New to using a Food Scale

fireflyangel22

I just purchased a food scale today to help me measure meat portions. To figure out a portion of meat do I weigh the meat before cooking or after?
Any other suggestions on how to use my new scale!?

ChefJenn

I weight meat before cooking it but remember if you cook it and render all the fat out of it , it will weigh less.
I also buy ground meat, chicken tender in the family size packs and then weigh then out and zip lock them to freeze
this way all I have to do it take it out for dinner and its already portioned out

monica208

It's recommended to weigh meats before cooking. I weigh everything on my scale.

wolfchild59

Always weigh meat before cooking, that's the standardized way of doing it. So if you see a recipe say a 4oz chicken breast, that's 4oz of raw meat. You do this because depending on cooking method and how long you cook meat you can end up with a different cooked weight each time.

Typically, if something calls for cooked meat, it will specify that (and, additionally, might be a volume measure. I.e a cup of diced, cooked, chicken)

And I say use your scale whenever you have a weight measurement as an option. I weigh absolutely everything I can rather than measure it. You can scoop a different amount in a one cup measure everytime, but if weigh out 32g instead (that example is for s specific cereal, not a conversion by any means) then you know you're getting exactly that.

Just don't try to use volume and weight interchangeably. My favorite example for this is mini marshmallows. If your recipe were to call for one cup you use that as a volume measure. With that, you'd use about 1/5 of a standard bag of minis. Now, if you try to use a volumetric/weight conversion and think, oh, one cup = 8oz and weighed out 8oz, you'd be using 4/5 of that same bag.

So as long you keep measurements clear, your scale can become one of your most use and best tools to have in the kitchen.

jenbusick

I use my scale for things that are difficult to eyeball -- for example, one ounce of chips. The bag will say "About 14 chips" or whatever, but that's really rough. If I measure them, I know I've got an ounce/one serving.

I can eyeball things that are measured in tablespoons or fractions of cups, because I'm the family cook and I measure things that way all the time. But anything in grams or ounces, the scale is necessary.

rmhand

I love my scale. It helps me measure so much, like pasta and snacks.