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

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

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
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 andinsights to make you a kitchen
hero.
From authentic extra virginolive oils to rich-aged Italian
balsamic vinegars, We've goteverything you need to elevate

(00:27):
your cooking.
Live divine.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
If you've ever been told you can't cook with olive
oil, it's time to set the recordstraight.
And balsamic vinegar, it's notjust for salads.
Greg and Shirley Muller ofOlive Oil Diviner are here to
bust some myths and show us howto turn up the heat literally on
these kitchen staples.
Welcome back everyone.
Skip Monty, co-host slashproducer, back in the studio

(00:59):
with Greg Muller.
Greg, how's it going?

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Hey, skip, hey, I'm doing great.
It's a great day to be alive.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
All right, same here, same here.
So let's get straight to themeat of it here.
Greg, can you cook with oliveoil?

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Oh boy, can you.
I tell you what.
That's a misconception thatpeople think that you can't cook
with it.
But you can.
You know it's not just forsalads and bread dipping, for
sure, because you can cook withit over heat.
You just don't want to burn ittoo much because you know when
you do cook with it it kills thepolyphenols.
So we don't want to be killingthat, unless you just want it

(01:39):
for the flavor.
But absolutely you can cookwith a knife.
I can give you all kinds ofexamples if you'd like.
Sure.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
One of my favorites is one of the steaks that Paula
Deen and I did down in herkitchen in Savannah.
She absolutely loved it thebourbon steak and we used some
olive oil, or saviato to beexact, in a cast iron skillet we
fried some beautiful juicysteaks up and then saltate them
in our bourbon balsamic and thatbalsamic just caramelized a

(02:08):
little bit and the flavor ofthat 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 ontoo much heat it'll definitely
smell and smoke and set yoursmoke alarms off.
But don't be afraid to use it.
It's got a smoke kind of over400, so you can cook on it
medium, medium-high for shorttimes or low for longer if you

(02:31):
want to saute or something likethat.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
What are the best types of olive oil for high-heat
cooking versus finishing dishes?

Speaker 3 (02:38):
There's really not a best olive oil.
I mean the smoke point for allolive oils, if they're really
extra virgin, is going to be thesame.
I mean the smoke point for allolive oils if they're really
extra virgin is going to be thesame.
The only difference really isyou don't want to use a
medicinal oil, for example, thatdoesn't have any flavoring in
it.
It's just its own naturalflavor, because the heat that
you're going to be using isgoing to cook off the
polyphenols which gives you thehealth benefits.

(02:59):
So you'd basically be burningyour money up if you buy an
expensive medicinal oil.
But all of our other flavoredoils 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 itover my baked potatoes, so
don't be afraid.

(03:19):
In fact we do a 500-degree ovenbaked potato where we'll take
our olive oil and coat theoutside of the potato, put it in
the oven for 500 degrees for anhour, and boy, it comes out
beautiful.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oh wow, are some specific olive oils, and you
mentioned a few like the bourbon.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Sounds very interesting actually, but that
pair best with different typesof cuisine yeah, well, you know
the bourbon is a balsamic, so wedon't have a bourbon oil.
I don't think at least.
Well, for example, our Italianherbs are number one selling
olive oil and it can be used forsalad dressings.

(03:56):
A lot of people use it forbread dipping.
I like to use it for frying upa chicken or any kind of a fish.
You can certainly put it over aroast or a turkey.
My wife she really does it withthe turkeys in those little
bags and that holds the flavorin and gosh, you can really
taste the flavor of that Italianherb, olive oil that she puts
in there.
I mentioned chipotle.

(04:17):
Oh yeah, I'll be over forThanksgiving sometime and we'll
show you how to use olive oiland balsamic in the kitchen for
sure.
But yeah, don't be afraid to tryanything.
There's no wrong way to cookwith olive oil, for sure.
Be adventurous, and of coursewe have guides in our store that
we can help you with.
Or you can go online and searchour website.
Just type in any flavor oliveoil or any flavor food, and if

(04:40):
there's an oil associated withit, it'll pop up in the search
results and give you all kindsof ideas.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Very good to know, very good to know.
Well, what about balsamicvinegar?
Can you cook with?

Speaker 3 (04:51):
vinegar, cook with vinegar, Absolutely Like I
mentioned.
We use that bourbon on a steakwith Paula.
But Shirley, she loves tofinish her steaks with her Cask
25 or 25 year aged traditionalbalsamic.
She won't eat one without mefinishing it and, for example,
what I do is I'll cook the steakto the doneness that she likes

(05:11):
and then the last minute it's inthe pan I'll drizzle some on
each side, flip it over in justa minute or so so it caramelizes
the sugars in that balsamic andthat just makes a nice
finishing flavor on that steakand you don't lose the juices
inside either definitely have totry that that.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
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 thebottle like a fine one?

Speaker 3 (05:40):
oh, yeah, well, you know how else are we supposed to
taste it?
Skip, you know.
Yeah, yeah, I don't drinkbalsamic from the bottle as much
as you would think I do.
You know, if I want to taste anew flavor that we're sampling
yeah by all means it's my ownpersonal bottle.
But now olive oil, I do have anoil called Zoi which is a
medicinal oil.

(06:01):
It's a super high polyphenoloil of 1,870 that I bring my own
bottle home and I've beentaking two to three tablespoons
every day for health reasons andyou know, after a while I kind
of learned what threetablespoons in my mouth felt
like, so I've just starteddrinking it straight from the
bottle.
I know about how much is threetablespoons and you've got to go

(06:26):
and get to work in a hurry.
That's the way to do it.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
That's the way to do it drink straight from the
bottle.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
You've got to make sure it's your own bottle.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
It's your own bottle, that's right.
That's right.
The bottle, you got to makesure it's your own bottle.
It's your own bottle, that'sright.
That's right.
Well, you mentioned thepolyphenols.
Is there a level of polyphenolsthat you should look for in
every olive oil, or is itspecific to just health
properties?

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Well, you know that level changes every year with
the new crops.
For example, on average, ourtasting or flavored oils.
They range anywhere from thelow 200s all the way up to 900
for a flavored oil.
So there's not really a targetto shoot for.
But obviously if you're cookingwith olive oil or switching to
it, then you want to make sureyou have a high polyphenol oil

(07:09):
if you're looking for themedicinal and the health
properties of it and I knowwe'll get into the health
properties of it perhaps inanother podcast but there's
really no target number.
You know the polyphenols inolive oil change from year to
year.
So I guess if I had to put anaverage, an average would be
around three or 400, at least inour shop.
I don't know what the othershops would be but that's a good
average.
Of course we have some prettyhigh polyphenol oils, so our

(07:32):
average may be a little higherthan the average store.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Now I know you guys measure the polyphenols in your
olive oils.
Is that something to look forif you're in a grocery store and
you're just you're looking forsomething to cook with.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
Oh, absolutely A lot of those oils in the grocery
store.
They don't put the polyphenolcount on the bottles.
We don't either, but we do haveit available on our website and
it's in our store.
Those are actually sent off.
All those oils that we offerare sent to a lab and they're
lab certified and we have thecertification that proves what
the measurement was.

(08:04):
Absolutely, you ought to lookat what you're buying, if you
can.
Unfortunately, in the grocerystores they don't do that and
there's no way to do it unlessyou buy from us.
You can always take that oiland find it online and it'll
tell you the current polyphenol,prostate acidity and some other
information.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Very good to know.
Very good to know.
I will be watching for that.
Well, Greg, appreciate yourtime today and we'll look
forward to talking more aboutthe health benefits in the next
episode.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
All right, I look forward to it.
You're very welcome, skipepisode.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
All right, I look forward to it.
You're very welcome, skip.
All right, thanks so much.
Have a great weekend and we'llsee you in the next one.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Thanks for tuning in to the Olive Oil Divine podcast.
Don't forget to visit us onlineat oliveoildivinecom for our
exceptional olive oils, agedbalsamic vinegars and more.
If you're local, stop by ourstore and discover how we can
make you a kitchen hero.
Until next time, live divine.