Olive oil rec?

[jostenmeat]

Hey, I was curious if anyone had certain olive oil brands to recommend? I wouldn't mind one for a smoother, milder flavor (but still a good flavor) for when I don't want too much flavor imparted into any certain dish, but also one that is very flavorful for when I want that.

Thanks!

 

[j_garcia]

I'll have to look at the store for a particular name, but go I just look for a cold pressed variety from the store for general use - it costs more, but IMO, it is better quality and supposed to be better for you. For something with a little more flavor, it is going to be tough to really make a recommendation IMO, since the possibilities are sort of endless. When you say flavor, do you mean flavored with other items or just an olive oil that tastes good in general? I use EVOO to cook most dishes now.

The next town over from us is an olive growing/olive oil producing town and I have yet to get over there and see what they have because it is still like 20 minutes away...

 

[STRONGBADF1]

I'll have to look at the store for a particular name, but go I just look for a cold pressed variety from the store for general use - it costs more, but IMO, it is better quality and supposed to be better for you. For something with a little more flavor, it is going to be tough to really make a recommendation IMO, since the possibilities are sort of endless. When you say flavor, do you mean flavored with other items or just an olive oil that tastes good in general? I use EVOO to cook most dishes now.

The next town over from us is an olive growing/olive oil producing town and I have yet to get over there and see what they have because it is still like 20 minutes away...

Rachel, is that you?

 

[Alex2507]

I just end up getting Barilla. I figure if it costs $25/gallon it must be good stuff. I've tried that Whole Foods 365 brand too. If I wanted to know something about fancy food related stuff I would PM Andrew/avaserfi or Jersey Rick/Rickster71. I don't want to be laying on the stereotypes real heavy but something tells me that he's related to a lot of people whose names end in vowels ... and you know how 'they' are about their olive oil.

I am completely ashamed of partaking in such generalizations.

 

[MinusTheBear]

Hey, I was curious if anyone had certain olive oil brands to recommend? I wouldn't mind one for a smoother, milder flavor (but still a good flavor) for when I don't want too much flavor imparted into any certain dish, but also one that is very flavorful for when I want that.

Thanks!

If you know of any local boutique stores specializing in gourmet cheeses they might also carry a variety of olive oils from all sorts of countries like Italy, Greece, Turkey etc. Some of these shops even allow tastings of olive oil using bread or in tasting glasses. This would be the best way to find the olive oil you want if you are prepared to spend top dollar for a bottle. For all intents of purposes, regular extra virgin olive will get you by 95% of your cooking. Your best olive oil should only be used with finishing a dish or on something neutral like a piece of bread.

 

[Rickster71]

Hey, I was curious if anyone had certain olive oil brands to recommend? I wouldn't mind one for a smoother, milder flavor (but still a good flavor) for when I don't want too much flavor imparted into any certain dish, but also one that is very flavorful for when I want that.

Thanks!

Due to all the fraud and counterfeiting in the olive oil market, it's best to find an oil that you like, at a fair price.
Find anything that's good, yet still inexpensive. (think speaker wire)
If we don't fall for the "Expensive / Trendy is better " marketing ploy, there is some real nice reasonably priced stuff out there.

Two oils that pop into my head are, believe it or not, Goya e.v. is very good and at a great price.

The next is even better with more flavor, it's our 'go to' oil for dipping bread.
It's Costco's Kirkland brand oil imported from Tuscany; It's dated and harvested once a year in Oct / Nov. they may still have some, it comes in a tall rectangular glass bottle (1 Liter)

 

[Rickster71]

If I wanted to know something about fancy food related stuff I would PM Andrew/avaserfi or Jersey Rick/Rickster71. I don't want to be laying on the stereotypes real heavy but something tells me that he's related to a lot of people whose names end in vowels ... and you know how 'they' are about their olive oil.

I am completely ashamed of partaking in such generalizations.

Hey, I'm only half Italian, my wife is half too.

 

[Alex2507]

Hey, I'm only half Italian, my wife is half too.

Have you ever owned an IROC Z28 or a Cadillac?

-Dang, photo bucket is doing site maintenance.

My girl is only half Italian as well but to hear her and her sisters talk it sounds like they're full bloods and when they start talking about relatives it's like somebody is doing role call at Ellis Island. Living in Rhode Island the culture sort of rubs off on you. I started slicking my hair back.

 

[rnatalli]

For ones that can be found in most local stores, DeCecco is pretty decent.

 

[Rickster71]

Have you ever owned an IROC Z28 or a Cadillac?

It's funny you mention that.
We were at the Hertz rental counter last week and a manager came up and asked if we'd like to change to a Camaro. He said it was the only one they had and it was brand new. I said no thanks, that I didn't think the trunk would fit my wife's many suitcases.
Later my wife said she was glad I didn't change cars, because the Camaro seemed too Ginzo.

My girl is only half Italian as well but to hear her and her sisters talk it sounds like they're full bloods and when they start talking about relatives it's like somebody is doing role call at Ellis Island. Living in Rhode Island the culture sort of rubs off on you. I started slicking my hair back.

It seems that if the mother is Italian, the half Italian kids take on more of that heritage.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

It really doesn't matter what kind of oil you put on the Danley DTS-10, it's just never gonna taste or look very good...

 

[Rickster71]

The next town over from us is an olive growing/olive oil producing town and I have yet to get over there and see what they have because it is still like 20 minutes away...

Now that's the way to do it! Local and fresh.

 

[MinusTheBear]

Olive oil is hardly like speaker wire. However, I wouldn't spend an exorbitant amount of money on a bottle unless I tried it first. Like I said in my earlier post a reputable boutique cheese shop might have some good bottles.

 

[Rickster71]

Olive oil is hardly like speaker wire.

I guess I could've been more clear, I meant in the marketing.
When I said ( think speaker wire), I was referring to my next line that said, "If we don't fall for the "Expensive / Trendy is better " marketing ploy, there is some real nice reasonably priced stuff out there."

 

[j_garcia]

Olive oil is hardly like speaker wire. However, I wouldn't spend an exorbitant amount of money on a bottle unless I tried it first. Like I said in my earlier post a reputable boutique cheese shop might have some good bottles.

Wine shops also almost always have a selection of olive oils as well, as many wineries also produce olive oil because olives tend to grow well in the same environments as the grapes.

Now that's the way to do it! Local and fresh.

They have a big tasting place and olive festivals and all. I keep saying we need to drop in and do some tasting, but we haven't had the time lately with all the work on the house we have to do right now.

 

[Chu Gai]

For general use, available here at least on the east coast, I prefer the tins from Kalmata which is a Greek olive oil (not EVOO type) over the general purpose Italian ones. For salads, I find the EVOO's too overpowering and heavy for my tastes and tend towards Grapeseed oils which are much lighter and more delicate. When I want more heaviness and flavor, like for garlic marinated red peppers in which you can dip a good, crusty french or italian bread, I'll go with EVOO however I don't have a favorite brand there.

 

[Rickster71]

They have a big tasting place and olive festivals and all. I keep saying we need to drop in and do some tasting, but we haven't had the time lately with all the work on the house we have to do right now.

Sounds nice out there John.
My wife and I want to plan a trip out to the west coast, and check out the wine country, last time was in 92.
Maybe if RJ does another West Coast GTG?... hint to RJ

 

[j_garcia]

A little commentary I found about "Olive City":

Corning, Calif., owes its spot on the map to the humble olive.

By Josh Sens

To a motorist rolling along Interstate 5 in Northern California, exit 631 looks like an ordinary freeway turnoff. Actually, it's a pit stop of a different kind. The road curls through downtown Corning, the "Olive City," a friendly, rural place where travelers can fill up on a certain small, firm, brine-bathed fruit. Corning packages more than half the olives sold in the United States. The engine behind all that activity is the Bell-Carter Olive Co., the largest olive processor in the country and second largest in the world. On average, its jackhammer-loud pitting machines process up to 57,000 olives per minute.

The best place for connoisseurs to relish the town's bounty is at the Olive Pit, where a tasting bar and shelves are packed with olives in almost every imaginable permutation—sliced, ground into bread mix, rendered into soap. "We've got literally hundreds of olive options," says Ron Craig, whose parents founded the store in 1966 nearly 200 years after Spanish missionaries brought the first olive trees to California.

 

[jostenmeat]

Thanks for the discussion, people.

Alex, I've also tried a bottle of the Whole Check 365, and it's fine, but nothing to write home about I think.

rnatalli, I will keep my eyes out for DeCecco.

MTB, it totally skipped my mind to try the boutique shops. The first that comes to mind is this excellent French restaurant (with a very cool owner/cook), that has a walk-in cheese/wine store on the premises. I think I understand what you're saying about only splurging for finishing oil, but I tell you sometimes it can still make quite a difference when cooked/sauteed/etc, at least in my impressions.

Ok, so I guess it's easy to find run of the mill cooking EVOO, so I should have just asked only for the very flavorful.

Rickster, I've got to try some of that Costco/Kirkland oil, and I didn't know that existed. Kirkland food stuff always seems to be of very high value, or at least their booze is, haha.

The most flavorful oil I ever had was sort of like a "Costco-type" of thing in Europe, where I just bought a large value-oriented bottle. It was amazing though. It was made in Spain, where I read later in an interesting National Geographic article that they produce more any other country (and I just confirmed with a Wiki search now). Now, I haven't really looked since those many years ago, but I still haven't had any olive oil that tasted as good IMO. I will also keep my eyes for the Goya now too.

Chu Gai, I want to try some kalamata oil, have any particular bottles to recommend? I do have grapeseed oil, but I use it extremely rarely, which is a shame as the shelf life is a lot shorter I believe.

 

[Alex2507]

I just end up getting Barilla. I figure if it costs $25/gallon it must be good stuff.

Correction: It's Berio, Fillipo Berio and if you get 1/2 a gallon it's like $30/gallon. If you get the small size it's $50/gallon. I'll take suggestions and try anything like twice but much more than that and it's gonna have to be for holidays only. My girl rubs that stuff on her eye lids to prevent wrinkles ... which gives me an idea.