Cooked Beef Brisket Calories

darreneatschicken

So I went out today and had pho with beef brisket.

I took my scale to the restaurant and weighed the food (separated the beef and the noodles) and then looked up "cooked beef brisket" on the USDA database.

However, there are hundreds of entries in the database, and I'm wondering which one I should use?

Beef brisket, cooked, lean and fat eaten
Beef brisket, cooked, lean only eaten
Beef brisket, cooked, NS as to fat eaten
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 0" fat, choice, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 0" fat, select, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean only, trimmed to 0" fat, choice, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean only, trimmed to 0" fat, select, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, whole, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 0" fat, all grades, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, whole, separable lean only, trimmed to 0" fat, all grades, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 0" fat, all grades, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 1/8" fat, choice, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 1/8" fat, select, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean only, trimmed to 0" fat, all grades, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean only, trimmed to 1/8" fat, choice, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean only, trimmed to 1/8" fat, select, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, point half, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 0" fat, all grades, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, point half, separable lean only, trimmed to 0" fat, all grades, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, whole, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 1/8" fat, all grades, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 1/8" fat, all grades, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean only, trimmed to 1/8" fat, all grades, cooked, braised
Beef, brisket, point half, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 1/8" fat, all grades, cooked, braised

This is an example picture of what I ate:

https://www.google.com/search?q=pho+beef+brisket&hl=en-US&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqv_HB6KLoAhWXuJ4KHWDGANEQ_AUoAXoECBAQAw&biw=1440&bih=702#imgrc=lQdjBd8JXhx2FM

PAV8888

Out of the complete bowl of soup... which percentage of the calories is the actual brisket? The broth? The sause? The rice noodles? This thread has some discussions that may help you: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10784960/general-thoughts-on-pho/p1

darreneatschicken

The cooked beef weighed 146 grams (I took it out of the bowl and weighed it separately from the noodles and soup).

The bowl with the noodles and soup weighed 1049 grams. After I ate everything, the bowl weighed 771. So I just subtracted 771 from 1049, which came up to 278 grams. So I just entered it as 278 grams cooked rice noodles (a bit of that 278 grams was probably soup, so I'll remember to weigh the soup next time too).

Anyways, the question is: which USDA entry should I use for the cooked beef brisket?

wilson10102018

None of the above. In soup, it matters what they did with the fat. You don't know and won't know that. For my part, I skim some of the fat off of soup made with meat that has fat. At 100 calories per tbsp, its all about the fat.

darreneatschicken

wilson10102018 wrote: »

None of the above. In soup, it matters what they did with the fat. You don't know and won't know that. For my part, I skim some of the fat off of soup made with meat that has fat. At 100 calories per tbsp, its all about the fat.

So should I just ask the server then? Be like, "Hey I'm trying to track my calories, and I was just wondering for the beef brisket, do you guys trim the fat? And if so, how much of it do you trim?"

vaman

There are times and situations where an educated guess is needed. When you prepare the food yourself, you can weigh and measure quite accurately, but when the preparation is out of your hands, an estimate is the best you can hope for.

darreneatschicken

So, I just spoke to the owner/manager and he said that they trim about 3/4 of the fat.

wilson10102018

Relax. Unless you are eating there every day it won't matter. Remember if takes 3500 calories to gain or lose a pound. So if your Pho has 1000 calories instead of 300, it contributes little to your plan.

PAV8888

First of all it doesn't really matter.

If you guessed, say, 650 Cal and it was 450 Cal or 850 Cal the difference is 200 Cal which, if you eat pho every day for 20 days will come to 1lb... and when you notice that your logging is unexpectedly off by 200 Cal a day because of that lb (which you wouldn't be able to notice), then you can just adjust your goals to compensate.

Secondly I would log it as a general pho entry for the size. Again (see above) that would bring it close enough.

Third, by breaking it down and logging, you're doing it right if you're striving for the most accurate caloric count. Something, which, if I recall correctly that you're bulking, you don't need as much. Mind you, I might be confusing you with someone else, but I am under the impression that you are bulking and doing so faster than say 0.5lbs a week or so! If I am not miss-remembering, you may want to just adjust your goals to compensate for any under-logging and so slow things down a bit.

Fourth, I would make sure to add things such as Hoisin sauce or Sriracha. They too have calories and probably more than the differences

And last but not least, out of all the entries I would choose: Beef, brisket, whole, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 1/8" fat, all grades, cooked, braised

Why? Because first of all it is unlikely that it was trimmed to 0"... so all of the entries for 0" go out the window. It is also likely that the grade of meat is lower (commercial) which would make it leaner than select. So I would look for the lower Cal entry between select and all grades and include fat (so 1/8"). Since you don't know which part of the brisket your cut was from (the pointy end or the round end?) I would go with whole brisket. If you could tell which end it was from... well then you ought to choose the more appropriate entry!