The Cook Gets A Grilling
September 1, 2005

Have you ever enjoyed a dish at a party and quizzed the cook on how it was prepared? A generous cook will share enthusiastically- but here’s a warning: they may be guilty of omission of facts. Cooks tend to be light on detail because basic knowledge or steps are so ingrained they don’t really think about it. I was guilty of this recently at a family party for my mom’s 70th birthday.

I had grilled a large platter of fresh veggies for dinner: Roma tomatoes, yellow and green squash, peppers, red onion, eggplant, and cauliflower. I thought it was a simple execution of the season’s finest, no big deal. That is, until my sister Jody, who has a palate like Jean-Georges Vongerichten, put me on the cook’s witness stand and started grilling me for the details. She loves to entertain and I could see where this platter might end up on her weekend menu. “What did you do to make these veggies so good?” she asked. “I just grilled them in a little oil.” “What kind of oil” she wanted to know. “Umm….olive oil?” “No, no, I can see that the veggies are fit for a photo shoot, and I can also taste rosemary, thyme, and tarragon.” “Wow, she’s good” I thought “why didn’t she become a lawyer?”

Here I was sincerely thinking that my technique had been “just a little olive oil” when in reality, there was way more detail to it than that. I had actually used grapeseed oil to baste the vegetables. It has a light, delicate taste and a high smoke point (485 degrees) that permits high heat cooking without smoking the food gray. The grapeseed oil preserves the color and integrity of the vegetables, and the grill marks are awesome. This particular can of oil was infused with a delightful mixture of Herbs de Provence, something I hadn’t really paid attention to, but it elevated the vegetables to a new level of flavor.

Grapeseed oil is one of the healthiest cooking oils. It raises the good cholesterol (HDL) and lowers the bad stuff (LDL). It has no cholesterol, no sodium, and only about half of the saturated fat of olive oil. It is sold in the oil or health food sections of markets, but I found my 30.4 ounce can at Marshall’s for $7.99. Now that testimony is in, here’s the verdict: grapeseed oil is worth it’s weight in gold.

Kim Dannies is a graduate of La Varenne Cooking School in France. She lives in Williston, VT with her husband, Jeff, and three college–aged daughters who come and go. ©2008