On Oil

Every recipe on the Internet seems to call for a tablespoon of oil—whether you’re sautéing a single garlic clove or a pound of cabbage. If you’ve ever done any cooking you know it depends: on the pan, on the stove, on the moisture content of the vegetables, and on your preferences. Sometimes it’s a tablespoon. Sometimes it’s less. Sometimes it’s 3. I spent some time fretting over the precise amounts for each recipe, then I ran a poll on social media asking if people measured oil for sautéing. Of 315 respondents, fewer than 3 percent measure. If you’re part of the 3 percent, use 1 tablespoon. The rest of you are going to use whatever you want, anyway.