nutrition question - ground beef

[Special K]

All of the nutrition labels for ground beef are for the raw meat. If I cook the ground beef and drain the fat/grease off, does that measurably change the nutrition content? If I take 80/20 beef, cook it, and then drain all the fat/grease off, would its nutritional content actually be closer to something like 93/7 or 96/4 ground beef?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

You can figure it out by weight. Since you're concerned about nutrition, you have a scale, right?

 

[Special K]

You can figure it out by weight. Since you're concerned about nutrition, you have a scale, right?

I do have a scale, but 4 oz of 93/7 ground beef has different nutritional values than 4 oz of 80/20, so how would the scale help me in this instance?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I do have a scale, but 4 oz of 93/7 ground beef has different nutritional values than 4 oz of 80/20, so how would the scale help me in this instance?

You figure out the weight of fat you start with and subtract the weight of the fat you remove. The amount of fat left you compare to the total weight of cooked meat. Fat doesn't shrink or change in nutritional value from raw to cooked

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Bear in mind that the 'fat' that you drain off will also contain water, so simply subtracting the total volume/mass of fluid you drain off is inaccurate (though it may be sufficient as a rough estimate, I don't really know). Following on from this, it will also contain fat/water soluble substances - sugars, proteins, vitamins, etc. These will also influence nutritional content.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

The short answer is yes, but I doubt you are going to get to 96/4 starting with 80/20 unless you physically squeeze the meat. If you are doing this to save money, remember that you are throwing away the extra fat so it may not be that much cheaper per lb of lean meat.

I buy 88/12 at Costco and I think its good balance between fat content and price. The super lean mixes are also bad for making burgers on a grill because there isn't enough fat left for flavor.

 

[Howard]

Bear in mind that the 'fat' that you drain off will also contain water

Depends on how he cooks it...

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Depends on how he cooks it...

In what way?

 

[Howard]

In what way?

If he pan-fries burgers, any escaping water will boil off immediately.

 

[darkxshade]

I don't think you actually remove that much fat from draining the oil. Expecting 93/7 from drained 80/20 is unrealistic. What would you get if you drained 90/10? How lean would you say is chicken breast?

 

[killster1]

funny discussion, i also think any water will evaporate. Also squeezing the meet would be good idea.. id prob start with leaner meat than 20% fat but it is lots cheaper to get the fatty stuff i guess. i drain it all and put paper towel in there and squish it on top hehhe and then another time. But i dont eat alot of hamburgers anymore.

 

[Deeko]

I don't think it really makes enough of a difference to be worth the trouble of weighing. Assume its slightly less fatty and that's that.