Fish oil, menhaden

Menhaden fish oil is a processed oil rendered from menhaden, a small oily fish caught mainly for industrial processing rather than the dinner table. In practice it isn't a home cooking oil the way olive or vegetable oil is; it's used primarily in dietary supplement capsules and animal feed, since its strong, distinctly fishy odor and flavor make it unappealing to cook with directly. Any culinary use tends to be limited to small measured amounts in specialty preparations rather than sautéing or baking.

If handling the oil directly, keep it tightly sealed in its original container, away from heat and light, and refrigerate after opening to slow rancidity, since fish oils oxidize faster than most other fats. The numbers show why it's treated so differently from a typical cooking oil: 902 calories and 100 grams of fat per 100 grams, with no protein or carbohydrate at all, make it purely a concentrated fat source. A tablespoon (14 grams) is the realistic serving size in the rare recipes or supplement contexts that call for it, used sparingly rather than poured freely the way a neutral cooking oil would be. With no sodium, carbohydrate, or protein at all, its nutritional profile is essentially a single note, all fat, unlike a typical kitchen oil that might carry small amounts of other components.