Olive Oil and beyond with Chef Marcus

Using the right culinary oil can enhance your favorite dishes. Switching the oil that you are using can have a profound impact on your cooking style. Maybe try coconut oil or avocado oil instead of olive oil. They can really highlight new flavors in every meal. That is why Chef Marcus Samauelsson, head of Red Rooster in Harlem, New York, and winner of Top Chef Masters joins The Hype Magazine to discuss how to bring out those new and adventurous flavors. He will also provide tips on how to cook with different types of oil and how to make chef-inspired meals from home. Tired of the same taste to your culinary menu? Spice things up by adding Mediterranean olive oil, coconut oil or even safflower oil to the mix for a unique flavor on the spectrum.

Okay Chef Marcus – we’re cooking the same things over and over AND using the same ingredients. What are your tips to bring new life into old meals?

Well first of all, I think it’s great that we are cooking some of those family favorites right because it means that your family likes them, but you know at the same time you want to change them a little bit for the seasonality but also just how to improve them. So, I’ve got some great tips for you. Finding and using the right oil is one of them right! What oil should I use when I sear something or fry something? So, using a safflower oil you can cook at a much higher heat level which is important to know because then you can sear it, you can roast it off, whatever fish or meat. You can get more flavor out of that. Then if you have something like avocado oil, you can cook on very high heat. Then it has great quick flavor so you know I think that looking at what all you’re cooking with it’s a big part of that to make sure that your meal tastes delicious and also interesting every time.

There are so many different types of oils, some sound so exotic and that can be intimidating.  What are your recommendations to help us get out of that olive oil rut?

There’s tons of oil and it can’t get confusing when you stand there at aisle 22 and you look at a bunch of oil. But you know one of the things that we’ve done for you at spectrumorganics.com is we have tons of great recipes for you that we really thought about every type of meal. You can have a toast in the morning you can finish it off with a little bit of avocado oil. You want to do something more elaborate like I’ve got here. I got a kale pesto loaded with lots of flavors. Some kale a little bit of organic olive oil and training olive oil and then the holiday season is coming up so I made this sweet potato mash potato. Sweet potatoes super delicious adding maple syrup but also finishing it off with coconut oil. Again, something different but also rather than putting tons of muttering, adding the coconut oil in its healthier and more delicious.

Can you show us how to unlock culinary possibilities and share a few tips to help us feel like a master chef at home?  

For me, it’s all about enjoying cooking and staying also curious. Finding new oils but you know trusting your brand and going back at it and figure out what to use. When I think its key. Even for me to be cooking a long time I learn new things too, this bread crumb for example. I’ve done bread crumb for a long time, but adding another oil to this make sure that it tastes completely different it adds something to the dish. I think be staying curious always, being open to be inspired I think it doesn’t matter if you’re a chef or a home cook I think it’s a very important thing to constantly evolving around your food.

So, what’s next for you?

Actually, going to the whole spectrum. We’re going on the road it’s going to be a lot of fun! We’re going to San Francisco to cook at the farmers market, they’re very excited about that on November 4 also opening a new restaurant in Newark, New Jersey so that’s in a couple of weeks coming back for that and then we’re going back out with the spectrum team. We’re going to go to Austin November 18 to cook in the farmers market meet foodies meet at the consumers and hopefully get their feedback. By then I’m sure they’re gone on spectrumorganics.com and tasted all our different recipes and hopefully they have lots of great feedback for us.