Love affair with olive oil has led to nation’s pans being damaged

The ingredient’s low smoke point means wear and tear is too high on cookware, says Le Creuset

NO SELF-RESPECTING amateur chef would get to work without a bottle of olive oil by the hob but the country’s obsession with the ingredient is wrecking our pans, Le Creuset has warned.

After dealing with customer complaints about damaged pans, the French kitchenware company – a firm favourite in the kitchens of Britain’s middle classes – said olive oil may be the culprit.

It has written to customers advising them against using the oil because it burns too quickly, which damages the bottom of its pans. Professional chefs have also weighed in, saying that cooks should use alternative oils with higher smoke points when cooking, leaving olive oil for garnish.

One customer who wrote to the company after the non-stick on her Le Creuset wok started to wear was told: “We advise to avoid using olive oil and recommend oils with a higher burning point like rapeseed oil, coconut oil and sunflower oil. Olive oil has a very low burning point, and this can form a brownish film on the pan (burnt oil), creating a barrier between the food and the pan. We would advise that every now and then you rub cooking oil around the pan and leave it whilst it is not in use. This will help preserve the quality of it.”

John Lewis also urges customers to avoid the oil. “We advise customers that olive oil can carbonise on ceramic pans, leaving a residue,” the department store said. Smeg said that olive oil was safe to use but “it is recommended not to allow the oil to smoke or burn. Due to the enhanced non-stick properties, food can be cooked and fried without the need for oil at all.”

Mark Greenaway, a chef and author of the award-winning cookbook Perceptions, added that too many people were ruining the taste of their food by cooking with olive oil that had been allowed to burn. “Also if you need to rely on the taste of an oil in your food, you’re probably doing something wrong,” he said.

“You should never cook with olive oil. It should only ever be used in finishing a dish. If you cook with it, the smoking point is so low, it removes the Teflon from non-stick pans or “burns” traditional pans.”

Minerals, enzymes, and other compounds in many unrefined oils can contribute to lower smoke points. Experts said that these oils, including olive oil, are best-suited to drizzling, dressings, and lower temperature cooking. Alternatives with higher smoke points include avocado, almond, canola, corn, and peanut oil.

Sales of speciality oils, including walnut and rapeseed oil, have risen in recent years. The market is now worth £51million, up from £47million in 2019. The olive oil market is also doing well, rising from £158million to £179million over the same period, according to the data company Mintel.

Niki Achitoff-Gray, the former editor-in-chief at the website Serious Eats, wrote in her blog “Smoking oil isn’t always a bad thing – oftentimes, you’ll want that wok or skillet ripping hot. But when a flavourful raw oil or pool of butter starts sending up smoke, you’re headed into a danger zone … Heated past its smoke point, that fat starts to break down, releasing free radicals and a substance called acrolein, the chemical that gives burnt foods their acrid flavour and aroma.”

Supermarkets across the UK have placed limits on how much cooking oil customers can buy due to supply-chain problems caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Tesco has introduced a buying limit of three bottles per customer across its entire cooking oil range. Tesco is following in the footsteps of Morrisons and Waitrose, which have already limited purchases to two per person.

‘You should never cook with olive oil. If you cook with it, the smoking point is so low, it removes the Teflon from non-stick pans or “burns” traditional pans’