Weighing food for recipe builder

jaga13

I try to weight all my ingredients and enter them into the recipe builder, and then weigh the final product to confirm the weight of a serving.

The problem I'm having is that if I weigh it right away (right from the oven/stove), the weight keeps going down, I guess as the steam continues to rise. I thought I could just leave it on the scale until it stops, but my scale shuts off quickly. Do you wait until the food is completely cooled off before you weigh it? I cook at night (for the next day), and I'm eager to get it weighed and packed away so I can finally end my day!

mattmunz

I haven't had a problem with seeing the weight change that much right after cooking, but I do typically wait a few minutes before I weigh anything.

Scientifically speaking, the food should only have to cool down enough to quit producing steam for the weight to reach an equilibrium, so down below 212 F.

I would say wait until you don't see steam rising and then put on the scale, if you don't see the weight going down, it has reached an equilibrium and shouldn't change any more.

jaga13

OK, thank you. I need a little patience.

Kalikel

With things like bread that will totally cool, I weight them after they've cooled and before I freeze or bag them.

With things that you're going to eat, it becomes a much bigger pain in the butt. If you have a larger thing that conducts heat poorly, like a big old cast iron pan, you can put that on the scale, then put your thing on top of it and weigh the pan with the stuff. If you know the weight of your pan (and eventually, you'll know the weights, lol) you just deduct that.

It's not easy, all this weighing.

jaga13

Kalikel wrote: »

With things like bread that will totally cool, I weight them after they've cooled and before I freeze or bag them.

With things that you're going to eat, it becomes a much bigger pain in the butt. If you have a larger thing that conducts heat poorly, like a big old cast iron pan, you can put that on the scale, then put your thing on top of it and weigh the pan with the stuff. If you know the weight of your pan (and eventually, you'll know the weights, lol) you just deduct that.

It's not easy, all this weighing.

Luckily, I tend to cook in advance (for the next night's dinner). I'm just too impatient after getting the kids to bed and cooking and just want to be done

Kalikel

jaga13 wrote: »

Kalikel wrote: »

With things like bread that will totally cool, I weight them after they've cooled and before I freeze or bag them.

With things that you're going to eat, it becomes a much bigger pain in the butt. If you have a larger thing that conducts heat poorly, like a big old cast iron pan, you can put that on the scale, then put your thing on top of it and weigh the pan with the stuff. If you know the weight of your pan (and eventually, you'll know the weights, lol) you just deduct that.

It's not easy, all this weighing.

Luckily, I tend to cook in advance (for the next night's dinner). I'm just too impatient after getting the kids to bed and cooking and just want to be done

Then just let it cool while you do other things and weigh it in the containers before you pop it in the fridge/freezer. You can tare after the container is on the scale and just add the stuff. So much easier!

CyberTone

My experience is that until it is completely room or refrigerator temperature and in a closed container, the water in cooked food will continue to evaporate for hours. In fact, ice sublimates (changes directly from solid form to gaseous form) in an open tray while in the freezer, that is why old ice cubes get smaller and smaller.
When I weigh out portions in a container, I put in a slip of paper (wrapped in wax paper if needed) with the date, number of servings, serving weight, and if not completely cooled the total weight of contents plus container. If the total weight of the contents plus container was 660g when I put it away, and then weighs 650g when I pull it out and weigh it again, I just add 10g of water and stir it in, because the only weight that was lost had to have been water from evaporation or sublimation.