The Type Of Oil Robert Irvine Always Reaches For When Pan-Searing

Anyone who stops to linger in the cooking oil aisle of the grocery store knows just how many options there are out there. Even narrowing your olive oil search to function, let's say solely for searing food, for example, might not help you decide. Luckily, celebrity chef and Food Network star Robert Irvine has a favorite searing oil that will help focus your search. According to Chef Irvine, who hosted an Ask Me Anything-like Q&A session with his Facebook followers, grapeseed oil is his favorite cooking oil to reach for when searing off fish, meat, or veggies. 

Irvine breaks down his decision metrics into three main reasons: First, it doesn't add any flavor to your dish. This, of course, can be a minus when you want the grassy, buttery flavors in something like a salad or pasta. But if you're pan-searing, you want the flavors of the thing you're searing to be the star of the dish — not the oil you're cooking with. Secondly, grapeseed oil has a super high smoke point, which means it won't burn as you sear food to develop a crispy, crunchy crust that protects a moist, flavorful, interior. And finally, Chef Irvine likes it because it's healthy. Well, it's maybe healthy. Chef Irvine admits that the health benefits are still "being debated, and opinions on what is healthy change with the wind."

Made from the seeds of grapes used for wine, grapeseed oil is an incredibly ingenious and waste-conscientious ingredient. Tons of leftover grape seeds used to be discarded by wine manufacturers, but thanks to modern technology, they can now extract oil to use in all sorts of recipes. Some manufacturers even turn grapeseeds into flour, but the oil-production process is very similar to other vegetable oils wherein machines crush the seeds to extract the oil. As Chef Irvine pointed out, it's still unclear whether the health benefits of grapeseed oil are worth writing home about. In fact, there are some questions about whether or not the production process with grapeseed oil that is not cold-pressed introduces harmful solvents into the oil. However, the risk has not been confirmed and grapeseed oil has been deemed safe.

Grapeseed oil is not only versatile, but it's also on the affordable end of things, costing around $10 on Amazon. On top of being excellent for searing, grapeseed oil has also been lauded as a great infusion oil, again for its subtle flavors and ability to absorb the flavors of whichever herbs or aromatics it's infused with. We highly recommend getting into oil infusions for the simple fact that they're not only delicious but are a great way to limit food waste in the kitchen.