Why You Should Stay Away From High Heat When Cooking With Sesame Oil
Sesame oil is a great staple to have in your pantry as a flavorful cooking oil that can serve many purposes. However, there is one thing that you need to keep in mind when using sesame oil: It should not be used when cooking with high heat. This is because sesame oil has a very low smoke point, which is the temperature at which an oil will start to burn.
In fact, overcooking sesame oil will change its flavor and make it quite bitter, which is far from the delicious, nutty flavor that you want from sesame oil. If you're going to be cooking at high heat, you will be better off using canola oil, grapeseed oil, or corn oil, all of which have higher smoke points.
One other thing to keep in mind is that there are two types of sesame oil: regular sesame oil and toasted sesame oil (which has an even nuttier taste because it's made from seeds that have already been toasted). If you're going to cook with one of them, use regular sesame oil because toasted sesame oil has an even lower smoke point. As for what to do with sesame oil, you can still use it for some light frying if the dish doesn't require high heat, but it's so flavorful that you don't want to overlook other ways to incorporate it into various dishes.
The many ways to use sesame oil
When sesame oil is used in cooking, it's often used for finishing after another oil was used for frying. An example of this can be found in our recipe for winter chicken and vegetable stir fry, which utilizes both sesame oil and vegetable oil. Overall, integrating sesame oil into stir fry dishes is a great way to give the dish a more dynamic and rich flavor. Similarly, it's a great ingredient to use in a marinade for either veggies or meat.
It's also perfect for infusing into salad dressings. You can mix it with ingredients like rice vinegar, soy sauce, and honey for a simple and delicious dressing. Tasting Table has a recipe for a colorful toasted sesame noodle salad, which uses each of those ingredients, plus lime juice, minced ginger, and garlic to make a dressing that is arguably the star of the show.
You could even use toasted sesame oil to give an ice cream sundae a savory kick. It may be unexpected, but the nutty flavor of the toasted sesame oil isn't that different from adding whole nuts to a sundae, which many people enjoy. So, if you already enjoy topping your ice cream with nuts and want to try a spin on that flavor combination, look no further than toasted sesame oil.