I want another flavor to dominate" meaning the oil doesn't impart its flavor.

I flip back to page 87, to the paragraph titled "Neutral Oils: For Cooking Only". It says "Neutral oils add little or no flavor when used in salad dressings or cooking... The best of these are canola and grapeseed, both of which... do not detract from the flavors of the foods with which they are combined." And a bit later on "but they're great for deep-frying and acceptable for sauteing."

The author of these contradictory words, of course, is Mark Bittman. Oh, Mr. Bittman, what happened since you wrote "How to Cook Everything" to turn you against canola oil? Why did it sink from "great for deep-frying" to "I cannot recommend for frying"? How could canola oil "add little or no flavor" in 1998, go bad and "have off flavors" in 2004? Please explain Mr. Bittman, have your tastebuds changed? Has canola oil chemistry changed? I don't understand!

Update: I write to the Times and Mark Bittman replies! See the details here.

Comments

[Marie C.]

You have a sharp eye and a good memory. One would think writing in the food column, over say, politics, would be more trustworthy. You may have exposed the next big NY Times scandal.

[JJ]

Good job, Sherlock

[tien]

you should email the times. or at least bittman.

[joe]

I do intend to write to the Times (Bittman doesn't have a public email address). I'm curious to see if this was an editing error, or if he's changed his mind about canola oil. The whole attitude change seems so weird to me.

[Greg]

The much maligned Canola oil! I was surprised to find out that's it's also the subject of an Internet myth:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blcanola.htm?terms=canola+oil

[caren]

I'm glad to see someone being proactive about food confusion!