All about Recipes :)

The Written Recipe

A recipe is a set of instructions for producing a certain dish. In order to duplicate a desired preparation, it is necessary to have a precise record of the ingredients, their amounts, and the way in which they are combined and cooked. This is the purpose of a recipe. In spite of their importance, written recipes have many limitations. No matter how detailed a recipe may be, it assumes you already have certain knowledge—that you understand the terminology it uses, for example, and that you know how to measure ingredients.

The History of the Recipe

The written history of the recipe can be traced back to 1400 BCE. Ancient Egyptians used painted hieroglyphics to show the preparation of food. However, it was not until Roman times that recipes were written down using words. In 1896, American Fannie Merritt Farmer is credited with creating the model for how we write recipes today. By standardizing measurements, she made sure that recipe results were more reliable.

Parts of a Recipe

These parts are always the same for any standardized Recipe:

Product Name Customers expect to receive what they order from a menu.

The product name, or name given to the recipe, should be consistent with the name of the dish listed on the menu. Both of these should accurately describe the same product. This helps eliminate confusion between the kitchen and service staff.

Yield The number of servings, or portions, that a recipe produces is its yield. The yield of a recipe is an important factor that is used to calculate the cost per serving of the recipe.

Portion Size The portion size is the amount or size of an individual serving. Standardized recipes always show a portion size. This allows you to plan enough food for your customers.

Ingredient Quantity Standardized recipes give directions on how to measure each ingredient to help control quantity. Use the right quantity of each ingredient during preparation.

Preparation Procedures

A preparation procedure is a step that you must take to prepare the dish. Preparation procedures are the result of careful testing of the recipes by experienced culinary professionals. To consistently produce a high-quality product, you must follow any preparation procedures carefully in the order in which they are listed. Environment, such as altitude, may affect preparation procedures.

Cooking Temperatures You can ruin A dish if you use too high or too low of A temperature for cooking. Range-top cooking temperatures are listed in a recipe as low, medium, or high. Temperatures for ovens and other appliances that have a thermostat to control cooking temperature are listed as exact degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius. Many recipes require that the oven be preheated to a specific temperature before any food is placed inside for cooking. The time that you will need for preheating will vary with the type of oven.

Cooking Time Standardized recipes list the required cooking time for the dish. It is important to cook the food for the recommended time, using the specified equipment at the specified temperature. Using different equipment, a different size or type of cookware, or changing the cooking time can change the results. The dish may not come out the way you had expected.

Formula or Recipe?

A formula is a special type of recipe that is used in the bakeshop. Baking is different from cooking in many ways. One of the most important differences involves the chemistry of baking. Because baking involves chemical reactions, baked goods require precise formulas to work correctly. Small variations in the ingredients or measurements can affect the quality of the baked good item noticeably. Although formulas and recipes are similar in the way in which they are written, there are three major differences between the two.

The Uses and Limitations of Recipes

Many people believe learning to cook means simply learning recipes. Knowledgeable cooks, in contrast, are able to prepare food without written recipes, if they have to, because they have a good understanding of basic principles and techniques. A recipe is a way of applying basic techniques to specific ingredients. Your main concern is learning techniques and procedures you can apply to any recipe.

The main purpose of learning basic cooking principles is not to be able to cook without recipes, however, but to understand the recipes you use. As we said in the beginning of this section, every recipe assumes you have certain knowledge that enables you to understand the instructions and follow them correctly.

Some recipes supply very little information, and some supply a great deal. But no matter how detailed it is, a written recipe can’t tell you everything, and some judgment by the cook is always required. There are several reasons for this:

1. Food products are not uniform.

Food ingredients are natural products, so they are not uniform like machine bolts, ballpoint pens, and printer paper. One tomato may be riper than another, one carrot tenderer or sweeter than another, one oyster saltier than another. Such variations may affect how the ingredients are handled, how long they are cooked, what proportions are needed, and how much seasoning is required.

2. Kitchens do not have the same equipment.

Different pans distribute heat at different rates. Different broilers heat to different temperatures.

Liquid evaporates from wide pots faster than from tall, narrow ones, and so on.

3. It is impossible to give exact instructions for many processes.

How do you set the burner if the instructions say “Cook over medium heat”? How thick is a “thick” sauce? How long do you broil a rare steak? Training and experience will help you learn to make accurate judgments about such questions.

The difference between an experienced cook and a beginning cook is the ability to make judgments about these variables.

Standardized Recipes

1. Definition.

A standardized recipe is a set of instructions describing the way a particular establishment prepares a particular dish. In other words, it is a customized recipe developed by an operation for the use of its own cooks, using its own equipment, to be served to its own patrons.

2. The structure of a standardized recipe.

Recipe formats differ from operation to operation, but nearly all of them try to include as much precise information as possible. The following details may be listed:

• Name of the recipe.

• Yield, including total yield, number of portions, and portion size.

• Ingredients and exact amounts, listed in order of use.

• Expected trim yields for any produce or other ingredients that must be fabricated.

• Equipment needed, including measuring equipment, pan sizes, portioning equipment, and so on.

• Directions for preparing the dish. Directions are kept as simple as possible.

• Preparation and cooking temperatures and times.

• Directions for portioning, plating, and garnishing.

• Directions for breaking down the station, cleaning up, and storing leftovers.

3. The function of standardized recipes.

An operation’s own recipes are used to control production. They do this in two ways:

• They control quality. Standardized recipes are detailed and specific. This is to ensure the product is the same every time it is made and served, no matter who cooks it.

• They control quantity. First, they indicate precise quantities for every ingredient and how they are to be measured. Second, they indicate exact yields and portion sizes, and how the portions are to be measured and served.

By controlling quality and quantity, recipes are a key tool in controlling costs.

4. The limitations of standardized recipes.

Standardized recipes have the same problems as all recipes—the problems we discussed earlier regarding variations in foods and equipment and vagueness of instructions.

These problems can be reduced by writing the recipe carefully, but they cannot be eliminated.

Even if an operation uses good standardized recipes, a new employee making a dish for the first time usually requires supervision to make sure he or she interprets the instructions the same way as the rest of the staff.

Standardized Recipes

Recipes are important tools in the foodservice industry. A recipe is not just a general set of instructions. Instead, a recipe is an exact set of directions on how to use ingredients, equipment, and preparation and cooking techniques for a certain dish.

To get the result you want from a recipe, you must carefully follow the specific directions that are listed on the recipe. If you do, the food will be a consistent quality, or will be free from variations, every time you prepare it. You will also end up with the same quantity of food every time you prepare the dish.

Quantity is the total amount a recipe makes.

A standardized recipe is a set of written instructions that is used to consistently prepare a known quantity and quality of a certain food. Standardized recipes are often changed to meet the needs of a particular user. Standardized recipes are also changed based on the type of equipment that a foodservice establishment has.

Each standardized recipe must go through quality control. Quality control is a system that ensures that everything will meet the foodservice establishment’s standards.

Recipes are tested many times to make sure that they work the same way every time before they are used for customers. To do this, directions on a standardized recipe must be clear and easy to follow, and ingredients must be listed correctly and accurately, in the order in which they will be used.

There are many benefits to using a standardized recipe:

The quality of the food will be consistent each time the recipe is made.

The quantity of the food will be consistent each time the recipe is made.

You can control the portion size and cost of the recipe.

Movement in the kitchen by foodservice workers will be more efficient because of clear, exact instructions.

You will have fewer errors in food orders.

You will eliminate waste by not overproducing food.

You will meet customers’ expectations of quality each time the food is prepared. Standardized recipes offer many benefits to foodservice operations. However, they cannot solve problems caused by purchasing or receiving poor-quality items, or purchasing too much food. If you make a substitution in the ingredients in a recipe, you must retest the recipe to make sure that the dish still has the same quality. A recipe that is specific and that produces the same product each time is the hallmark, or distinguishing feature, of a successful foodservice organization.

The success of any standardized recipe depends upon the experience of the person who uses it. If the person who uses the recipe does not understand basic cooking techniques,  he or she will not get the right results from the dish.

Instructional Recipes

The recipes in this book are not standardized recipes. Remember that a standardized recipe is custom-made for a particular operation. The recipes in this book are obviously not.

The purpose of a standardized recipe is to direct and control the production of a particular food item. Directions must be as complete and exact as possible.

The purpose of the instructional recipes in this book is to teach basic cooking techniques.

They provide an opportunity for you to practice, with specific ingredients, the general procedures you have learned.

1. Instructions for preparation.

In most cases, recipes in this book follow a discussion of a basic procedure. The recipes are examples of the general procedure, and they give you experience in applying what you have learned. The information you are given in the recipe instructions is intended primarily to encourage you to think and to learn a technique, not just to turn out a product. You should consult your instructor when you have a question about a procedure.

2. Variations and optional ingredients.

Many recipes are followed by variations. These are actually whole recipes given in abbreviated terms. It is possible to write them out as separate, full-length recipes. (You are encouraged to do this before preparing a variation, as a learning experience.)

Giving recipes as variations rather than as separate recipes encourages you to see the patterns behind each. Again, you are learning techniques, not just recipes. You develop a lot more understanding of what you are doing if you see Spanish rice and Turkish pilaf, for example, or coconut cream pie and chocolate pudding as variations of the same basic techniques rather than as separate, unrelated recipes.