Me and my girlfriend have been having a discussion for a whole day about whether or not fats are oils. We’ve googled it and the only facts we found is that fats are solids and oils are liquid, we also found that they are the same, we both agreed on that. But she also claims that oils are necessarily plant-based, which I don’t agree with.
She’s studying biology, and knows the chemistry and the proper names for things, while I have less scientific know-how, but know damn well you can use bacon fat as cooking oil. I don’t know if l’m right, moreover, I don’t know how to explain that she is wrong (if she is). Please help.
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I wouldn’t say fats are oil but oils are fats.
Rub your face when you first wake up in the morning. Does it feel greasy? That’s oil from your non-plant body.
Not all fats are oils, but most oils are fats. The exception being petroleum oil.
Oil is simply the term used for fats that are liquid at room temperature.
All cooking oils have fat in them. But not all fats are “oils” in that sense. So I think y’all are having an argument over two different things.
*”you can use bacon fat as cooking oil”*
You can absolutely use bacon fat as “cooking oil” and people have done that for ***at least*** centuries. That’s why granny’s fried chicken tastes so amazing.
The fat in animals (and humans) is a connective tissue used to store energy and other purposes. But it sounds like y’all are having more of a culinary argument?
*”Oils are necessarily plant based”*
Yes, she’s correct. Peanut oil, rapeseed oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, olive oil, etc. There are no “pig oils” or whatever.
People have cooked with oils and lard for a long time. But I’d suggest that you and your lady come up with some concise sentences that express your disagreement.
Fats and oils are made of the same stuff – long chain molecules (hydrocarbons – actually not quite because there’s a little bit of oxygen in there but nvm) that are insoluble in water.
The two are pretty much interchangeable – in fact vegetable oils are often referred to as vegetable fats.
***in biology*** an oil is any fat that is liquid at room temperature. so all oils are fats. Not all fats are oils.
There are some animal based oils. They tend to come from animals that live in cold climates, or from animals with low body temperatures, or from the parts of the animal that are cooler than the rest of the animal.
* we secrete oils onto our skin.
* Whale oil was an important source of fuel back in ye olden times.
* they sell fish oil capsules near the vitamins.
* You can buy neetsfoot oil (used for polishing leather), which is basically fat from the legs and feet of cows (they have a lower melting point because the temperature of a cow’s feet is quite low compared to the rest of their body).
* The same is true of mink oil, it’s a liquid body fat from mink. it’s used to keep leather soft.
That definition doesn’t include synthetic or petroleum oils (like crude oil, or motor oil), which are quite different, chemically.
Is coconut oil actually coconut fat? Not counting if it’s been refined to be liquid at room temperature
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