Meat Reduction During Cooking

mommyshortlegs

This morning I put into my slow cooker 32 oz. (exactly weighed) raw 90/10 ground beef. Tonight I pulled out just over 21 oz. cooked. Either my slow cooker has managed a brilliant disappearing trick, or the meat really did reduce to this extreme. I am curious what is the average volume reduction of meat during the cooking process, how much this varies by cook time and method, and how this reduction should affect how I input recipe ingredients (e.g., if I want a pound of meat in the end, I assume I should start with greater than a pound in the beginning?) It is difficult to determine the number of servings in a dish when, as today's dish exemplified, I [stupidly] expected 10 servings of approx. 3 oz. each and instead received approx. 7 servings.

neanderthin

This morning I put into my slow cooker 32 oz. (exactly weighed) raw 90/10 ground beef. Tonight I pulled out just over 21 oz. cooked. Either my slow cooker has managed a brilliant disappearing trick, or the meat really did reduce to this extreme. I am curious what is the average volume reduction of meat during the cooking process, how much this varies by cook time and method, and how this reduction should affect how I input recipe ingredients (e.g., if I want a pound of meat in the end, I assume I should start with greater than a pound in the beginning?) It is difficult to determine the number of servings in a dish when, as today's dish exemplified, I [stupidly] expected 10 servings of approx. 3 oz. each and instead received approx. 7 servings.

Some fat will be rendered out and water loss but protein isn't going anywhere, so it's advisable to use raw for portion and nutritional data.

Mokey41

You use raw weight for calorie counting.

AshlynG923

I was logging on to ask this same question!! How in the world are you supposed to weigh crock pot meals after the shrinkage when they're done cooking?!?!

neanderthin

I was logging on to ask this same question!! How in the world are you supposed to weigh crock pot meals after the shrinkage when they're done cooking?!?!

There's always a next time.

mommyshortlegs

It's one thing to weigh raw meat prior to cooking; it's another to try to determine number of servings based upon what's left after cooking. I use raw meat for calorie estimation, of course, but indicating a recipe with 2 lbs. meat for 10 servings ends up being incorrect (a few servings short) when the meat cooks down.

Is there a general rule of thumb? e.g., 3 oz. raw meat will, as a rule, reduce to 2 oz. when cooked? Or some such?

neanderthin

It's one thing to weigh raw meat prior to cooking; it's another to try to determine number of servings based upon what's left after cooking. I use raw meat for calorie estimation, of course, but indicating a recipe with 2 lbs. meat for 10 servings ends up being incorrect (a few servings short) when the meat cooks down.

Not really. If you determined that it was going to be 10 portions, then do that, you'll just have smaller portions, in the future you can make adjustments. That is the downside to those cuts and cooking methods, still some of the tastiest ways to prepare beef though.

mommyshortlegs

Thanks, neanderthin, I'll just allow for slightly fewer resulting portions every time, I see no other way around. Off to adjust my recipe accordingly -- thanks again.

mommyshortlegs

Of course, reducing servings from 10 to 7 does increase the calories. *sigh*