Lesson 2.3: Standardized Recipes (2023)

standard yields

Heproduceof a recipe is the number of servings that are made from it. Yields can also be expressed as the total volume or weight that the recipe produces. An example would be a soup recipe that makes 24.8 ounces. Servings, which could also be stated as yields of six quarts or 1½ gallons. An example weight would be a recipe that yields 20.4 ounces. servings of taco meat or a total yield of 5 lbs.

Standard yields for key, often more expensive ingredients such as meat can also represent portion costs and can be determined in part by calculating the cost per portion cooked.

For example, an 11-pound roast might be purchased for $17 a pound. The cooked roast is served in 8-ounce portions as part of a roast beef dinner. After cutting and cooking, the roast doesn't weigh 11 pounds, but it does weigh much less, making less than 22 servings (11 pounds multiplied by 2, assuming one pound (16 ounces) would make two 8-ounce servings). By running a yield test, the number of servings, the cost per serving per unit weight, and the standard yield and percentage yield are determined. Performance testing is discussed later in this book.

standard portions

A standard recipe contains the serving sizes that make up one serving of the recipe. Controlling portion sizes has two benefits in food management:

• The cost of the portion of the item remains constant until the ingredient or labor cost changes, and
• Customers receive constant amounts each time they order a specific dish or drink.

Standard portions mean that each plate of a particular dish that comes out of the kitchen is nearly identical in weight, number, or volume. Only by controlling portions is it possible to control food costs. If one order of Bacon and Eggs comes with six strips of bacon and another with three strips, it's impossible to determine the actual cost of the menu item.

Adhering to the principles of standard portions is critical to keeping food costs in check. Without portion control, there is no consistency. This could not only have a drastic impact on your grocery costs (because you don't have to budget for truly constant costs), but also on your customers. Clients value consistency. They expect the food you prepare to taste good, be presented correctly, and have the same portion size with every order. Consider how the customer would feel if the serving size varied with the chef's mood. A chef's bad mood might mean a smaller portion or, if the chef was in a good mood because he finished the work week, the portion could be very large.

It can be hard to understand the importance of consistency in a single serving, but consider if fast food places didn't have portion control. Their costing, ordering, and inventory systems would be incredibly inaccurate, negatively impacting them.benefitRand.

Strict portion control has other benefits besides controlling costs. First, customers are happiest when they can see that the portion they are eating is very similar to the portions of the same dish they see around them. Second, servers are very happy because they know that when they receive a dish from the kitchen, it has the same portions as another waiter's dish with the same order.

Simple methods of portion control include weighing meat before serving, using the same size juice glasses when serving juice, counting items such as shrimp, and dividing into portions with spoons and spoons containing a known volume. Another method is to use convenience products. These products are usually delivered frozen and ready to cook. Portions are consistent in size and presentation and are easily calculated per unit. This can be helpful in determining standard service costs.

use: Using convenience items is often more expensive than making them in-house. However, some chefs and managers find using off-the-shelf convenience products easier than hiring and training skilled employees. But always remember that the restaurant's reputation may suffer if the quality of the convenience item is not comparable to a homemade product.

Standard servings are assured when the food establishment provides and requires staff to use tools such as scales, measuring spoons, or standard size ladles and spoons. Many operations use a menu item management section control register. The control log is posted in the kitchen so chefs and food servers know what constitutes a standard serving. Some establishments also have photos of each item in the kitchen area to remind workers of what the final product should look like.

Types of measures in the kitchen.

There are three types of measurements used to measure ingredients and serve portions in the hospitality industry.

Measurement can be by volume, weight, or number..

Recipes can have all three types of measurements. A recipe might call for 3 eggs (measured by count), 8 ounces of milk (measured by volume), and 1 pound of cheese (measured by weight).

There are formal and informal rules about what type of measurement should be used. There are also specific procedures to ensure that the measurement is performed accurately and consistently.

number or account

Numerical measurement is used only when precise measurement is not critical and the items to be used are likely to be of similar size.

For example, "3 eggs" is a common measurement called for in recipes, not only because 3 is easy to count, but also because eggs are graded by specific sizes. Most recipes call for large eggs unless otherwise noted.

Numbers are also used when the final product is countable. For example, if the final product were 24 filled cake layers, 24 pre-made cake layers would be required.

Volume

Volume measurement is generally used with liquids or fluids because these items are cumbersome to weigh. It is also used for dry ingredients in home cooking, but is used less often for dry measurement in industry.

Volume is often the measurement used when dividing finished product sizes. For example, portion scoops are used to dispense vegetables, potato salad, and sandwich fillings to keep portion sizes consistent. Precise ladles are used for portioning soups and sauces. Often the spoons and ladles used for portioning are classified by number. In a measuring spoon, this number refers to the number of full measuring spoons needed to fill a volume of one liter. Ladles and tablespoons are measured in ounces.

Weight

Weight is the most accurate way to measure ingredients or servings. In the case of critical proportions of ingredients, measurements are always given by weight. This is especially true in baking, where it's common to list all ingredients by weight, including eggs (which, as mentioned, are called for by count in almost every other app). Whether you're measuring solids or liquids, weight measurement is more reliable and consistent.

Weighing is a little more time consuming and requires the use of a scale, but it is worth it in the accuracy. Digital portion scales are the most commonly used in the industry and come in a variety of sizes to measure weights up to 11 pounds. This is sufficient for most recipes, although larger operations may require larger capacity scales.

Weight is more accurate than volume because it takes into account factors like density, humidity, and temperature that can affect the volume of ingredients. For example, 1 cup of brown sugar (measured by volume) could change dramatically depending on whether it's loose or tight in the jar. On the other hand, 10 ounces of brown sugar is always 10 ounces. Even flour, which might be thought to be very consistent, varies from place to place, and the result means an adjustment in the amount of liquid required to get the same consistency when mixed to a given volume.

Another common mistake is mixing volume and weight. The only ingredient that has the same volume and weight is water: 1 cup of water = 8 ounces of water.

There is no other ingredient that can be measured interchangeably based on the gravity and density of an object. Each ingredient has a different density and gravitational weight, which also changes based on location. Is calledspecific weight.Water has a specific gravity of 1.0. Liquids that are lighter than water (for example, oils that float on water) have a specific gravity of less than 1.0. Those that are heavier than water and sink, such as molasses, have a specific gravity greater than 1.0. Remember not to use a volume measurement for a weight measurement unless you are measuring water and vice versa.

Convert and customize recipes and formulas

Recipes often need to be adjusted to meet the needs of different situations. The most common reason to adjust recipes is to change the number of single servings the recipe produces. For example, a standard recipe could be written to make 25 servings. If a situation arises where 60 servings of the item are required, the recipe should be adjusted accordingly.

Other reasons to customize recipes include changing serving sizes (which may mean changing the batch size of the recipe) and making better use of available preparation equipment (for example, you need to split a recipe into two half batches due to lack of space). .

Conversion factor method

The most common way to adjust recipes is to use the conversion factor method. This only requires two steps:

1. Find the conversion factor
2. Multiply the ingredients in the original recipe by this factor.

Find conversion factors

To find the appropriate conversion factor to adjust a recipe, follow these steps:

1. Consider the yield of the recipe to be adjusted. The number of servings is usually at the top of the recipe (or recipe) or at the bottom of the recipe. This is the information you DO have.
2. Decide what performance is required. This is the information you need.
3. You can get the conversion factor by dividing the desired return (from step 2) by the past return (from step 1). That is, conversion factor = (required yield)/(recipe yield), conversion factor = what you need ÷ what you have

If you change the number of servings and the size of each serving, you must find a conversion factor using a similar approach:

1. Determine the overall yield for the recipe by multiplying the number of servings and the size of each serving.
2. Determine the required yield for the recipe by multiplying the new number of servings and the new size of each serving.
3. Find the conversion factor by dividing the required yield (step 2) by the recipe yield (step 1). That is, conversion factor = (required yield) / (recipe yield)

Recipe adjustment with conversion factors

Now that you have the conversion factor, you can use it to adjust all the ingredients in the recipe. The procedure is to multiply the amount of each ingredient in the original recipe by the conversion factor. Before we begin, there is an important first step:

• Before converting a recipe, express the original ingredients by weight whenever possible.

Weight conversion is especially important for dry ingredients. Most commercial recipes list ingredients by weight, while most home recipes list ingredients by volume. If the amounts of some ingredients are too small to weigh (for example, spices and seasonings), they can be left as measures of volume. Liquid ingredients are also sometimes left as volume measurements, since it is easier to measure a liter of liquid than to weigh it. However, one big exception is measuring liquids that are high in sugar, such as honey and syrup; These should always be measured by weight, not volume.

Converting volume to weight can be somewhat complicated and requires the use of tables that give approximate weights of various volumetric measurements of commonly used recipe ingredients. One resource for converting volume to weight is the Yield Book. Once you have all the ingredients by weight, you can multiply by the conversion factor to adjust the recipe. Often, you need to convert the amounts in the original recipe to smaller units, then multiply by the conversion factor, and then back to the largest unit that makes sense for the recipe. For example, pounds may need to be expressed in ounces, and cups, pints, quarts, and gallons may need to be converted to fluid ounces. Example:

Tabla 6.1Ingredient Information

Be careful when converting recipes

When converting recipes, the conversion calculations do not take into account certain factors:

• equipment
• Mixing and Cooking Times – This can be affected if the equipment used for cooking or mixing differs from the equipment used in the original recipe.
• cooking temperatures
• Shrinkage: the percentage of food that is lost during storage and preparation
• recipe mistake

Some other issues that can arise with recipe conversions are:

• Significantly increasing the yield for small home recipes can be problematic, as all ingredients are usually listed by volume, which can be inaccurate, and increasing the amounts dramatically increases this problem.
• Spices and seasonings should be added with caution, as doubling or tripling the amount to meet a conversion factor can have negative consequences. If possible, it's best to underseason and then adjust just before serving.

The fine adjustments to be made when changing a recipe can only be learned through experience, as there are no hard and fast rules. In general, if you have recipes that you use frequently, convert them, test them, and then save copies of the adjusted recipes for different yields.

THE SAME THING.

Remember: standardization always meets expectations. Catering establishments must meet the expectations of their customers on each visit. Food service establishments must meet the expectations of employees, their skill levels and education. Food service businesses must meet cost and profit expectations for all menu items. Standardized recipes are essential for the food service industry. They are a good deal!

Review questions (consider):

Why is the use of standardized recipes an important cost control tool for food service establishments?