[leloup_legarou]

> Virgin olive oil has a strong flavor and very low smoke point, which makes it unsuitable for most types of food.

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) doesn't have a "very low smoke point". This table on wikipedia gives the smoke point of "Extra virgin, low acidity, high quality" EVOO at 207°C/405 °F:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point#Temperature

The same page gives standard home cooking temperatures as follows:

  Pan frying (sauté) on stove top heat: 120 °C (248 °F)
  Deep frying: 160–180 °C (320–356 °F)
  Oven baking: Average of 180 °C (356 °F)

So premium-quality EVOO has a smoke point comfortably above the temperatures where most people will cook with it. I suspect the idea that EVOO has a low smoke point comes from confusion between extra virgion olive oil and "extra virgin" olive oil (i.e. between the real deal and the stuff sold in its place). Anyway anecdotally, me, both my grandmothers, my mother, and everyone else I know has been cooking with EVOO for ages and I've never heard of anyone actually managing to make it burn (though I've certainly burned the food cooking in it). And we cook most, or rather, all, types of food in it.

You're perfectly right though that EVOO has a strong flavor. That's the whole point.

[dvzk]

Searing or frying meats on the stovetop can easily exceed 400f. Below sufficient temperature the process will take too long and the meat will dry out. A steak seared at 350f will likely have a non-charred exterior. Air frying dense meats after baking and pressure cooking also demands high heat to add a glaze and retain moisture.

[leloup_legarou]

The OP said that "virgin" olive oil has a "very low smoke point" that "makes it unsuitable for most types of food" and neither of that is true.

[dvzk]

Sorry, yes, most food types do not require high heat.

Non-refined olive oils — even your rare low-acidity example — do have a low smoke point in practice. All store bought “extra virgin” olive oils in my experience also burn closer to 300-350 degrees fahrenheit.

Are you a vegetarian by chance? You said most people cook well below 405 degrees. Traditional American households do exceed that temperature on the grill and the stove.

When olive oil burns, the smoke isn’t always highly visible. Examine close up and from the side. The rising smoke can look a lot like heat distortion.

As a final point, for anyone still here, smoke points aren’t an automatic reason to avoid a cooking oil. Chemical stability is variably correlated, so maybe do some more reading.

[leloup_legarou]

> All store bought “extra virgin” olive oils in my experience also burn closer to 300-350 degrees fahrenheit.

Yes, of course. Because of the "air quotes".

I am not vegetarian. I cook everything with olive oil, including searing meats in my French oven. So does everyone I know. I think what you are talking about and what I'm talking about are entirely different substances. I suspect the information on wikipedia, and in your sources, is also far off the reality of olive oil as it's used by people in the region of the world where it's traditionally the shortening of choice. Otherwise, we'd have stopped using it long ago.

> You said most people cook well below 405 degrees.

To clarify, that wasn't me, but wikipedia. I don't personally know what temperatures most people cook with and, I suspect, neither do you. What I know is that there's a few million people in countries around the Mediterranean that cook almost exclusively with olive oil and if it was as easy to burn it as you insist, that wouldn't be the case.

I suspect that you are relying on second-hand information but do not have first-hand experience of a lifetime (and a long tradition) of cooking with olive oil. I've heard more weird things coming from the same place, of lack of first-hand experience, for example that olive oil turns bitter if you heat it, something that I heard for the first time from an American dude with a youtube foodie channel, but not of course from my many friends, family and acquaintances that cook with olive oil as a matter of course. Again, if that sort of thing were true, we wouldn't be using it.

This is really the question to ask yourself: where does your information come from? Is there any evidence to the contrary?

[dvzk]

I wasn't citing or referring to anything external, just to my own experiences cooking. Still, I appreciate learning about your culture. If there are extra virgin olive oils that withstand medium-high and high heat, I'm jealous! I think I'll try experimenting with some of our local suppliers.

Edit:

> This is really the question to ask yourself: where does your information come from? Is there any evidence to the contrary?

I cooked almost exclusively with olive oil for many years. You can ask anyone in America about their experiences with it, and it will probably be the same. I can't speak about taste, but the olive oils found in our stores begin to smoke extremely easily.

[leloup_legarou]

That's interesting, and unexpected. Then it really must be a very different kind of olive oil you were using.

Why did you continue to cook with it if it was smoking so easily?