Healthiest cooking oil

[iej]

I think most people who were into food in a serious way saw margarine as something rather unnatural and unpleasant anyway.

Margarine was a French invention. A chemist called Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès came up with it in 1880 as a way of using beef tallow and skimmed milk to produce a cheap butter substitute. It was used a lot by the French navy back in the day and ultimately he sold the patent to Jurgens, which became part of Uni in the Netherlands - one half of Unilever, so it has quite a strong link to a detergent manufacturer!

Margarine evolved in the 1950s with hydrogenated vegetable oils.

However, it was ultimately replaced by "dairy spreads" in Europe in the late 70s when you had products that were made with churned dairy cream and vegetable oils and blends of butter and oils. They've removed all the trans-fats but, I would say plenty of damage was done in the mid to late 20th century when people were slathering old margarines onto everything.

 

[foraloysius]

I remember the many attempts to make a acceptable margarine taste. The name Lätta comes to mind, also a Unilever product. We tasted a few of them, but so far nothing has come close to the taste of oldfashioned churned butter made from milk from grass fed cows!

 

[sudsmaster]

I recall margarine being advertised as healthier than butter because it had zero cholesterol.

 

[ozzie908]

The best thing to use Margarine for is ...

CAKE and lots of it in particular a nice light and fluffy Victoria sponge with fresh whipped cream and Strawberry jam.... YUM.

 

[vacerator]

Olive oil

is fine for sauteing, and frying, so long as it does not exceed 350 f. in temp., otherwise it's molecules become a saturated fat.
Trans fat free oils are better for frying and deep or pressure frying, but not perfect. Those include Peanut oil, corn, saflower, canola, etc.
Tropical oils like coconut, palm kernel, or any hydrogenated vegetable oils are not as healthy.
Olive oil has a low smoke point, so can burn also. You can add butter to increase the smoke point, and it's healthier than hydrogenated fats.
I made shrimp scampi last night that way. The garlic didn't burn either. Burnt garlic is bitter. I added a splash of white wine and let the alcohol evaporate.