Annatto oil
Achiote bloomed in fat — the orange sheen of Caribbean rice and Yucatecan recado.
Pantry · Oils and fats
Oils and fats
The oils and fats named across the 30 International Cuisines books.
Argan oil
A nutty gold that tastes like a Moroccan pantry even before the cumin goes in: rare, toasted, and easy to waste on the wrong heat.
Butter
The fat that appears in every volume of the series: pale, sweet, and older than the word cuisine.
Canola oil
The quiet modern fry oil — named in the books when flavor should come from somewhere else.
Chile oil
Oil that spent time with dried chile — the red sheen on noodles, dumplings, and a Mexican salsa that wants heat in the fat.
Coconut oil
Solid in the jar, perfume in a South Indian or Caribbean fry.
Cooking oil
The unnamed bottle the books reach for when the fat should stay quiet: fry, coat, and get out of the spice's way.
Cottonseed oil
An old American fry oil the books still name in a handful of recipes.
Dendê oil
The orange-red oil that makes Bahian food taste like Bahia: dendê in moqueca, acarajé, and vatapá.
Duck fat
The golden fat of confit and roast potatoes — southwest France in a jar.
Ghee
Butter that learned to live without a cellar: the gold of dals, sweets, and a ladle over rice.
Lard
The quiet white fat of tamales, pie crusts, and refried beans — a pantry that industrial kitchens tried to shame, and home cooks never quite abandoned.
Linseed oil
Flax oil, rare in a hot pan, present when a Central European recipe still writes it.
Neutral oil
The instruction that means: do not let the oil speak louder than the spice.
Niter kibbeh
The gold of the Ethiopian pot: butter slow-cooked with spices until the kitchen smells like a feast before the stew even starts.
Olive oil
The green-gold fat of 29 kitchens in the series: a fruit juice that learned to travel, and then to stay.
Palm oil
The red oil of West African stews: a palm fruit, a color, and a taste that canned tomato cannot fake.
Peanut oil
High-heat nut oil of West African and Chinese woks.
Pork fat
Rendered pork — dripping, lard's cousin, the shine on a Portuguese or German roast.
Scallion oil
Oil poured over cut greens until they smell like a night market.
Sesame oil
A few drops that smell like a wok has already started: the toasted oil of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean tables.
Smen
Butter that was put away on purpose: salty, tangy, and the fat a couscous still wants when the pot is almost done.
Sunflower oil
The eastern European and everyday fry oil the books reach for when olive is too loud.
Vegetable oil
The unlabeled bottle: when the recipe wants fat, not a story.