How to accurately log and track ingredients used in a custom recipe

5PetalsWellness

I am creating a recipe that uses another custom recipe for a marinade. The marinade is discarded prior to cooking. How much of that marinade is being consumed? Do I track the entire marinade as part of the recipe? If the recipe is for 4 servings, do I also define the marinade as 4 servings?

JanetR606

I would measure the marinade before and after marinading, then record that ratio of ingredients used. As a simple example:
Marinade recipe is .25c olive oil and .5c soy sauce = .75c marinade
After marinading, there is .5c marinade remaining, so .25c or 1/3 of the marinade was absorbed by the food.
1/3 of 1/4 = 1/12c olive oil
1/3 of 1/2 = 1/6c soy sauce
I suppose different ingredients could be absorbed at different rates, but this would get you pretty close. Also, I would do it all in grams rather than cups!

Bubbe

I have a similar question but not so simply defined. I am braising a beef roast. The process calls for browning/seering the beef in oil. When suitably browned, setting it aside and cooking the onions and other ingredients in the remaining oil to create a base for the roast.The beef is then put back in the pot, covered, and slow cooked. And here's where the confusion comes into play. When the beef is done, I remove it from the ingredients in the pot and serve it. It doesn't include any of the other ingredients at this point, but it did affect the flavor. Did it also affect the nutrients? How should I deal with this?
This is similar to what I do, but with considerably less liquid:
https://somuchfoodblog.com/red-wine-braised-beef/
For the record, my husband turns the resulting liquid into a gravy that everyone else eats, but I do not.

JanetR606

Yes, I see, not so simply defined!
I think I wouldn't worry about the onions at all - you might get a few nutrients in tiny amounts, but not enough to count on.

The oil is another story - I would want that in my calorie count. However, it's good to remember that as much as we like to quantify things, even the food items we can measure precisely have estimated calorie and nutrient counts. Food was living at one time, and unique; with soil composition, photosynthesis (or diet, for meat), and available water determining specific nutrient composition.

So just estimate the amount of oil that was absorbed by the meat before adding the onions or other vegetables. After searing the meat, take out the meat and tip the pan so you can eyeball the amount left. Good luck!

Bubbe

Thank you, JanetR606, for your reply. Unfortunately, when searing meat, especially a fatty cut, there is always more fat afterwards than what I began with. Depending on the size of the roast, I'll typically use 1-2 T oil. After searing the roast, I then remove most of the fat (from 1-4 T) leaving a scant 1 T in the pan to make the mirepoix, add in garlic, other seasoning and then a liquid to deglaze the pan (eg tomato, wine, sherry, vinegar, or water). Finally, I place the roast in the pan, cover tightly, and cook very long on very low heat. I end up with far more liquid than I began with as the meat breaks down and more fat is released. For now, I've included all the ingredients in my calculations but it would seem to be way off to me.