Fry Light - Extra virgin olive oil spray!

[Taz]

Perhaps this should go in Hexus.Active rather than here but it applies to both.

In my never-ending quest to live a healthier lifestyle, one of the sacrifices that I had made was to virtually eliminate all fried food from my diet. This wasn't very satisfactory as I do like the ocassional fry-up.

However, frying with traditional cooking oil is inherently unhealthy. Hence, I bought a can of 'Fry Light' extra virgin olive oil spray. It looks just like an air freshener spray can!

You simply spray a cool frying pan 4 times with the spray oil an then heat it up to operating temperature before frying your food. It's exceptionally economical compared to traditional cooking oil. There's not oil splatter so cleaning up afterwards is a breeze. But the best bit is that it only adds around 1-4 calories to your food! I've fried eggs with it so far and there is no discernible difference to the taste from traditional olive oil either.

All in all, highly recommended if you want a significantly healthier and mess-free way of frying food. The oil is mixed with alcohol in the can to help preserve it but this should vapourise as soon as you heat the frying pan up if you're worried about alcohol getting in your food.

[leeglf]

ive been trying to cut down on the amount of fat i eat and have seen it in the shops and always thought it was a bit of a gimmick!

but it sounds like its worth a go i will pick some up next time i do the big shop!

[ernestrome]

Good do somethign similar with just a spray bottle and redualr olive oil couldn't you?

[snedger]

The spray oil works well for chicken.
Also good to spray on potatoes for roasting - gives them a nice even tan.
I didn't use it when I cooked some 14oz ribeye steaks last week - had to be butter for me!
If I was doing a "fry-up" it would consist of grilled meat, like bacon and sausages and poached eggs. Toms and mushrooms would be microwaved.
They only time I use a frying pan these days is when it's more convenient to add or make a sauce in the pan with the meat.

[kalniel]

Er.. isn't there no point in using extra virgin for frying? As soon as you heat it you instantly break it down into just normal olive oil. Worth saving a few pennys and just use extra for flavour/dressings rather than frying.

[directhex]

my experience with this stuff has been pan-stickitude.

[autopilot]

This stuff has been around for years and years. I never really liked it TBH, but not sure why - there is something not quite 'right' about it, never put my finger on for some reason. Also, olive oil should always be added to a hot pan just before you put the food in

[sunnyg]

i am a bit dubious about using these oil pressuried sprays becuase you never know what they put in them. i think the best thing to do is get a not compressable spray can, used in hair dressing and garding (i'm sure you can get some from a kitchen shop) and fill it will extra like olive oil. this will be more economical and you know what your using.

[Dav0s]

my mum has been buying this stuff for years, its ok, you lose a bit of flavour but i suppose its worth it for those actually watching their figure.

personally i just follow up any fatty meal with a diet coke to reverse the effects

[Trippledence]

We got a pressureised spray thing from lakeland and just top it up with real olive oil.

[Taz]

Just to clarify, the olive oil spray is in a pump-action spray can. It's not pressurised. It's just real olive oil (with a little alcohol to preserve it).

Anyway, boy do I miss my fried food. I'll be trying some burgers and fish fingers over the weekend!

[starbuck]

I recently got one of those tefal red spot frying pans. Have never had to use oil in anything I cook(one way to cut down I suppose).

Another way to cut down on oil is not to put it in the pan but to brush oil over whatever you are cooking, that way you minimise the oil you are using.

Main reason oil is used is to stop anything sticking to the pan(the right oil does add flavour though to some things). If you are using oil to stop something sticking, just make sure you get the pan hot enough(by this, I don't mean smoking) and that would stop most things sticking and reduce the need for oil.

Whenever I've used spray oil, I've just used a small trigger spray bottle and put oil into it. At least this way, I know what's in the bottle.

[texteditor]

Just use virgin oil for dressings?
Take two bottles into the Kitchen?

[g8ina]

God talk about waking the dead

[fuddam]

there's nothing wrong with fried food - it's how you do it that counts / what ingredients you use.
eg the typical chinese diet (traditional chinese) is 15% HIGHER in fats than the typical american diet, yet the chinese are obviously not overweight like the americans.
Reason? the yanks tend to use saturated fats, + highly processed food.
My chinese relatives enjoy eating fat by itself, in fact. Not my cuppa, but there ya go.
don't feel the need to cut out the fat - just change your cooking style.

[Rosaline]

With a good frying pan, many foodstuffs may not actually need any oil adding other than that added in seasoning the pan.

Certainly, the trick to a good omelette is to take a clean pan, season it with olive oil (rub oil in using kitchen towel, no excess should be on the surface), and then just cook. If you manage to keep the pan clean, the heat the pan reaches sterilises it, and so you don't need to clean it (which would then require that you season it again).

I've found that for most frying and hot-plate based cooking methods, seasoning is all that's needed unless the food itself calls for extra oil (making 'sunny side up' fried eggs crispy/safe will tend to need it, for example).