I’m a true believer that almost anything tastes better when you fry it. Notice I didn’t say it’s better for you. It’s just better.
In Costa Rica, these fried goodies taste a hundred times better than at home. The fish, the French fries, battered chicken, empanadas–you get the idea. And the smell is unbelievable. I’m not sure if this is a blessing or a curse. All I know is it’s damned good, and I couldn’t figure out exactly why.
Why does Costa Rican fried food taste so good? I have a theory.
It Has to Be the Oil
Back in the 80’s when I first started traveling to Costa Rica, the modus operandi of frying food was always with “manteca”, or vegetable lard. Clover brand sold this manteca in huge rounded sticks that looked like big tubes of shortening and everybody used it. You wanted a fried egg? You launched a dollop of manteca into the pan. Plantains? Same routine. Bottled oil was available, but not readily.
Now, bottled oil is everywhere.
So, when I decided to find out why these foods taste so good, I made an interesting discovery. Almost all the oil in Costa Rica that’s used for frying is soybean oil. You can find it everywhere. They do have olive and corn oils, but soybean oil is the big seller. That has to be it, I told myself.
Soybean Oil at Home
Not wanting to haul a bottle of oil all the way back to New York, the hunt for soybean oil in my hometown began shortly after my return. And guess what? Anything actually labeled as soybean front and center is hard to find.
Apparently, “vegetable oil” here has a chance of being soybean oil, though it can also come from other sources. Why it can’t be labeled what it actually is instead of the general term “vegetable oil” is beyond me.
After searching far and wide, I finally located specific soybean oil online from none other than Walmart. The brand was Nutrioli, so I decided to give it a try. I had to special order it because no one had it in stock.
In a few days I had my soybean oil and I was ready to try it. I prepared some fish with batter by Los Patitos (another crazy awesome Costa Rican find) and heated up my soybean oil. This was just too good to be true, how exciting!
And of course, it was.
My fish, although tasty, still didn’t have that flavor that you get in Costa Rica.
Upon trying regular, ordinary “vegetable oil”, otherwise known as secret soybean oil, the taste was much more similar to Costa Rican fried foods, but not exactly. I guess I’ll just have to accept that the good stuff is in Costa Rica.
Back to Boring Oils
These days, I’m using olive oil as a rule, though I’ve migrated over to avocado oil as well. Neither really knock my socks off, but hey– I’m trying to do the healthy thing.
Regarding coconut oil, you can keep it. I’m sorry to say, but for frying– it’s pretty vile. Unless you like your food to taste like cheap, oily popcorn I’ll think I’ll stick with olive and use the coconut for suntanning (burning).
And when I’m in Costa Rica–you can bet I’ll be buying those delicious French fries, friend fish and chicken. I can certainly be healthy most of the time, but I’m not missing out all of the time!