I need to ask you something that has been bugging me for a few years.

Whenever I get a slice or two of pizza here in New York City, I always get some napkins and blot the surface.  It’s not that I am calorie-phobic, but a lot of pizzas seem way too greasy.

The napkins always absorb a lot of liquid,so am I getting rid of a lot of calories this way?

– Paul (last name withheld)
New York, NY

Pizza blotting is not a waste of napkins, but it also doesn’t decrease calorie content by that much.

One of the problems with your specific situation (where you are ordering a slice of pizza that had been cooked earlier in the day, which is then reheated) is that most of the fat in the cheese has already been absorbed.

The most successful blotting occurs with fresh pizzas right out of the oven, which contain more liquified fat on the surface.

In your case, you are removing anywhere from 2 to 4 grams of fat (18 to 36 calories) from your slice.  Blotting a fresh-out-of-the-oven slice could result in the removal of up to 50 calories.

Remember, though, that most New York City pizza slices are outrageously big.  A plain cheese slice can clock in at 800 calories!

PS: You can save roughly 100 calories by leaving the end portion of the crust on your plate.  I find that a good number of pizza places have tasteless, overly doughy crusts that aren’t worth the calories.