Logging Ham Hocks or Stocks in General
I'm making turnip greens with smoked ham hock today. I make a ham stock first by simmering the hock for several hours. Then remove and reserve the meat, throw away the remaining hock, and cool and defat the broth. Finally, the dish comes together by simmering the greens, root, and other vegetables, herbs, and spices in the stock adding the reserved meat at the end.
For years I've looked for a satisfactory answer on how to account for the calories from that ham hock or chicken carcass or whatever the stock was made from. Of course, I weigh the reserved meat but a lot of delicious stuff ends up in the stock from skin, fat, collagen, marrow, etc. It's worse if the temperature gets away from you a bit and the stock boils instead of simmers. Then the fat gets absorbed into the stock the same way oil is emulsified in mayonnaise.
I assume the macro and micronutrients added to the stock are impossible to calculate but in order to manage weight, the calories must be accounted for. So the problem is how to log the calories from all the stuff that was left behind in the stock. Today I added one tablespoon of lard, 115 calories, to the ingredients. That probably more than covers it for only one hock but I'm wondering how other folks who routinely cook with homemade stocks and braises deal with this question.
"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Michael Pollan