How do you measure oil in cooking?

tbt280
tbt280 Posts: 5 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Typically if I'm cooking a dish that requires oil or butter, I'll use a set measurement of oil (like 1tbsp, for example) and just enter the entire amount into my log. I figure that it's overestimating slightly, because obviously I'm not eating the entire dish (I cook for my family of 3), so not consuming the entire amount of oil, but I think it's better to overestimate than underestimate.

In any case, tonight I made some vegetable tostadas and fried corn tortillas in vegetable oil. In order to fry them in oil you need to fill the bottom of a shallow frying pan, but then once they are cooked you pull them out of the oil, kind of shake them off, and I let them rest on a papertowel while cooking the others.

So if you did this for dinner, how would you count that amount of oil?

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I do this so rarely that I don't even really worry about it. I guess you could measure out the oil and then re-measure it when you were done and take the difference and that would be how much oil soaked into the tortillas.
  • monolith66
    monolith66 Posts: 168 Member
    I avoid frying anything just for that reason, hard to gauge.
  • tbt280
    tbt280 Posts: 5 Member
    This is really rare for me, too. And I know it isn't the healthiest option for sure!
  • Quieau
    Quieau Posts: 428 Member
    Just do a test. Weigh a tortilla before frying and then again after frying. The difference is the weight in oil per tortilla.

    The rate will differ according to heat of oil and type of tortilla, so do this each time you cook.
  • coaoalo
    coaoalo Posts: 104 Member
    Weighing the oil before and after is a good idea- it's what I do for most dips etc that I eat. You could also weigh the tortillas before and after? Presumably the weight change would be almost entirely made up of the oil that's soaked into them?
  • amberj32
    amberj32 Posts: 663 Member
    I tried to weigh the corn tortilla before and after I fried it in vegetable oil and it weighed less!! I just measure the oil that I put in and see how much is left after frying all the tortillas and whatever the difference is I divide by all the tortillas I fried to get the amount.
  • Carnivor0us
    Carnivor0us Posts: 1,752 Member
    I'd just measure the oil and then divide by how many people are eating from that dish, provided the servings are relatively equal.
  • supratt
    supratt Posts: 33
    I tried to weigh the corn tortilla before and after I fried it in vegetable oil and it weighed less!!

    Presumably this would be due to the evaporation of moisture during the cooking process. Many cooked foods weigh less than their uncooked equivalent, eg steamed brocolli.
  • kirkor
    kirkor Posts: 2,530 Member
    It doesn't matter how you measure, as long as you measure it consistently over time. Then you'll know if you need to adjust your daily calories or not based on if your weight is moving in the direction you want.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I'd just measure the oil and then divide by how many people are eating from that dish, provided the servings are relatively equal.

    This.

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