Melanie Lee

I think it depends on the company making it. Walnut oil has become popular because it has Omega 3s in it -- or it CAN have Omega 3s in it.

Usually, and unrefined oil is either cold-pressed or expeller-pressed. Cold-pressed means the nuts or seeds are squeezed to get the oil out, but the temperature doesn't go above 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Expeller-pressed does the same thing but squeezes even harder, and temperatures can go up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The oil is then usually (but not always) filtered to remove any pieces. Unrefined oil usually retains its full flavor and color and many of its nutrients. But it is delicate. You HAVE to store it in the refrigerator. The exception to that rule would be an unrefined saturated oil, like coconut or palm. They don't have to be stored in the fridge. Heat over 180 degrees Fahrenheit can damage essential fatty acids and create free radicals in many unrefined oils (saturated oils being the exception again). Temperatures above 320 degrees Fahrenheit can make unsaturated fatty acids form trans-fatty acids.

A refined oil starts out being squeezed and pressed but then solvents are added to get even more oil out of the plant material. Hexane is a comment solvent used. After the solvent extracts all the oil, it is then heated to about 300 degrees Fahrenheit to burn off the hexane (it's kind of like gasoline). Often the solvents and additional heat create nasty flavors and sometimes make the oil rancid. The oil then gets degummed, bleached, and deodorized with temperatures over 460 degrees Fahrenheit. The result is an odorless, almost tasteless oil that is stripped of its phospholipids and can withstand much higher heat than an unrefined oil.

I'm being overly basic though. A lot depends on the oil -- whether it is polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, or saturated. Many books have been written discussing this.

Anyhow, you asked about walnut oil. I would use cold-pressed only and store it in the fridge. I would buy a small bottle because eventually it will go rancid even in the fridge. I wouldn't heat this oil very much, if at all. Walnut oil is delicious in salads or very lightly heated in different dishes, often added at the end.

I hope this helps.

I love the taste of bacon from a cast iron pan! I don't know if it's my imagination or not, but somehow it seems to come out crispier and tastier to me.

I so wish I had my own pigs but I don't. I'm lucky to get high-quality pork fat from a good farm near me. I make great lard . . . but someday I will do what you are doing, Ivan. And then I'll made even better lard.

Thanks PT and JP. I'm going to have to try the lard and the onions (separately, I mean, LOL).

I am always interested in things I can do with my crockpots. It was only 10 degrees when I woke up today, so I won't be using the smoker, LOL. Got some nice seasoned pork going in my "Goodwill-find" crockpot right now. Gonna make some pulled pork. Not as good as a smoker, of course, but not half bad when it's freezing outside. Plus I get to try out my new old crockpot. I can't wait to see how it does!! Wish I had some pork shoulder, but it was too expensive. Got a good price on some pork loin though, and even though it's less fatty I'm counting on my new OLD crockpot to make it tender and not dry like my new NEW crockpot would. Ahahaha!

Anybody ever make lasagna in a crockpot? I've got a recipe for it if any of you want it, and it comes out pretty darn good too. Let me know.

Three cups of garlic! I think I'll save that for when I'm mad at my husband and then eat the whole pot.

Hmmmm, well P. Thickens, I may just have to try it for rendering lard then. How many pounds of fat do you use, and do you have an older crockpot or a newer one? Do you set it to low, and how long do you keep it on? Would be nice to not have to watch the pot like a hawk. You know how rendering lard can be! Oh, and I have the same rice maker as you. LOVE it. So spoiled with our modern conveniences, huh?

John, I would also like to know how you carmelize onions in a slow cooker. Thanks!

EDITED to ask if you've ever tried that roasted garlic and olive oil thing in one of those "Little Dipper" crockpots? A small amount would be perfect. Thanks.

Great post, Fred! Thank you!

I loved my slow cooker for years until it finally died. Then I got a new one. And another new one. And yet another new one. And NONE of them were like the old pot. Everything tasted overcooked and burned. I used them now and then for "quick" things, kind of like an oven really, even though crockpots were supposed to be about SLOW cooking.

Then a week ago I scored! A mint condition 1975 crockpot for $5 at the Goodwill! Hurray!! FINALLY!!! A good "slow" cooker once again. All the new fangled ones cook at way too high a temperature, even on low, because of the manufacturer's fears of being sued for improperly cooked food. Everything has to be cooked to death these days or I guess we'll all die. : If you Google this subject, you'll see how many people actually lament loosing the old crockpots. People sell the old ones on eBay a lot. I'm not selling mine, LOL!

I've always rendered my lard on the stove because I like the fried cracklings, but your garlic and olive oil recipe sounds divine!

Thanks, Jami.

Walter, my mother has told me stories of how pork USED to be a good 50 or 60 years ago. It was LOADED with good fat, not bred to be thin and the "new white meat." She said she'd start out with a frying pan and some chops and when she finished frying, the pan would be LOADED with good grease that she could save and use all week. I'm sure it seasoned cast iron pans well too. And just imagine the flavor. Ah, progress.

Yipes Erik! I don't know if I could eat just ONE piece of bacon, LOL. On the other hand, it has gotten awful expensive lately, hasn't it? In my house we call the scraped gunk "pan scrapies," and they are very coveted, indeed. I save them too, except I don't save them separately like you. I just pour them right out with the bacon grease and don't filter it. Then when I get to the "pan scrapie" layer in the grease cup on some other occasion, it does imbue whatever I'm cooking with a most DIVINE flavor! Mmmmmm mmmmmmmm, pan scrapies are the best! Well, that and cracklings from just-rendered lard. Yum!

Hi everyone! I'm new to posting but have read often here before. I know that sometimes people have trouble cooking bacon in a cast iron pan because it "candies up" from the sugar in it. I have a way of cooking it that works out GREAT and seasons your pan like nothing else can. Try this and you'll see why some "old timers" said to season your pan with bacon. I'm assuming you're already using a fairly seasoned pan here. Don't do this with a new unseasoned pan.

First and foremost, forget about the idea of cooking bacon straight and flat. You need a giant pan to do it, it takes forever, and results are so-so. Take a whole one-pound package of bacon and a regular 10.5 inch cast iron skillet. I like the thick cut bacon best. Separate each piece of bacon and just dump it in the pan all willy nilly. Don’t worry about it being balled up. It’ll taste fine and cook up evenly, I promise. Start cooking at medium low heat. Use your spatula to flip and swirl the bacon around now and then so all parts get to the heat. You’ll notice the “gummy feeling” starting fairly soon. Don’t worry about it. Keep cooking. When you get about 1/8 to 1/4 inch of fat rendered, continue to swirl and flip the bacon, but use your spatula at the same time to gently scrape the gummy parts of the skillet – all done at the same time while cooking. Just gently scrape back and forth, back and forth. You can feel the gummy stuff coming up, and the grease is all right there immediately filling up the spaces that you scrape free. You’ll have to do this a few times but as you get toward the end of cooking, you’ll notice that eventually the gunk just goes away and the pan feels smooth as silk. I cook my bacon until it’s nicely browned with about 3/4 of the fat rendered off. Some people like it black and some like it half raw. If you’re a “half raw” person, you can remove the bacon when it’s to your liking and just continue to scrape the pan until the gunk is gone (assuming you have enough pork fat rendered off in there--if not, add some fat), and then turn off the heat. I find that this process seems to “super season” my pan like nothing else can. I pour out most of the grease when I’m done and scramble some eggs with the remaining grease. Not one bit of egg sticks to the pan! The scraping (cleaning) while there is very hot pork fat in the pan seems to be the key.

By the way, I do this with other things too when I'm cooking. As long as something isn't stuck rock-hard on the pan and as long as there's a fair amount of grease in the pan, just scrape your spatula back and forth while you're cooking. You'll soon find out just by the "feel" how to do this and whether it's working or not with whatever's stuck to your pan.

Hope this helps all the bacon lovers out there. You won't believe how CRISPY your bacon will come out this way with your cast iron pan!

This is a great site. Thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge.

Mel