Olive Oil Divine Podcast

The Truth About High-Heat Olive Oil Cooking and Balsamic Vinegar

• Greg & Shirley Mueller • Episode 2

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Can You Cook With Olive Oil? What About Balsamic?

Greg Mueller demolishes one of cooking's most persistent myths: that olive oil can't take the heat. With authority and enthusiasm, he explains that quality extra virgin olive oil has a smoke point above 400°F, making it perfect for everything from sautéing to roasting. The key? Understanding how to use it properly without burning it.

The conversation dives into the fascinating world of polyphenols—the beneficial compounds in olive oil that contribute to its health properties. Greg explains how polyphenol counts vary with each harvest and how Olive Oil Divine meticulously tests and certifies every oil it sells. Rather than using expensive "medicinal" high-polyphenol oils for cooking (where heat diminishes their special properties), Greg recommends saving those for raw consumption and using their flavored varieties like bestselling Italian Herbs or Chipotle for cooking applications. These insights transform olive oil from a simple ingredient into a versatile culinary tool that can elevate everything from morning eggs to holiday turkeys.

Ready to revolutionize your cooking? Visit OliveOilDivine.com to explore our exceptional olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars, or stop by our store to discover how these kitchen staples can transform your everyday meals into something truly divine.

To learn more about Olive Oil Divine visit:
https://oliveoildivine.com/
Olive Oil Divine
2517 N. Roan Street
Johnson City, TN 37601
423-707-7087

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Olive Oil Divine podcast, your go-to source for culinary inspiration. Join Greg and Shirley Muller, owners of Olive Oil Divine, as they share tips, stories and insights to make you a kitchen hero. From authentic extra virgin olive oils to rich-aged Italian balsamic vinegars, We've got everything you need to elevate your cooking. Live divine.

Speaker 2:

If you've ever been told you can't cook with olive oil, it's time to set the record straight. And balsamic vinegar, it's not just for salads. Greg and Shirley Muller of Olive Oil Diviner are here to bust some myths and show us how to turn up the heat literally on these kitchen staples. Welcome back everyone. Skip Monty, co-host slash producer, back in the studio with Greg Muller. Greg, how's it going?

Speaker 3:

Hey, skip, hey, I'm doing great. It's a great day to be alive.

Speaker 2:

All right, same here, same here. So let's get straight to the meat of it here. Greg, can you cook with olive oil?

Speaker 3:

Oh boy, can you. I tell you what. That's a misconception that people think that you can't cook with it. But you can. You know it's not just for salads and bread dipping, for sure, because you can cook with it over heat. You just don't want to burn it too much because you know when you do cook with it it kills the polyphenols. So we don't want to be killing that, unless you just want it for the flavor. But absolutely you can cook with a knife. I can give you all kinds of examples if you'd like. Sure.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

One of my favorites is one of the steaks that Paula Deen and I did down in her kitchen in Savannah. She absolutely loved it the bourbon steak and we used some olive oil, or saviato to be exact, in a cast iron skillet we fried some beautiful juicy steaks up and then saltate them in our bourbon balsamic and that balsamic just caramelized a little bit and the flavor of that oil and vinegar just came through. It was beautiful. So yeah, you can cook with it, Just don't burn it. You'll know If you've got it on too much heat it'll definitely smell and smoke and set your smoke alarms off. But don't be afraid to use it. It's got a smoke kind of over 400, so you can cook on it medium, medium-high for short times or low for longer if you want to saute or something like that.

Speaker 2:

What are the best types of olive oil for high-heat cooking versus finishing dishes?

Speaker 3:

There's really not a best olive oil. I mean the smoke point for all olive oils, if they're really extra virgin, is going to be the same. I mean the smoke point for all olive oils if they're really extra virgin is going to be the same. The only difference really is you don't want to use a medicinal oil, for example, that doesn't have any flavoring in it. It's just its own natural flavor, because the heat that you're going to be using is going to cook off the polyphenols which gives you the health benefits. So you'd basically be burning your money up if you buy an expensive medicinal oil. But all of our other flavored oils and model varietal oils they're all great for cooking, for sure. No worries at all. I use the Chipotle a lot. I'll fry my eggs in it, pour it over my baked potatoes, so don't be afraid. In fact we do a 500-degree oven baked potato where we'll take our olive oil and coat the outside of the potato, put it in the oven for 500 degrees for an hour, and boy, it comes out beautiful.

Speaker 2:

Oh wow, are some specific olive oils, and you mentioned a few like the bourbon.

Speaker 3:

Sounds very interesting actually, but that pair best with different types of cuisine yeah, well, you know the bourbon is a balsamic, so we don't have a bourbon oil. I don't think at least. Well, for example, our Italian herbs are number one selling olive oil and it can be used for salad dressings. A lot of people use it for bread dipping. I like to use it for frying up a chicken or any kind of a fish. You can certainly put it over a roast or a turkey. My wife she really does it with the turkeys in those little bags and that holds the flavor in and gosh, you can really taste the flavor of that Italian herb, olive oil that she puts in there.

Speaker 3:

I mentioned chipotle. Oh yeah, I'll be over for Thanksgiving sometime and we'll show you how to use olive oil and balsamic in the kitchen for sure.

Speaker 3:

But yeah, don't be afraid to try anything. There's no wrong way to cook with olive oil, for sure. Be adventurous, and of course we have guides in our store that we can help you with. Or you can go online and search our website. Just type in any flavor olive oil or any flavor food, and if there's an oil associated with it, it'll pop up in the search results and give you all kinds of ideas.

Speaker 2:

Very good to know, very good to know. Well, what about balsamic vinegar? Can you cook with?

Speaker 3:

vinegar, cook with vinegar, Absolutely Like I mentioned. We use that bourbon on a steak with Paula. But Shirley, she loves to finish her steaks with her Cask 25 or 25 year aged traditional balsamic. She won't eat one without me finishing it and, for example, what I do is I'll cook the steak to the doneness that she likes and then the last minute it's in the pan I'll drizzle some on each side, flip it over in just a minute or so so it caramelizes the sugars in that balsamic and that just makes a nice finishing flavor on that steak and you don't lose the juices inside either definitely have to try that that.

Speaker 2:

You got my mouth watering here so I recommend it. Oh nice, very nice. Well, be honest, has, uh, either of you ever tried to drink balsamic straight from the bottle like a fine one?

Speaker 3:

oh, yeah, well, you know how else are we supposed to taste it? Skip, you know. Yeah, yeah, I don't drink balsamic from the bottle as much as you would think I do. You know, if I want to taste a new flavor that we're sampling yeah by all means it's my own personal bottle.

Speaker 3:

But now olive oil, I do have an oil called Zoi which is a medicinal oil. It's a super high polyphenol oil of 1,870 that I bring my own bottle home and I've been taking two to three tablespoons every day for health reasons and you know, after a while I kind of learned what three tablespoons in my mouth felt like, so I've just started drinking it straight from the bottle. I know about how much is three tablespoons and you've got to go and get to work in a hurry. That's the way to do it.

Speaker 2:

That's the way to do it drink straight from the bottle.

Speaker 3:

You've got to make sure it's your own bottle.

Speaker 2:

It's your own bottle, that's right. That's right. The bottle, you got to make sure it's your own bottle. It's your own bottle, that's right. That's right. Well, you mentioned the polyphenols. Is there a level of polyphenols that you should look for in every olive oil, or is it specific to just health properties?

Speaker 3:

Well, you know that level changes every year with the new crops. For example, on average, our tasting or flavored oils. They range anywhere from the low 200s all the way up to 900 for a flavored oil. So there's not really a target to shoot for. But obviously if you're cooking with olive oil or switching to it, then you want to make sure you have a high polyphenol oil if you're looking for the medicinal and the health properties of it and I know we'll get into the health properties of it perhaps in another podcast but there's really no target number. You know the polyphenols in olive oil change from year to year. So I guess if I had to put an average, an average would be around three or 400, at least in our shop. I don't know what the other shops would be but that's a good average. Of course we have some pretty high polyphenol oils, so our average may be a little higher than the average store.

Speaker 2:

Now I know you guys measure the polyphenols in your olive oils. Is that something to look for if you're in a grocery store and you're just you're looking for something to cook with.

Speaker 3:

Oh, absolutely A lot of those oils in the grocery store. They don't put the polyphenol count on the bottles. We don't either, but we do have it available on our website and it's in our store. Those are actually sent off. All those oils that we offer are sent to a lab and they're lab certified and we have the certification that proves what the measurement was. Absolutely, you ought to look at what you're buying, if you can. Unfortunately, in the grocery stores they don't do that and there's no way to do it unless you buy from us. You can always take that oil and find it online and it'll tell you the current polyphenol, prostate acidity and some other information.

Speaker 2:

Very good to know. Very good to know. I will be watching for that. Well, Greg, appreciate your time today and we'll look forward to talking more about the health benefits in the next episode.

Speaker 3:

All right, I look forward to it. You're very welcome, skip episode.

Speaker 2:

All right, I look forward to it. You're very welcome, skip. All right, thanks so much. Have a great weekend and we'll see you in the next one.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning in to the Olive Oil Divine podcast. Don't forget to visit us online at oliveoildivinecom for our exceptional olive oils, aged balsamic vinegars and more. If you're local, stop by our store and discover how we can make you a kitchen hero. Until next time, live divine.