deep fried foods

mrbobfranz
mrbobfranz Posts: 15 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I try to log everything as accurately as possible. But how do i account for the oils when i deep fry anything?

Do i take the food item plus like a tablespoon of oil?

Thanx in advance.

Replies

  • DeniseB0711
    DeniseB0711 Posts: 294 Member
    Are you the one doing the frying? If you are you can measure the oil before and after frying. The difference is how much is in your food (more or less). When I fry, I use approximately 2 cups of oil, and preportion whatever I am frying.
    For example, If I dry Okra (a huge fave in my house in the summer). Okra is served in one cup servings. I will make 5 1 cup servings(31 calories per cup or 155calories) . When the oil is cooled from frying I measure it, and the difference I will divide the calories by 5. Lets say there is an 1/8 of a cup less oil than when I started, and an eighth of a cup is is 240 Calories. I will divide that by 5 and add to each serving. The total calorie count for plain fried okra would be about 80 calories per serving.

    Does that make sense? If I am not frying the food and cann calculate for all of the extras like flour, eggs, and oil I just skip the fried stuff all togther.

    Denise
  • DeniseB0711
    DeniseB0711 Posts: 294 Member
    true, you could avoid that by using a frying thermometer and keeping a consistent temp. But I have no time for that, once I can boil a wooden spoon my oil is ready.....and I kick down to medium for the rest of the batches.
  • jellybaby84
    jellybaby84 Posts: 583 Member
    I don't understand - why don't you just log the amount of food and the amount of oil as separate items? Surely the calorie content doesn't change because they end up mixed together. I fry chicken or fish every day and just log the raw weight of the protein plus a teaspoon of oil which I measure out. So 200g of chicken breast = approx 210 calories and 1 tsp of olive oil = 40 calories so my fried chicken = 250 calories.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    jellybaby84 wrote: »
    I don't understand - why don't you just log the amount of food and the amount of oil as separate items? Surely the calorie content doesn't change because they end up mixed together. I fry chicken or fish every day and just log the raw weight of the protein plus a teaspoon of oil which I measure out. So 200g of chicken breast = approx 210 calories and 1 tsp of olive oil = 40 calories so my fried chicken = 250 calories.

    ^^ this
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    mrbobfranz wrote: »
    I try to log everything as accurately as possible. But how do i account for the oils when i deep fry anything?

    Do i take the food item plus like a tablespoon of oil?

    Thanx in advance.

    If you are deep frying a regular serving of anything, chances are it absorbs way more than a tablespoon of oil. Measure the oil before and after a couple of times and it will give you an idea.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,166 Member
    jellybaby84 wrote: »
    I don't understand - why don't you just log the amount of food and the amount of oil as separate items? Surely the calorie content doesn't change because they end up mixed together. I fry chicken or fish every day and just log the raw weight of the protein plus a teaspoon of oil which I measure out. So 200g of chicken breast = approx 210 calories and 1 tsp of olive oil = 40 calories so my fried chicken = 250 calories.

    If you're deep frying, you leave a hell of oil behind (the vast majority). So I get the issue. The most accurate would be to weigh the oil before and after so you could calculate how much ended up in the food. But that's a bit extreme. I'd weigh the food before and after and log any additional weight as oil. Not perfect, but the happy medium.
  • jellybaby84
    jellybaby84 Posts: 583 Member
    ^^
    Oh, ok, I see. Kind of. But why don't you just use the amount of oil you need and not leave any behind?? Sorry if I'm being thick - cooking is NOT my forte!
  • adamitri
    adamitri Posts: 614 Member
    jellybaby84 wrote: »
    ^^
    Oh, ok, I see. Kind of. But why don't you just use the amount of oil you need and not leave any behind?? Sorry if I'm being thick - cooking is NOT my forte!

    Because frying something requires a larger volume of oil than you actually eating. So when I fry I use about a cup and a half of oil because I don't fry big pieces but I'm not eating a cup and a half of oil.
  • mrbobfranz
    mrbobfranz Posts: 15 Member
    Ok so here is my issue with the suggestions that have been posted already. This is a family of 5 and we use a deep fryer and not just a pan. This is too inconvenient to remove all the oil after each use and weight it. Any other suggestions?
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    mrbobfranz wrote: »
    Ok so here is my issue with the suggestions that have been posted already. This is a family of 5 and we use a deep fryer and not just a pan. This is too inconvenient to remove all the oil after each use and weight it. Any other suggestions?

    Guess, overestimate and move on. You can be super (word that will be censored) about it and go through extreme measures to try and weight out exactly how much oil was used just for your food, or you can go with some of the other suggestions that have been recommended.

    My suggestion is one night when the family isn't home buy you are, go crazy and weight the oil going into the fryer and what is left over. Use that as an estimate for other foods you fry.

    Or just guess.
  • richln
    richln Posts: 809 Member
    It is really hard to measure correctly. I use national brand foods that resemble what I am making. For example, if I batter and fry chicken, then I log it as KFC.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member

    jellybaby84 wrote: »
    ^^
    Oh, ok, I see. Kind of. But why don't you just use the amount of oil you need and not leave any behind?? Sorry if I'm being thick - cooking is NOT my forte!

    Because deep frying involves a lot of oil...like when a restaurant is making their french fries and the potatoes get dipped into that big vat of oil...that's deep frying.

    What you're describing is shallow frying or sauteing.

    OP...honestly, it's such a rare indulgence for me that I wouldn't worry about it...it would be pretty much a "*kitten* it" day for me. Otherwise I would use something like KFC to get a reasonable estimate.
  • sandryc79
    sandryc79 Posts: 250 Member
    Fried foods absorb between 8-25% of the weight of the food being fried. It depends on what food and even the temp of the oil so it is hard to give a consistent answer. (Cool oil =longer cooking time and more oil absorbed.) For this reason I log a comparable fast food, and try to only eat fried food occasionally.
  • vrenelivombaerg1
    vrenelivombaerg1 Posts: 3 Member
    yak, easiest would be to just quit all deep fried stuff!
  • Weste
    Weste Posts: 17 Member
    vrenelivombaerg1 wrote: »
    yak, easiest would be to just quit all deep fried stuff!

    agreed or buy an actifry and eliminate the oil. Ours works great!!

  • jellybaby84
    jellybaby84 Posts: 583 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    jellybaby84 wrote: »
    ^^
    Oh, ok, I see. Kind of. But why don't you just use the amount of oil you need and not leave any behind?? Sorry if I'm being thick - cooking is NOT my forte!

    Because deep frying involves a lot of oil...like when a restaurant is making their french fries and the potatoes get dipped into that big vat of oil...that's deep frying.

    What you're describing is shallow frying or sauteing.

    Ohhhhhh. See, I didn't even know it was possible to cook like that in a domestic kitchen!!

    Normal frying would be another solution to the problem though. You'd know you were using all the oil you put in and the food would taste the same.

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