Ordinary plastic spray bottles are made to spray watery liquids, not oily ones.
Water is thinner (less viscous) than oil and breaks up easily into a mist, but the paltry pressure from a trigger pump isn’t enough to break oil down into microscopic droplets, the way a pressurized aerosol can can.
Cookware stores and catalogs sell olive oil sprayers that are great for oiling frying pans and grill pans, “greasing” baking pans, making garlic bread, spraying salad greens, and many other uses. You put the oil in them and pressurize them by pumping the cap.
The oil then sprays out in a fine mist at the touch of a button, just as if from an aerosol can.
I keep a small, trigger-operated plastic bottle of plain water in the kitchen for a variety of moisturizing chores. The best way I’ve found to freshen up a loaf of French bread is to dampen it slightly with a spritz of water and put it in a 350ºF toaster oven for two minutes.
Many dishes will look brighter and fresher if misted just before being taken from the kitchen to the table. Almost any hot dish that has had to stand in the kitchen for a while before being served will benefit from this beauty treatment.
Food stylists use this trick to make dishes look fresh for the camera.
