Deep frying

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battyfitch
battyfitch Posts: 117 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm currently having a love affair with sliced pickles - I ate an entire jar of them with lunch - so I want to try making deep fried pickles next.

I can calculate the calories in the pickles and in the flour to coat them, but what about the oil? I know that if the oil is hot enough then it'll limit how much oil is absorbed but obviously it'll still add some calories - I'm just not sure how much!

Does a tablespoon of oil for a small batch - say approx. 100g/half a jar of pickles - sound about right? More? Less (wishful thinking!)?

Replies

  • KiyaK
    KiyaK Posts: 519 Member
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    Maybe I'm lazy, but for something like that, I'd look up "homemade deep fried pickles" & enter the one I thought was most accurate.
  • minniemoo1972
    minniemoo1972 Posts: 295 Member
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    Google says between 200 and 283 calories per pickle......ouch.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
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    The deep fryer kills many a healthy low calorie food.

    Put it on the curb for the trash or at minimum only bring out on special occasions.
  • battyfitch
    battyfitch Posts: 117 Member
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    minniemoo1972 wrote: »
    Google says between 200 and 283 calories per pickle......ouch.

    That's for like, a whole pickle or whatever. I want to use the little slices. I would die of sadness if 1 deep fried pickle slice came to 200-300 calories.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    Weigh the deep fryer full of oil before you heat it. Heat it and cook the pickles. Let the oil cool. Weigh it again. Divide the difference by the number of pieced you fried. Eat them all. Screw the calories. Get back on the wagon tomorrow.
  • battyfitch
    battyfitch Posts: 117 Member
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    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Weigh the deep fryer full of oil before you heat it. Heat it and cook the pickles. Let the oil cool. Weigh it again. Divide the difference by the number of pieced you fried. Eat them all. Screw the calories. Get back on the wagon tomorrow.

    Lol, I actually can't tell if you're joking about weighing a fryer full of oil just because I know how obsessive people on here can be about their kitchen scales and weighing everything to the very last gram.

    I think "screw the calories" is the best advice. Though I will put something in my diary just because I would feel bad if I left it blank. Pickles, flour and a tablespoon of oil should do it. If I'm way off I'm sure the MFP Gods will smite me soon enough.
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
    edited August 2016
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    TBH, I don't even try to figure out the calories for what I am deep frying at home. I just save the fryer for two things:

    1) Friday night when IDGAF.
    2) Falafel. I know you can bake, but I prefer frying it.

    I only deep fry maybe 1-2 times a month. It has never stood in the way of my weight loss or now maintenance.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I'm having fried calamari tonight, made by my husband, which as always makes it even more of a guessing game. I chose an entry which sounded about right and am leaving it at that.

    And yes, weighing your deep fryer before and after would be the most accurate way to figure out the calories, but personally i'm not going to go that far. Our deep fryer comes out maybe 2-3 times a year, so i'm not stressing. If it was a weekly occurrence i would try and be more accurate.

    Do any restaurants have calorie info on deep fried pickles? They might be kinda accurate..
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    edited August 2016
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    174 calories for deep fried pickle vs 5 for regular pickle spear

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/538268-nutrition-facts-for-deep-fried-pickles/

    They used to call it a deep FAT fried for a reason, now with the PC police out it is now deep fried.
  • battyfitch
    battyfitch Posts: 117 Member
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    Some of those extra calories will come from the batter though. I checked a few recipes and lots of them use flour or breadcrumbs, with egg or milk or sometimes buttermilk. So it's not 170 calories from oil alone. Which is why I wanted an estimate of how much oil I should account for, because the calorie estimates for deep fried pickles don't specify what the coating is or how thickly they're battered.
  • TheLegendaryBrandonHarris
    TheLegendaryBrandonHarris Posts: 502 Member
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    I agree that having the oil good and hot should help avoid having too much oil sopped up.
    As far as using your scale, it seems far easier to me to batter your slices, weigh them, fry them, let them drain, and weigh them again. Should be easier than weighing your Fry Daddy :smiley:
  • TheLegendaryBrandonHarris
    TheLegendaryBrandonHarris Posts: 502 Member
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    Ok...please excuse me for thinking way too hard about this...
    I'm trying to figure out how to account for water weight in the pickle and batter that will be cooked off.
    As stated earlier, weighing the cooker itself will reveal how much oil is gone from the cooker. Then I assume you'll need to weigh the napkin you put the pickles on to drain.

    It very well may make sense to just log one tablespoon oil per pickle, although I know guestimating isn't usually a good idea!
  • battyfitch
    battyfitch Posts: 117 Member
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    My kitchen scales are too little and my fryer too big to even contemplate that. My scales only weigh up to 5kg and the oil in the fryer would weigh close to 3kg. I'd end up with broken scales and still none the wiser on my journey to pickledom.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Is your recipe similar to this one? It says 196 calories per pickle.

    http://allrecipes.com/recipe/218554/beer-batter-deep-fried-dill-pickles/
  • minime0424
    minime0424 Posts: 101 Member
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    Why don't you just save the fried pickles for a free day?? My husband and I have one free day per week where we eat what we want. Obviously don't go overboard but by having a free day you can have things you enjoy that you wouldn't usually eat on non free days.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    just *kitten* eat the pickle, choose a generic entry and be done with it
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    @battyfitch have you eaten your pickles yet? :tongue:
  • edwardetr
    edwardetr Posts: 140 Member
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    Sliced pickles will absorb more oil than whole pickle. More surface area.

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