The Frying-Oil Loss Ledger: Measure What Galunggong Costs Beyond the Bottle

How much oil did a batch of galunggong use? The simple answer—subtract oil left in the kawali from oil poured into it—is useful but incomplete. Oil also clings to the pan, drips into paper and splashes out; some may be discarded because its quality has deteriorated. Calling all missing oil “absorbed by fish” misstates the physical process. This guide designs a realistic kitchen ledger that estimates the oil cost of a meal without pretending to be a chemical experiment.

Set up the fish batch and oil measurements

Use six small cleaned galunggong, about 150 ml fresh frying oil, a dry shallow-frying pan, clean tongs and a graduated jug. Record any extra oil added. For a mass-based alternative, use a gram scale and know the oil’s purchase price per gram; a bottle priced per millilitre cannot be converted by assuming 1 ml equals 1 g. The pritong galunggong recipe supplies a complete fish-preparation and frying sequence; this exercise adds an oil record.

Record oil issued, retained and discarded

1. Keep the cleaned fish chilled until cooking and dry its surface thoroughly. Set out clean cooked-food utensils and a draining rack. Do not put a measuring jug or scale near hot oil or wet raw-fish surfaces.
2. Before heating, measure the oil actually poured into the pan, O 0, and record any later additions. If weighing from a bottle, subtract its closed weight after pouring from its closed weight before pouring; the bottle’s gross starting weight is not the oil used.
3. Fry in manageable batches and cook the thickest fish flesh to 63°C. Keep the oil attended; if it smokes, turn off the heat and let it cool. Never add water to hot oil.
4. After cooking, leave the pan stable until the oil has cooled enough for safe handling. Filter through a clean, dry suitable strainer and measure at approximately the same temperature as the starting oil. Record the amount actually retained for suitable reuse as O 1; if all remaining oil is discarded, O 1 is zero.
5. Calculate estimated oil charged to this batch as O 0 plus any top-ups minus O 1. Multiply by the purchase price per matching unit. Record residue, drips, splashes and discarded oil as explanations for the difference, not additional costs already counted in that subtraction.
6. For oil suitable for reuse, strain out food particles through a clean dry fine sieve or cheesecloth. Once cool, store in a sealed light-proof container and refrigerate for best quality. Label the food cooked and date; fish-contact oil remains unsuitable for food intended for someone avoiding fish. Storage does not restore deteriorated oil. If safe reuse is uncertain, discard it and charge the full oil issued.

Sources: Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4 Source 5 Source 6

Calculate the charge without claiming absorption

Suppose, purely for arithmetic, 900 ml costs ₱90:₱0.10 per ml. A 150 ml issue with 100 ml genuinely retained gives an estimated 50 ml charge, or ₱5. If the remaining 100 ml is discarded too, charge all 150 ml, or ₱15. Retaining oil carries its cost forward; it does not make that oil free next time. Recovered liquid can include fish fat or moisture and measurements have losses, so this is an approximate costing record, not oil-uptake analysis.

Compare like batches

Compare repeated cooks of the same food before comparing fish, talong and tofu. Keep pan, batch size and measurement unit consistent. The oil-selection guide discusses which oils suit different cooking jobs; that choice is separate from measuring how much a batch consumes or discards.

Oil condition still governs reuse

No oil-uptake experiment was performed for this guide. The Centre for Food Safety explains why oil condition cannot be judged by a fixed reuse count alone. Remove residues, avoid prolonged overheating and replace unsuitable oil rather than topping it up to disguise deterioration. Source 4