Increasing and decreasing recipes - part 1

1 info

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
To Increase Seasonings
If everything
else is
multiplied by: seasoning by:
2
3
4 *
* You're flirting with danger.
Don't try it with a complex recipe. SUGAR: Don't
Figuring Cooking Time
The Kitchen Companion
by Polly Clingerman
ISBN 0-942320-44-1
pg 68, 245-249
Multiply
1«
2
2«

Directions

NONE

þ Recipes you can increase and decrease with few problems are casseroles, sauces, cookies, muffins, most drinks and appetizers, most soups and vegetables.

þ In top-of-the-stove cooking, a doubled recipe need less liquid and a halved one needs more because of differences in evaporation. When you double one of these recipes, don't quite double the liquid; when you cut a recipe in half, add a little MORE than half the liquid.

þ Never increase a recipe by more than 3 times. Now and then you can manage to quadruple, but you can't count on it working out.

þ Instead of cutting a cake or bread recipe in half, make the whole thing, bake it in a large pan or two smaller ones and freeze the half you don't need.

þ Don't double cake recipes or souffl‚s that use more than 6 eggs.

Make them twice. Home kitchen equipment can't mix large quantities of delicate ingredients without overworking them. By the time a large amount of egg white has been folded in, it has lost its air.

þ To increase a recipe that serves 4 to serve, for example, 22ÄÄ divide 22 by the 4 of your recipe. Multiple each ingredient in the recipe by the answer you get. (Since 22 divided by 4 equals 5½, you would multiply each ingredient by 5½) : Things You NEVER double or triple when you increase a recipe: SEASONING: Season to taste, slowly, tasting after each addition. (Use the box for guidance only. Note how the proportion goes down!) increase the small amount used to enhance flavor : (in tomato sauce, for example).

SALT: Don't increase the pinch or ¬ teaspoon used in sweet : recipes. The pinch will still do it.

FAT: When you double a recipe, use only ⅓ more fat or oil.

: If you use more, the result will be greasy.

YEAST: If you double a recipe, use only 1« times the yeast.

When you alter a recipe, the original cooking time no longer applies.

Use it only as a guideline, and cook toward the result you want ÄÄ a browned cake that pulls away from the sides of the pan; a roast that has the right internal temperature; a casserole that is brown and bubbles around the edges.

If the grocery store doesn't have the size meat or poultry your recipe calls for, buy the closest thing. For example, if you need a 4 pound chicken and the meat counter has only 3 or 5 pound chickens, you're all right with either of those. Follow your recipe. Use all the other specified amounts of ingredients, but adjust the pot size and cooking time.

Submitted By DIANE LAZARUS On 10-01-95

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