(Part 2) Best olive oils according to redditors

Steam your brocc, put on lemon juice, salt and olive oil. That’s it. Save the cheese for another dish.

Edit: since this comment is gaining traction, I’d like to shill my favorite olive oil: PDO Lefas. I buy high end PDO Greek olive oil for eating raw (salads, bread dip) and California olive oil for cooking. Olive oil has a low smoke point so the fruity flavor gets destroyed in high heat. I also would like to recommend educating oneself to the insides of the olive oil industry... the mafia in Italy likes to cut its olive oil with canola oil. Also don’t buy blends, the flavor is muddy... AMA about olive oil <3

Edit 2: Fuck it, here's some culture

Better yet, you could probably use actual truffle or truffle powder. It even comes in a liquid oil form. Less precious I think, but probably safer.

Using the most expensive truffle oil choice I could find on amazon, and doing some calculations, even a swimming pool of minimum olympic size would be worth $2.5bn.

2 things you can do to immediately improve your pasta game without spending any money or time:

1. Salt your water thoroughly. Your water needs to taste strongly salty. If you wanna get technical about it, your salinity should be between 1% and 1.5% by weight (aka, 10 to 15 grams of salt per liter...). If you don't have a kitchen scale, you can use a rule of thumb of 1 heaping tbsp. of Diamond Crystal kosher salt per quart of water.
   
2. Finish your pasta in the sauce. Drain your pasta 1 minute before the package directions instruct. Then toss your (heated up-- can be in a pan or even just in the microwave) sauce and cooked pasta together in a wide skillet over high heat until the pasta is done to your liking.
   
   Just doing those 2 things will make boxed pasta in jarred sauce taste worlds better.
   
   Next, you wanna try some thoughtful additions. Picking up a decent wedge of real Parmigiana-Reggiano lifts even a mediocre sauce. I get mine at Whole Foods-- usually costs me about $12 for a very small piece, but you don't need a ton of it to get the benefit. Good olive oil really helps too (I get this stuff in a big-ass tin). Just drizzle it over the top and add some fresh-cracked pepper.
   
   After that... how comfortable are you with cooking generally?

I'm probably going to regret this when I can no longer find it in stock, but Greek PDO olive oil is the best I've ever had. Specifically this brand: Iliada

It was like tasting olive oil for the first time.

California Olive Ranch is my go to EVOO to buy in the store. If I remember when I am at Costco, I get Kirkland. They have Ca. Olive Ranch on Amazon at a comparable price to our local Kroger (maybe a dollar more).

https://www.amazon.com/California-Olive-Ranch-Everyday-Virgin/dp/B004ULUVU4/ref=pd_day0_325_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B004ULUVU4&pd_rd_r=K8KT10JG64SZ3N010WQ7&pd_rd_w=kKZmc&pd_rd_wg=jaQPV&refRID=K8KT10JG64SZ3N010WQ7&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/Marconi-Organic-Extra-Virgin-Olive/dp/B003MZFL1I

Something like this is also an option.

> manzanilla oil

http://www.amazon.com/Extra-virgin-Manzanilla-Olive-Spain/dp/B003ZVO88G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1377738700&sr=8-2&keywords=manzanilla+oil

I had a lot of the same problems as other folks who have responded already (clogging, stream rather than spray, etc.). A few years ago I bought this olive oil spray at the grocery store (cheaper than amazon, and it's just regular olive oil, not "light"), and I just pry off the top and refill it when it empties. It's never clogged on me, and gives a pretty consistent spray of oil.

Full disclosure - I have a vested interested in this. This is some of the best oil I have found. Good enough that I am going to be partnering with the importer to work on securing more distribution here in the U.S.

http://www.amazon.com/Olivos-Premium-Virgin-Winning-Pressed/dp/B00HATCNW2?ie=UTF8&keywords=8%20olivos&qid=1464283403&ref_=sr_1_1_a_it&sr=8-1

I use this one from Amazon.

TJ's version was pretty gross to be honest - I tried it side-by-side with this brand on Amazon - this one is really good, the smoke is there but it's subtle.

TJ's version was just too in your face...

https://www.amazon.com/Smoked-Arbequino-Organic-Extra-Virgin/dp/B009H0MOGW/ref=sr_1_5_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1503133003&sr=8-5&keywords=smoked+olive+oil

The best thing I've found that is liquid at room temperature is avocado oil. It can be had in a nice large bottle at Costco for around $15 I believe. Refined olive oil works great too if you can't find avocado oil at a decent price, just stay away from extra virgin for frying or high temp cooking, as it has a low smoke point and very distinct flavor that doesn't jive well with a lot of food. I use refined olive oil for deep frying, then filter it through a coffee filter after I'm done and freeze it in mason jars to retain freshness (learned on Good Eats).

If you don't mind melting it first, coconut oil is great and is getting more and more available all the time, for good prices. It's also quite healthy for you, as it's high in Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA. Butter is also a good option, but again, it has a low smoke point and the milk solids burn easily, so stick to low temp applications with it (like eggs).

I do keep a can of canola oil spray around for a few uses, like getting baked goods to release from molds or to prolong the burning time of newspaper when lighting charcoal in a chimney starter (also from Good Eats), but that's about it.

Guess you better not cook either...

http://www.amazon.com/Trader-Joes-California-Estate-Olive/dp/B009L8MUD2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398527304&sr=8-1&keywords=trader+joes+olive+oil

My favorites!

Lorenzo No.5

Basil olive oil - Don't have a favorite brand

I'm a fan of Frankies for all my good olive oil stuff. I use Trader Joe's cheap stuff when it doesn't really matter.

NVM. Found some https://www.amazon.com/Olive-Oil-Pomace-Grade-Essential/dp/B00C7VTWRM

Just a quick question...

Hows everyone feel about that bottle of olive oil?

https://www.amazon.com/Casolare-Organic-Unfiltered-bottles-Farchioni/dp/B00CTT984O

I bought it because I saw Marco Pierre White was using it so I figured I'd give it a shot.

$9.16 Nail Polish

6.97 Face stuffs

7.58 Infused olive oil

4.39 Puppy Toy

Those Himalaya's of the mind! Thanks for the contest!

The biggest thing that makes olive oil extra virgin is the low acidity. If you actually had a varying degree of oils in front of you to taste, high quality EVO (low acidity) is really easy to identify simply by tasting it.

The lowest acidity EVO is going to have a very flat green-like flavor. I'm not a fan of this stuff on anything but can be good if you're mixing with garlic and herbs and letting it sit for a bit.

Right now, this is my favorite olive oil
http://www.amazon.com/Paesano-Organic-Unfiltered-Extra-Virgin/dp/B003JCCRI4

It has a nice flavor, it's not totally devoid of acidity, and works well for nearly anything. I like to give it a good shake before use (it's unfiltered and has sediment). I don't buy this online though, it's at a grocery nearly next door to me.

The line begins to blur as you reach that acidity mark for what is and isn't EVO, but when you're above that mark, the olive oil is going to make you cringe upon tasting it. That oil is better suited for cooking where you want to combine such flavors. For example, skip sour additions to a dish if you're adding a high-acid olive oil to it. Point being, there's nothing "wrong" with regular olive oil. Just don't dip your bread in it plain anymore than you'd eat a parsley sandwich.