What Am I Eating? With Zooey Deschanel

Do you wanna hear a spooky story?

Oils and fats, they're the worst thing you can put in your body!

If you indulge even a little, they will kill you.

We've all heard that one,

but what if all the stories we've heard about fats are based on a lie?

Contrary to what we've been told,

fats and oils are not evil killers waiting to attack our arteries.

But what are they?

They're nutrients.

They provide us with energy, support healthy skin and hair, and help us absorb vitamins.

But there are so many out there.

Which should we use? Which should we avoid?

We're gonna decode the whole fat mystery for ourselves.

Make that crazy row of oils in the store a lot less confusing,

and we'll even discover the best all-around oils for our health and our planet.

That's quite a to-do list, but we gotta debunk some misinformation first.

What is a fat,

and why were we taught that they're the criminals of the food community?

Fats, which are simply chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms,

are one a the three main components in the human diet,

along with carbohydrates and proteins.

They're our major energy source,

help us absorb vitamins and minerals,

and give back a lotta flavor and aroma.

They're kind of important.

The story of fat in our food, is like one of those addictive true crime shows.

It's got plot twists, drama, and a line-up of potential suspects.

The story begins back in the 1960s.

Fats and oils were minding their own business staying slippery and tasty,

and staining the occasional miniskirt.

Suddenly, the sound of sirens fills the air.

It's the public opinion police,

and they're here to put all the fats and oils in the slammer.

But why do we lock up all the fats, and get low fat obsessed?

Some might say, it's a frame job. A set up.

You see, when according to the New York Times,

when a trade group for the sugar industry paid three Harvard scientists

to study the links between sugars, fats and heart disease,

the results glossed over sugars, and made saturated fats take the fall.

Then, one of the scientists from that study, got a new job at the USDA,

and infused the dietary guidelines with some seriously anti-fat attitudes

that have lasted for decades.

Clearly, some fats deserve a second chance.

And to help me pick a couple to start with,

I'm gonna meet award winning chef, Tim Hollingsworth, at his restaurant, Otium,

where he masters the art of cooking with oil.

Okay, so I love to cook.

I cook all the time, but sometimes it's confusing,

which oils to use for which purpose.

- Yep. - And I wanna know, once and for all...

- - ...settle the debate!

If you're cooking, you're either using grapeseed oil...

- Okay. - ...or you're using olive oil.

You wanna expand from that you wanna use...

- Yep. - ...coconut oil, you wanna use macadamia nut oil,

- you wanna use avocado oil, all great. - All great. Okay.

Yeah, and then you want oil that you're gonna use for, like, flavoring and finishing.

- Yeah. - So, you want a finishing olive oil.

What would be the difference between a finishing olive oil and another olive oil?

- The quality of the oil is gonna be different. - Yeah.

The flavor of the oil. You want the first press.

- Okay. - You want the extra virgin olive oil.

- I almost cook everything exclusively in olive oil. - Yeah.

Except if I don't want olive oil flavor.

So, say I'm making,

- like, Korean inspired, or Japanese inspired... - Yeah.

...where I might use, like, a grapeseed oil,

- like a neutral oil... - Mmm-hmm.

- Right, yeah. - ...and then finish with a sesame oil.

You want the dish to taste like, sort of, the region that it comes from a little bit,

as much as possible.

What about people that keep talking about, like, soybean oil?

- So... - I hear it's not good for you,

- or in places? - All of those, like, canola, safflower, vegetable oil,

um, all of those oils are all overly processed.

- Okay. - So, any time you wanna talk about,

like, the best oil for you...

- Yeah. Right. - ...you want one that's the least processed.

Hear that? Get outta here, overprocessed oils.

These oils are less healthy and potentially hazardous.

They're extracted using either heat, which lowers their nutritional value,

or chemical solvents, like hexane, which are hazardous to humans.

If the label says "refined",

it may be cheaper, but it's not as good for you as cold pressed oils.

Good oils, bad oils, now we're cooking with nuance.

Before we turn up the heat, this may be a good time

to break down which fats are the real killers,

and which ones are being set up for crimes they didn't commit.

Let's start with the criminal mastermind, trans fat.

You usually find trans fat in processed foods, that are made with hydrogenated oil.

Although many trans fats are banned in U.S. products, you can still encounter them.

This bad boy is linked to heart disease,

inflammation, and high cholesterol.

So, those are some pretty good reasons to lock up trans fats and throw away the key.

Next up, is saturated fat.

You can find it in foods like meat, pastries and ice cream.

This type of fat isn't as harmful as trans-fat,

but still needs to be consumed in moderation since too much of it can clog arteries,

and increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

So saturated fat, you're out on probation, but we're watching you.

Now, we come to unsaturated fat, or good fat.

This kid was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health,

monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats,

which can be found in olive oils, avocados, nuts, seeds and fish,

actually lower our risk of disease.

What's more, the National Health Service

says that our bodies actually need these good fats

to process vitamins, level out blood sugar and make us feel full.

All unsaturated fat wanted to do was be a part a your healthy diet,

and now he's wasting away in his cell, locked up for someone else's crimes.

So, how do we address this injustice?

I say, let's slide back the cell bars on some of our fat friends,

and make them a part of a healthy lifestyle, in moderation, of course.

So, now that we've figured out what oils to avoid, let's find out which oils to use.

Chef Tim is gonna make me his life changingly delicious fried potatoes.

I love cooking potatoes.

I've spent so many hours trying to find a way at home

to cook, like, the perfect, crispy potato.

- Yeah. - If you were, like,

you can have any dessert in the world, or potatoes.

- I'd be, like, potatoes all the way. - Right.

And I do want to taste some potatoes fried in different oils

to see what they taste like.

- Can we... - Oh, uh...

- You think we do that? - I think you have to...

I think you have to help me make them.

- Oh, can I? You're gonna let me? - Yes! Come on back.

Come on back.

- So, we have two different types of oil here. -

I wanted you to try the difference

- between grapeseed oil and peanut oil. - Yeah.

The quality of the oil is... Is very important.

These have high smoke points.

What's a smoke point, you ask?

All the cool fats have one.

It's the temperature oil reaches when it stops shimmering and starts smoking.

That means the oil is breaking down, losing flavor and nutritional value,

and that's not cool.

So, if you know what temperature you need to cook at,

then you can choose the right oil for the job

and stay cool, below the smoke point.

So, this is an instant read thermometer,

and oils are like at basically 400 and 450 degrees.

- These potatoes are cold. I'm gonna add it to the hot oil.

- Yeah. - The oil's gonna go down in temperature,

so I'm gonna start it off at a little bit higher than I actually want.

- Okay. - So, by the time

- the oil and the potatoes sorta catch up... - Yeah.

...like, it's not gonna drop it down to, like, 325.

Is it better to have, like, your potatoes room temperature,

- or you want them cold? - If you want crispy, you want cold.

The reason why is you want it to be shocked, so that it gets extra crispy.

- Okay, so we're gonna put some potatoes in, right? - Yes.

- Ooh! Ooh! - Exactly.

So, this is grapeseed oil and this is peanut oil.

Would you find this at a fast food restaurant?

- No, they're probably gonna be using... - Canola?

...canola oil, vegetable oil.

Imagine, you have a restaurant and you're just frying and that's all you do,

- are you frying a ton of this stuff? - Right.

You want the... The oil to last as long as possible,

- and you want it to be as cheap as possible. - Right.

We're frying with better oil, that's why it's... It's better to eat fried food

at home or from a... A restaurant that you, like, can trust.

The cheaper the food, the worse is it for you, specifically the oil, right?

So, you can see, like, we're getting, like, nice and crispy.

It's looking very good.

- If I... If I do say so. - Yeah.

- We're looking for them to be the dark color that we want... - Yep.

- ...without it being overly dark. Yeah. - Maple syrup color.

- So, these are at a good temperature to pull. - Those look very good.

Okay, so I'm gonna add salt.

- Oh, that's a good amount, okay. - Yes,

but I'm not gonna put it all.

- Then, we're gonna add aleppo pepper, shallots, - Okay. Love shallots.

- Parsley, lemon salt, lemon juice. - Yeah, I love salt and lemon.

Sure, good stuff.

- Okay. - Okay, so now, we're ready to go.

- This one is grapeseed, and this is peanut. - Grapeseed. Peanut. Okay.

Oh, my God.

And it's so good.

It's like the perfect potato flavor,

but the seasoning really brings out the crispiness.

- Mmm. - Yeah.

This is what I think of as the fried taste of a potato.

Yeah, the peanut oil is gonna give you another background flavor.

- Mmm-hmm. - Right?

Where the grapeseed oil is gonna be more neutral.

So, you're gonna taste exactly what you have there.

So, the winner?

- Peanut oil! - Peanut oil, oh, yeah.

- It taste's more like a potato here. - Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm.

- And the peanuts just make the potato taste, so... - Mmm-hmm.

- ...like, yeah, elevates it, right? - Mmm-hmm.

I would completely use this at home for all-purpose cooking,

but I'm definitely picking up some peanut oil, because I don't have any,

and, uh, I just love the taste.

I'll be taking these... Excuse me.

Buying the right oil