Olive oil is like coffee, tea, and chocolate in that it is one of the principal yet everyday luxuries of the kitchen. And there is olive oil, and then there is olive oil. We buy enormous cans of economical extra virgin olive oil for cooking, but we also love to have a bottle of really good stuff on hand for finishing dishes. Do you have a favorite finishing olive oil?
What Is Your Favorite Finishing Olive Oil?
Like truly excellent coffee, a really good olive oil appears to be very expensive, especially when compared with the $7 liters at the grocery store. Why pay so much more for this stuff? Isn't it overpriced? Well, first of all, if you break down that heavy cost into dozens and dozens of meals, it comes out to just pennies per use.
As for whether it's worth it, a good finishing olive oil is meant to be drizzled over a final dish, or tossed with greens in a salad. A good olive oil will have fruity, grassy, bitter, or even banana notes that come out when paired with dishes. It's an affordable luxury when you consider that one good bottle can last for months. This stuff shouldn't be slopped into a pan or used in cooking; it's full of flavors for finished dishes only. One of our favorite restaurants in the whole world is Oliviera in Nice, France, where the owner pairs every dish with a different olive oil. They all taste different, and so rich and complex.
We have gone through many bottles, now, of finishing olive oils, but we're curious if you have some favorites. We hoarded and scrimped through our Oliviera bottles in particular but they are definitely gone now and we'd love some ideas on what to try next. Here are two other favorites from the past (also pictured above).
• 2008 Marqués de Valdueza Extra Virgin Olive Oil, $29.50 at Market Hall Foods
• 2008 Frescobaldi Laudemio Extra Virgin Olive Oil, $36 at Market Hall Foods
Do you have a favorite finishing oil? What are your favorite flavors to taste in olive oil?
Related: Home Cooking: Laurie Colwin on Luxury and Frugality
(Images: Market Hall Foods)
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Condiments & Dressings, Ingredients - Pantry, olive oil, finishing olive oilRelated Links
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I finish with Cucina Antica's Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Not quite as expensive as those listed, but definitely a high quality olive oil. Their website lists locations that carry their products, but they are also available on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cucina antica
view MrFood's profile
Woops... that should include " antica" at the end of the link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cucina antica
view MrFood's profile
Hey, as long as it's good quality, they're all good.
Another reason for paying a little more for quality olive oil is the widespread shenanigans that go on in the olive oil business. Extra-virgin many times isn't, and unscrupulous blending and labelinghref> is de rigeur. They once found an entire ship full of hazelnut oilhref> that had mysteriously turned into "olive oil" in transit. Imagine if you're allergic to nuts, and ate some of that.
Yes, I will pay extra for my nice finishing olive oil, thank you very much. (The cooking stuff, though, I do cheap out on.)
ABreadADay.com
view eprewitt's profile
The best that I've found is Olio Extravergine Frantoio Celletti, I had it drizzled over a pan fried fish in Rome at a restaurant called Alberto Ciarla. My boyfriend at the time lived in Rome while I lived in Los Angeles (that's very long-distance) and shortly after I got back, a bottle arrived in the mail. Amazing... so creamy and fruity and peppery, it smells like grass. I treasure the bottle now, I only use it on things that I know it will be loved on. For day to day use, I've found a really incredible brand called San Giuliano Alghero, it's $14 for one liter. If you see it in a store, grab some for sure, it got Italian boyfriend's stamp of approval.
view mangabanga's profile
When I was living there, going to the market in Fez, Morocco and handing a guy an empty plastic water bottle to fill with some really fruity, very green awesome oil for a couple of bucks. Any time you walk on the outskirts of the city in spring, you can smell people pressing their own oil.
view lotusmoss's profile
Frantoia forever. http://www.dibruno.com/Detail.bok?no=372 Grassy and peppery and absolutely delicious.
view Mocena's profile
"Frantoia forever."
I second that.
view EasilyAmused's profile
So, this is a bit of shameless plugging, but I live near an amazing olive farm in Livermore, CA. (Near San Franscico.) It's called Victorine Valley (http://victorinevalley.com/index.html) and their "Estate Reserve" is ultra delicious. (They sell online too! The family who runs it is super nice, I recommend all their products.)
view Andy B's profile