Why Home Cooks Should Use Oil Instead Of Butter On Roasts – Exclusive (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to use olive oil or butter on prime rib? ›

Use Olive Oil Instead

If you are searing a roast with butter before or after cooking it, it is more likely to burn due to its low smoke point. Instead, David Rose recommends home cooks use olive oil or grapeseed oil to lessen any chance of the roast charring.

For one thing, butter is made up of 63% saturated fat, whereas olive oil only has 14%. Olive oil also contains heart-healthy monounsaturated good fats and antioxidants. Butter's high saturated fat content, on the other hand, is shown in studies to lead to heart disease and other health issues.

The milk solids in butter create a flavor that's hard to beat. It brings a little extra deliciousness to almost any recipe. If you don't eat dairy, or you're just looking for a different flavor, you can also substitute oil for butter in most recipes, but it's important to keep flavor in mind.

Because olive oil comes from a plant, it has unique health benefits from nutrients like polyphenols — which aren't found in butter. These polyphenols help make olive oil a more nutritious choice. Using butter every so often — or even a small amount each day — isn't likely to harm your health.

You need a high heating point, so don't use olive oil or butter, which will burn and turn to smoke. Beef tallow (rendered beef fat) or lard (rendered pork fat) are both excellent choices! Remember to place the roast fat side down in the hot pan.

How do restaurants make prime rib so tender? The secret to restaurant-style prime rib is cooking the meat super slow at low temperatures. I recommend cooking prime rib at no higher than 200 degrees F. This cooks the meat very slowly, turning the fat into butter and rendering the proteins juicy and soft.

"When they are fried, it gives them a little toasted brown butter flavor, which only adds to the eggs," she says. "Butter also makes everything better!" Butter certainly works for fried eggs, but oil is the fat of choice for cooks who want a runny yolk with a satisfying crispy white.

The healthiest oil to cook with is olive oil. It's versatile, being used in everything from frying to finishing. It's also rich in healthy fats, antioxidants, and polyphenols, all of which have shown protective effects against cancer and liver, heart, and neurodegenerative diseases (27, 28).

Oil has less saturated fat than butter does which makes it a healthier choice if you are looking for something lower in calories and fat content.

It is possible to replace oil with butter in a muffin recipe as generally most muffin recipes are quite forgiving and you may find that butter gives a better flavour.

Are cakes better with oil or butter? ›

Despite some widespread beliefs, oil cakes are not inferior to butter cakes. Here's why. The texture of cakes made with oil is—in general—superior to the texture of cakes made with butter. Oil cakes tend to bake up loftier with a more even crumb and stay moist and tender far longer than cakes made with butter.

Indeed, cookies made with butter are usually softer and more tender than those made with oils. And last but not least, butter in cookies helps achieve that perfect texture. That's because butter melts at a lower temperature than other fats, allowing cookies to spread evenly while baking.

Now we know that while butter is rich in saturated fat, olive oil is packed with monounsaturated fatty acids, which our body finds easier to ingest. In addition, extra-virgin olive oil also contains polyphenols, along with other virtues such as boosting circulation and helping the intestines.

Olive oil should not be stored next to the stove as this exposes the oil to consistent heat. It is also not recommended to store oil in the refrigerator because condensation within the bottle may lead to off flavors. Store your oil in a cool, dark cabinet or pantry.

Much to our surprise steak cooked with olive oil brought out the natural flavors of meat and helped maintain a desirable texture much better than butter.

Rub the prime rib with olive oil. In a small bowl, combine the salt, pepper, herbs and garlic powder. Rub this mixture onto the prime rib. Place the prime rib in a roasting pan, fat-side up, and insert an ovenproof meat thermometer so the tip is centered in the thickest part of the roast.

First, the extra layer of fat spread over the surface of the meat traps moisture so it can't escape as easily. This ensures a tender and juicy slice of roast beef. Second, browning compounds in the butter increase the flavor on the surface of the roast.