For years I have been guilty of thinking that olive oil had few benefits over canola oil and the added downside of having a low smoke point. As this guide to olive oil written by Robin Sloan makes clear I have been, once again, quite simply wrong.
The whole thing is worth a read, but here’s what it has to say about the infamous smoke point:
This is probably the most common objection to cooking with olive oil: the idea that it can’t handle the heat, and above 400 degrees F will start to burn, producing smoke, along with bad flavors and unhealthy compounds.
But… a lot of people (including the authors of this guide) cook every night with extra virgin olive oil… and they will confirm that this is not actually an issue.
First: just because you’re cooking a dish in an oven set to 400 degrees F doesn’t mean every molecule in the dish reaches 400 degrees. If that was the case, your dinner would scald you every night! In practice, the olive oil coating your food rarely reaches its smoke point.
Second: quality matters. Olive oil that’s not extra virgin, low on biophenols, and/or stored carelessly will smoke and degrade much more readily than a high-quality extra virgin olive oil.
Robin, in addition to being a wonderful writer, also runs a small olive oil company but everything here sounds legit — no claims of miracles — just good taste and some health benefits.