marinades

I have never once tracked a marinade...IMO, it's not worth the time and effort...not that much is actually going to stick to the meat.

If you actually cook the steak in it, then it will use more. I usually eyeball what is left in the container and estimate though.

I track mainly for sodium content, though.

I'm marinating all the time, and don't strain my brain too much on this question.

Or, more exactly, I strained my brain once or twice, and now relax about the situation going forward, LOL.

If the marinade is oily, or goopy (e.g., yogurt/greek yogurt or buttermilk based), then I approximate the contribution of the marinade to the proportion of the total meat marinated that I consume. Without a lot of precise measurements, you can't tell what's been absorbed, cooked away, or denatured into something from the heat (what DOES the Maillard [browning] reaction do to the nutrients in a yogurt marinade when you've grilled?). While oil and dairy marinade components can add up, citrus juices, zest, herbs and such don't amount to much. Sodium I try to be precise with, even though I don't have a sodium problem (and don't want one).

It can get crazy. For instance, if I use a can of coconut milk with citrus and other stuff, then have a lot left in the marinade bag/container when I pull out the meat, I simply proportion by eye (e.g., started with 1 cup total on 3 lbs meat, had 1/2 cup remaining, ate 8 oz [raw weight] of the meat, therefore ingested 1/6 of 1/2 cup, or approx 0.67 oz). For coconut milk, in the example above, I therefore think the the numbers are about 10 cals, 2g protein, 10 mg sodium, 1g carb, 1g protein. For Friendship brand buttermilk [the one I can get most often], that means about 10 cal, 3g fat, 12 mg sodium, 1g carb and 2g protein - it's not worth, in terms of the numbers and diminishing returns, to get more precise than that - and, thank goodness, as repeated entries in my database, I don't have to compute these every time).

I presume, even with care, my daily counts might be as much as 10% erroneous from what's totaled up from diligent logging, due to everything from faulty food database entries, rounding errors, allowed FDA variations on label declarations, the natural variability of agricultural products, etc.

As long as my bathroom scale is moving in the correct direction (20 lbs lost since Jan 1st - and "every pound a victory"), then I don't sweat SOME of the details. Do what you can for as much precision as you can for the larger impactors that you can, and be "reasonable" on the rest (I try to be a "reasonable guy," LOL). I also tell MFP I'm a less weight/less active than I am, so that it calculates my macro targets at a level where I don't obsess if I occasionally stray over them.

mjbnj0001 wrote: »

I'm marinating all the time, and don't strain my brain too much on this question.

Or, more exactly, I strained my brain once or twice, and now relax about the situation going forward, LOL.

... ( omitted ) ...

As long as my bathroom scale is moving in the correct direction (20 lbs lost since Jan 1st - and "every pound a victory"), then I don't sweat SOME of the details. Do what you can for as much precision as you can for the larger impactors that you can, and be "reasonable" on the rest (I try to be a "reasonable guy," LOL). I also tell MFP I'm a less weight/less active than I am, so that it calculates my macro targets at a level where I don't obsess if I occasionally stray over them.

OK, that was a "good enough" answer the other day. Now I have to strain my brain again, LOL.

Background: I was on a "blood thinner," coumadin (a/k/a warfarin) for some years. Some of you might know this substance (which is actually rat poison - true) interacts with Vitamin K (found in green, especially dark green veggies, and which the body uses in regulating blood clotting). This means, among other things, you need to monitor and/or moderate your greens consumption. I recently got fed up with the restriction, switched to another anticoagulant and have gone a bit "greens crazy" the last few weeks.

Among other things, I've been making "green goops" such as sofrito, salsa verde and tonight, chimichurri.

Chimichurri takes mass quantities - several bunches each - of parsley, cilantro and some oregano (plus a few spices and optional flavorants such as lemon or lime), and via blenderization with EVOO, yields a smallish amount of really green, great-tasting pureed sauce/marinade. Especially great with grilled meats. It's an Argentinian condiment. Salsa verde is a somewhat-similar Italian-origin sauce. Sofrito is Caribbean, and in the recipe I used, is mainly just veggies that pick up oil calories when sauteed as a flavor base in other dishes, such as rice (in fact, that's how I counted it for my MFP log: x of veggie, y of oil, z of rice).

Well, computing the macros on these green goops is an interesting challenge. You'd think, at a first approximation, that the EVOO contribution (calories and fat, anyway) is a good guideline; maybe it is. The calorie counts in a few handfuls of herbs can vary (leaves only, stems and leaves, how "moist or dry" for weight vs. "puree or intact" volume, etc.). There are chimichurri entries in the MFP database, and the question is: how good are they, really?

So, I'm not feeling so smug about my previous posting on this thread tonight, LOL. Not really worried, however; I believe this stuff is pretty clean/healthy. As a marinade, the macro counts might be similar to an oily vinaigrette marinade. However, you also spoon this stuff on pretty heavily on the finished entree.

cmtigger wrote: »

The salsa verde I know is Mexican. What's the difference with the Italian?

Italian salsa verde is mostly pureed parsley, more resembles a pesto or chimichurri (that is, a herb puree). Mexican-style is more tomatillos (that is, it's a "fruit" salsa - tomatoes and tomatillos are both fruit). That's next on my "greens parade" (or soon, anyway, LOL).

"So much green, so little time!"

cmtigger wrote: »

mjbnj0001 wrote: »

cmtigger wrote: »

The salsa verde I know is Mexican. What's the difference with the Italian?

Italian salsa verde is mostly pureed parsley, more resembles a pesto or chimichurri (that is, a herb puree). Mexican-style is more tomatillos (that is, it's a "fruit" salsa - tomatoes and tomatillos are both fruit). That's next on my "greens parade" (or soon, anyway, LOL).

"So much green, so little time!"

I've made the Mexican kind many times.

Great! Pointers, please ... baked, boiled or grilled tomatillos? Cerrano or jalapeno? Avocado in, or as an add-on? I'll probably cycle through variants of a basic recipe over time, finding what works udner various circumstances.

I'm contemplating a baked salsa verde chicken as my first foray with this sauce (outside of eating it in restaurants). Or, possibly, grilled chicken with salsa verde topping. Will salsa verde marinade well, or, if I dilute with more lime juice, can it marinade for flavor?

Appreciate any advice, thanks in advance.

OK, thanks. we'll see how it goes! Can't be bad no matter how, I'm thinking ...

I have an entry for "Marinade" at 50 cal. I use it for all marinades and figure it evens out over time. Agree that salt is usually the bigger issue.