Tracking cooking oil

mom2wessarah · June 2020

Hi everyone. I am wondering how everyone tracks oil you cook with. For example, I roast cauliflower in olive oil. Does any of the oil cook off or do I track all the oil used? Thanks!

harper16 · June 2020

I'd track for all the oil used.

lemurcat2 · June 2020

I track all used.

freda666 · June 2020

Oil does not evaporate so not sure that it can "cook off".

PAV8888 · June 2020

Might burn off?

But I think it would be safe to assume that most would be absorbed.

Realistically there are two methods:

--accept significant imprecision: deep fried--what amount absorbed? What amount burned off? What amount of left over oil is actually detritus from what was cooked?

Or

--use highly caloric oil as a condiment and assume you get to enjoy every preciously expensive gram of goodness you use!

I tend to go with the second option 😹

Note to self: remember that aerosol cans of oil lie about 0 Calories for 1/15th of a nano second spray in hard vacuum at the surface of the moon.

A human generated spray on earth will probably have Calories equivalent to the grams that disappear from the can after use.

(Using kitchen grade instruments and about 30g of can: can was -30g and spray receptacle was +30.... so close enough for me, YMMV using different sprays and propellant. 1g is about 9 Cal. Most oils are around 13.5g per tablespoon, room temp)

lynn_glenmont · June 2020

If your smoke alarm isn't going off and the food is still edible (i.e., not burnt), you're not losing a meaningful amount of oil in roasting vegetables.

Dreamwa1ker · June 2020

The only time I don't track ALL the oil is if I'm deep-frying, or if it's in a pretty soupy marinade - both cases where there's obviously a lot of it not getting into the food you eat at the end - then I do a percentage of it. Everything else, like roasting cauliflower that you list, I measure it and log the whole tbsp or however much it is, because most of it is going to stick to the food and be eaten.

springlering62 · June 2020

Sideline suggestion here....since I count every gram of oil..... invest in a Mr Mist or similar oil sprayer on amazon or from a cooking store. You’ll use only 2-3 grams of oil,for multiple servings of roasted veg, it will apply much more evenly, and you’ll get similar results.

Likewise if I’m sautéing some chicken chunks or meats. I either skip the oil altogether or just give it a small spritz with the oil mister.

It also doesn’t leave that awful chemical gum that Pam and similar spray oils leave.

AnnPT77 · June 2020

I use an olive oil sprayer for roasting.

Here's a piece of crazy: For roasting, I put a light spray on the baking sheet without measuring.

Then I put the food on the baking sheet, put the bottle on the scale, zero (if I didn't just turn it on), spray the top of the food, put the bottle back on the scale, and record the negative grams as the amount I used. I figure some of what's on the pan doesn't glom onto the food, some of what I put on the food stays on the pan, and the net of the above is close enough.

At the same time, I think that's objectively ridiculous. 😆

Pan frying, I use oil from a bottle, and weigh/count all I put in the pan. I don't deep fry at home, or marinade with oil. Once in a blue moon, if I toss something with oil in a bowl, before putting it in a pan, and I notice there's a pool of oil in the bottom, I'll put the bowl on the scale, zero, discard the unused oil, put the bowl back on the scale, and subtract out the discarded oil from what I used/logged.

Lillymoo01 · June 2020

Just purchased myself an oil spray thingy from Amazon after reading this..... Cheaper long term than buying oil in a spray can.

Tracking cooking oil

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