Step # 6: The Recipe – Grocery Savings Keystone

What two colors do manufacturers often use because they are likely to catch your eye?

A. Red and bright blue
B. Red and green
C. Red and pink
D. Red and yellow

Answer D

Take notice the next time you go shopping. Red and yellows are used extensively because they are both colors that catch the eye.

The keystone of any menu is the recipe. The recipe is an important tool for the cook. It’s the means of recording and passing along critical information. Cooking without a recipe is like learning to play the piano without using written music.

In spite of its importance, written recipes have many limits. No matter how detailed a recipe may be it assumes that you already have certain knowledge – that you understand the language it uses and that you know how to measure ingredients.

A recipe is a set of instructions for creating specific food dishes. In order to repeat a desired meal, it is necessary that we have a precise record of the ingredients, their amounts, and the way in which we combined and cooked them.

Everyone’s favorite meal is Aunt Fay’s Easy Weeknight Chili. Because you’ve make it so often, you can cook it without looking at your aunt’s recipe card.

Easy Weeknight Chili
Makes 4 servings.

1 pound ground beef
2 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
1 can (15 ounces) red kidney beans, undrained
1 package (1.25 ounces) chili seasoning
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Chopped onion (garnish)

• In 2 to 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat, add ground beef and cook until no longer pink, stirring often. Drain. 
• Next, stir in tomato sauce, beans and seasoning. 
• Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Stir chili before serving. 
• Top with shredded cheese and onion. 

Many people believe that cooking is just learning recipes. However, a knowledgeable cook is able to prepare food without a written recipe, if they have to. They simply have a good understanding of basic principles and techniques.

Yet, 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 three reasons for this:

1. Food products are not consistent.

2. Kitchens do not have the same equipment

3. For many processes, it is not possible to give exact instruction. For example, how do you set the burner for, “Cook over medium-high heat”? How thick this is a “thick” sauce?

When you make a recipe for the first time, you apply your knowledge and thinking about making the recipe, in relation to your skills. You want to determine the following points:

1.) What are the basic cooking methods?

2.) What are the characteristics of the ingredients?

3.) What is the function of the ingredients?

4.) What are the cooking times?

Experienced cooks know how to cook with judgment. Then you will be able to cook with most recipes, even poorly written ones. You will be able to see what might be wrong with new recipes before you try it and will be able to make adjustments in it. You will know how to substitute ingredients or use different equipment. You will even be able to create new recipes.

Remember, I said that some recipes supply very little information and depend largely on the cook’s knowledge. In cooking, thorough measurement is a key part. It is important for constant quality each time you make a recipe. Moreover, it is important for cost control. There are two important kinds of kitchen measurements:

Ingredient measurement

Portion Control

Weighing is the most accurate method of measuring ingredients. It is the method used for most solid ingredients. Accurate scales are necessary for weighting. Because of their convenience, cooks use small portion scales in the kitchen.

Cooks use volume measures, for example measuring cups, for liquids. Measuring a liquid by volume is usually faster than weighing it, and accuracy is good.

You usually do not measure solid ingredients by volume since they cannot usually be measure accurately by this method. A pint of chopped onions will vary considerably in weight, depending on how large or small you cut them. Another factor is how loose or well packed the measuring cup is.

Dry ingredients such as flour or sugar are usually weighted. However, you may measure them by volume, when speed is more important than accuracy.

Measuring ingredients by count in these circumstances:

1. When units are in standard sized. Like 6 large eggs.

2. When you determine serving portions by number of units.

Portion Control is the measurement of portions to ensure that you serve the correct amount of an item. The home cook must be aware of proper portion sizes. The recipe usually tells us what the portion sizes are.

Portion control actually begins with the measuring of ingredients. If you don’t do this correctly, then your recipe servings will be thrown off.

When portions are determined by count – 1 hamburger patty, 2 tomato slices, 1 slice of pie – then the units must be measure or cut according to instructions: 4 ounces of meat per patty; 1/4-inch slices of tomato; 8 equal pie slices.

For the home use, it is important in calorie control if people are heath conscious.

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