Hey all,
I’m cooking some guanciale later, and my local meat company actually lists their nutrition labels for their meats.
I know that quite often fatty meats like bacon list nutrition, but quite often that is with the fat cooked out and unused.
I’m cooking a pasta recipe with some guanciale, label here. The recipe requires cooking ingredients in the fat that renders from the guanciale.
Would you assume that the label is for the raw meat, regardless of how it is cooked, or would you add calories for the fat? It lists a very high fat percentage so im thinking that includes the fat so it would be for the raw meat, including cooking in the fat. Would it be a better idea to contact the manufacturer?
I’m just wondering because it makes a big difference in calories, like bacon.
Thank you!
Bacon loses about 30% of fat during cooking. Probably about the same for guanciale. The question is: Does their label include that fat or not? Some labels do, some don’t. But based on that you should be able to calculate the calorie reduction (\~9 cal/g of fat)
I would assume it is for the raw meat and therefore includes all of the fat. I imagine it might make a big difference in calories, assuming you were to get rid of the fat that renders off rather than keeping it all in the pot and pan. But, since you are cooking additional ingredients in that fat, I’d probably count it all.