Knowledge Base > Barton Seaver - The Root of the Matter

The Root of the Matter

Barton Seaver - The Root of the Matter

This event was on Tuesday, February 15, 2022 at 1:00 pm Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern

Root vegetables are the star of cold-weather cooking; hearty standbys that are in peak season now.

Join Barton Seaver to explore this versatile category and discover some fresh i… Read More.

Recorded

Question:

When roasting root vegetables what are the effects of using butter vs extra virgin oil vs avocado oil vs coconut oil vs flavored oil vs canola oil vs a combination of butter & oil? Is it all about the oven temperature or is there more to understand?

— Teri Blouin

Answer:

Certainly, there's a nutrition aspect to this and whatever diet you're you're following. But if you're asking about all of those various ingredients, I'm guessing you're willing to use them. So really it's about flavor. more than anything else The fat is not going to burn in the oven at the temperatures that you're cooking root vegetables at which is probably a Max 425. Butter, I think I would shy away from in this case simply because the root vegetables are typically served and go to room temperature pretty quickly. So if you're using butter, it has the potential to congeal or at least heart solidify enough to make its presence known sort of in the dish or on the palate as opposed to any of the oils you mentioned which would really disappear and integrate into the dish if you use if you use judiciously, so I would say that's the only thing there is is flavor and possibly texture on butter. But then also nutrition so anything like extra virgin olive oil. Yes, I've heard all of the things about it burns at low temperature and you shouldn't saute with it, etc. Etc. And you know what? I do I saute with it and a grill with it and I cook everything with it and I really don't own. Neutral oils for any reason other than to make aioli out of them where I don't want the full flavor of extra virgin olive oil. So I'll use maybe a cup and a half of you know, canola oil or rapeseed oil to a half cup of extra virgin there and just that's again a flavor thing. So I cook everything in olive oil just it's my preferred medium.
Barton Seaver

Barton Seaver

Chef, Educator, Author

bartonseaver.com