Sauteed/Pan Seared Foods

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kaimyn
kaimyn Posts: 4 Member
Do the entries in the database include the oil used to cook the food? For example, I just entered Fish - Cod, Pacific cooked dry heat. Do I need to include an entry for oil if it was pan seared?

Edit: The question goes for sauteed entries as well. Do entries for sauteed vegetables include oil?

Replies

  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    I would b/c dry heat implies that nothing was used to cook it. like grilling or something.
  • flawwd
    flawwd Posts: 32 Member
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    No, they don't include the oil as far as I know. I find the most accurate is to weight to fish raw, log it as such, and then add whatever oil I use to cook it with. Now that I measure oil, it's surprising how much less I actually need! We BBQ ours on a piece of foil, rubbed with a 1/2 tsp oil and seasoning, yum!! The oil keeps the moisture in.
  • kaimyn
    kaimyn Posts: 4 Member
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    Problem is that I didn't cook it so I don't know what it weighed raw.
  • Thezestiest
    Thezestiest Posts: 37 Member
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    you'll need to enter the amount of oil or butter that was used in the cooking process to accurately figure it out.
  • wannakimmy
    wannakimmy Posts: 488 Member
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    I would add the oil as a separate ingredient just to be on the safe side, because you are unsure.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    The better ones don't. Someone's personally-imputted one might, but I would avoid those.

    Best to weight raw if possible and then log separately any oil or butter, etc. used in cooking, but if you can't (for example, if it has bones or you don't know how much you will eat) use the official MFP or USDA entry for the item cooked and just be careful that it specifies the same method. The calories don't change, but the amount of moisture lost will. Either way add cooking fat separately, since the entry wouldn't include it.

    Sounds like you are doing it right, but I figured it was worth writing out.

    One thing I'd be leery of is a sautéed vegetables entry. The good ones tend to look like item, raw (if vegetables, itemS, raw) or item, cooked, dry heat (or boiled, etc.). The good MfFP ones do not have an asterisk, and others might specify USDA or nutritiondata and have lots of confirmations. If you aren't sure about one you can double check it with one of the good calorie resources.

    One of the drawback to the site is there are tons of bizarre individually added items with questionable counts or based on people's unspecified recipes, but you will learn to recognize those easily, if you haven't yet.