Typically, oil is used for cooking as a lubricant so that the food doesn’t stick to the surface. Not only that but it is also used to enhance the flavor of the dish and add more nutrients to it. With that said, is it possible to use fish oil as a cooking component rather than a supplement?
Fish oil should never be used as cooking oil as it’s not refined, bleached, and deodorized into a safe cooking component. The Omega-3s in fish oil, EPA and DHA, are also very heat sensitive and easily destroyed when heated above a certain temperature.
Though fish oil is a good and beneficial oil that should be included in our diets, it should never be used as cooking oil as the alternatives are simply better. What are the reasons why fish oil shouldn’t be used as cooking oil?
Why Fish Oil Shouldn’t Be Used As A Cooking Oil
Some oils are used as cooking oils for their lubricating properties, nutrients, and flavors that can be added to the final product. There are many types of cooking oil out there but unfortunately, fish oil isn’t one of them. Here are some of the reasons why fish oil should never be used as a cooking oil.
Not Made The Same
Most cooking oils, be it peanut oil, olive oil, grapeseed oil, and so on, go through a specific refining process for them to be safe when it comes to both cooking and consumption. This process involves bleaching, deodorizing, and degumming.
Fish oil isn’t refined in the same way which makes its properties different from the oils used for cooking. This makes it so that certain volatile impurities are left in the oil which isn’t safe when in contact with high heat.
When fish oil is refined, the heat from refining not only damages the fatty acids but can potentially turn them into harmful substances to the human body. As other oils are already “damaged” through chemical processing, they are unable to be damaged further through heat.
Due to the fact that fish oil isn’t deodorized as well, there is a certain stench to fish oil that doesn’t appeal to certain people. You can imagine how bad it will be if your food doesn’t smell appealing to your appetite.
DHA And EPA
The main reason why fish oil cannot be refined as if they were a cooking oil is that heat breaks everything down. The refining process involves a lot of heat which can destroy the precious DHA and EPA found in fish oil, removing all benefits from it.
This is the reason why it isn’t recommended to try and cook with current fish oil as well even if it isn’t refined into a type of cooking oil. The heat from cooking will simply destroy the nutrients within, leaving you with nothing but saturated fats.
This is also the main reason why humans are unable to get enough EPA and DHA from eating fish alone without supplementation. Since fish needs to go through a cooking process, the heat destroys most of the Omega-3s.
Smell And Taste
Cooking oils, at their most natural state, have a weird and unappetizing smell. Not only that, but the taste is absolutely horrible as well. This taste and smell are removed from the oils through the process of bleaching and deodorizing.
As previously mentioned, fish oil can’t be put through the same refining process due to the sensitivity to heat the Omega-3s in them have. This leaves raw fish oil with an unpalatable taste and strong smell that will be transferred over to your cooked food.
With all that said, there are still ways to include fish oil in your food if you prefer it.
How To Use Fish Oil In Cooking
Though fish oil shouldn’t come into direct contact with heat as the beneficial Omega-3s start to break down immediately, there are other methods to include fish oil in cooking or food. Here are some of the ways you can enjoy fish oil in your food without destroying the nutrients.
Baking Or Steaming
The components that makeup of fish oil are incredibly sensitive to direct heat. With that said, it is possible to still heat it while preserving the nutrients by using other methods that don’t directly heat up the fish oil.
The oil naturally found in raw fish can be preserved by using methods of cooking other than frying or deep frying. Studies have shown that baking and steaming preserve the nutrients in fish oil the best and are preferred when it comes to fish.
Baking or steaming also removes the need to add more oil in order to keep the fish from sticking to the surface. This gives the benefit of reducing your daily intake of oil while preserving the nutrients of the fish oil found within fish.
Raw Fish Oil
As previously mentioned, raw fish oil is generally unpalatable and has a stench to it that makes other foods unappetizing. With that said, if you can endure the taste and smell, or even prefer it, it is possible to add it raw into foods that don’t require cooking at all.
This includes foods such as salads, desserts, or even smoothies if that’s what you’re looking for. If you feel a little adventurous, you can even toss it into your popcorn as a snack every now and again.
Wet-Saute
There is a method used by chefs in restaurants to reduce the amount of time direct heat comes into contact with oil. This method is called wet-sauteing which incorporates oil and water into the cooking pan.
First, pour the appropriate amount of water according to how much food you are cooking into the pan along with the food. Then, add in your fish oil and continue cooking until the food is done but not before the oil starts to burn.
Using this method, the oil is never cooked to a smoking point which reduced the damage done by heat sources. That and also the added benefit of preventing your smoke alarm from scaring the entire neighborhood.
Summary
Fish oil shouldn’t be used as cooking oil as it provides more benefits as an edible supplement instead. The refining process of turning fish oil into cooking oil destroys the beneficial Omega-3s found within which leaves you with nothing but unhealthy saturated oils.
Putting commercial fish oil into a pan does the same exact thing as you would with refining it which makes no sense to do so. With that said, there are a few methods to include fish oil into your food and cooking if you are adventurous enough to try.