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INTRODUCTION TO FOOD PRODUCTION AND SERVICE

CONTENTS

Chapter 6 – Standardized Recipes

Chapter Outline:

Standardized recipes explained

Components of a standardized recipe

Benefits of using standardized recipes

Recipe yield

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 Standard portions

Kitchen Measurements
Converting and adjusting recipes

Previous: Chapter 5 – Process HACCP for Recipes

Learning Objectives:
Next: Chapter 7 – Recipe and M
List the parts of a well-written standardized recipe

Explain the importance of standardized recipes as a management tool

Explain advantages of using standardized recipes

Describe common measurements used on recipes for food production

Convert recipe and ingredient amounts from one yield to another yield (both
larger and smaller)

Key Terms:

Standardized recipe
Standard yield

Standard portion

Mise en place

Count
Volume measurement

Weight measurement

Conversion factor

Conversion factor method

STANDARDIZED RECIPES

All recipes are not created equal. Some recipes have missing ingredients, faulty season-

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 ings, insu!cient or poor instructions causing more work, and some are simply not
tested.

A standardized recipe is a set of written instructions used to consistently prepare a

known quantity and quality of food for a specific location. A standardized recipe will
produce a product that is close to identical in taste and yield every time it is made, no
matter who follows the directions.

A good standardized recipe will include:

Menu item name – the name of the given recipe that should be consistent with
the name on the menu

Total Yield – number of servings, or portions that a recipe produces, and often
the total weight or volume of the recipe

Portion size – amount or size of the individual portion

Ingredient list/quantity – exact quantities of each ingredient (with the exception

of spices that may be added to taste)

Preparation procedures – Specific directions for the order of operations and types
of operations (e.g., blend, fold, mix, sauté)

Cooking temperatures and times, including HACCP critical control points and
limits to ensure the dish is cooked properly and safely

Special instructions, according to the standard format used in an operation

Mise en place – a list of small equipment and individual ingredient preparation

Service instructions, including hot/cold storage

Plating/garnishing

In addition to the list above, standardized recipes may also include recipe cost, nutri-
tional analysis, variations, garnishing and presentation tips, work simplification tips,
suggested accompaniments or companion recipes, and photos.

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 Standardize recipes can help with work simplification and incorporate HACCP into
procedures. Many facilities preparing food in large quantities also batch cook, so the
standardized recipes will incorporate those procedures into the instructions. The skill
level of employees should also be taken into account when writing recipe procedures
or directions. Terminology within the standardized recipes should be at the skill level
of employees, for example, instruct an employee to melt butter and whisk with flour
instead of saying “make a roux”, if more appropriate for a specific operation. Finally,
cooking equipment, temperatures, time, etc. are adjusted for the facility.

A short side note on mise en place – a key component to e!ciently producing menu
items from recipes is to have “everything in its place.” Many kitchens will have work
stations with a standard mise en place set up, which might include a cutting board, salt
and pepper, tasting spoons, composting containers, etc. Standardized recipes can help
employees produce menu items most e!ciently if they also list mise en place for small
equipment needed for the recipe, such as measuring tools, preparation tools (knives,
peeler), holding pans, cooking utensils, etc. Employees can gather everything they need
before starting recipe preparation thus reducing traveling around the kitchen during
preparation, kitchen congestion, loss of focus from frequent starting and stopping, and
errors from interruptions to their work. Detailing the mise en place for individual in-
gredients, such as peeling and cutting, with each ingredient can also improve the clari-
ty and e!ciency of recipe preparation. Example: Raw white potato, peeled, ½ in. dice

Some things to remember when writing a standardized recipe:

If you are starting with a home/internet recipe – make it first!

Standardized recipes are a training tool for employees

A good recipe is like a well-crafted formula – it has been tested and works every
time

S.A.M.E. – Standardization Always Meets Expectations

Recipes as a Control Tool

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 Standardized recipes are an important control tool for food service managers and oper-
ations. A standardized recipe assures not only that consistent quality and quantity, but
also a reliable cost range. In order for an operation to set a menu selling price that al-
lows the operation to make a profit, it’s vital that the cost of each recipe and portion is
calculated and relatively consistent.

Benefits of using a standardized recipe include:

a consistent quality and quantity

standard portion size/cost

assuring nutritional content and addressing dietary concerns, such as special diets
or food allergies

helping ensure compliance with “Truth in Menu” requirements

aiding in forecasting and purchasing

fewer errors in food orders

incorporating work simplification principles and aids in cross-training

assisting in training new employees

incorporating HACCP principles

reducing waste

more easily meeting customer expectations

Arguments often used against standardized recipes can include:

take too long to use

employees don’t need them, they know how to do things in establishment

chef doesn’t want to reveal their secrets

take too long to write/develop

An e#ective foodservice manager knows that these arguments against using standard-

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 ized recipes, even if true in some cases, cannot deter an operation from developing and
consistently using standardized recipes. Our profits depend on this very important
practice. Our customers must be able to rely on a consistent nutritional quality and
allergen content at a minimum, but our customers also deserve to receive the SAME
product every time they order a menu item they like and appreciate.

STANDARD YIELDS

The yield of a recipe is the number of portions it will produce. Yields can also be ex-
pressed as a total volume or total weight the recipe produces. An example would be a
soup recipe that yields 24, 8 oz. portions which could also be stated as a yield of six
quarts or a 1 ½ gallon. A weight example would be a recipe that yields 20, 4 oz. por-
tions of taco meat or a total yield of 5 pounds.

Standard yields for the main, often higher cost, ingredients such as meat, may also take
into consideration portion cost and be determined in part by calculating the cost per
cooked portion.

For example, an 11 pound roast might be purchased for $17 a pound. The cooked roast
is to be served in 8 ounce portions as part of a roast beef dinner. After trimming and
cooking, the roast will not weigh 11 pounds, but significantly less and will thus yield
fewer than 22 portions (11 pounds multiplied by 2 – figuring that a pound (16 ounces)
would yield two 8 oz portions.) By running a yield test, the number of portions, cost
per portion and unit weight, and the standard yield and yield percentage, can be deter-
mined. Yield testing will be discussed later in this book.

STANDARD PORTIONS

A standard recipe includes the size of the portions that will make up a serving of the
recipe. Controlling portion size has two advantages in food management:

portion costs for the item will be consistent until ingredient or labor costs

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 change, and

customers receive consistent quantities each time they order a given plate or
drink.

Standard portions mean that every plate of a given dish that leaves the kitchen will be
almost identical in weight, count, or volume. Only by controlling portions is it possible
to control food costs. If one order of bacon and eggs goes out with six strips of bacon
and another goes out with three strips, it is impossible to determine the actual cost of
the menu item.

Adhering to the principles of standard portions is crucial to keeping food costs in line.
Without portion control, there is no consistency. This not only could have drastic ef-
fects on your food costs (having no real constant costs to budget for) but also on your
customers. Customers appreciate consistency. They expect that the food you prepare
will taste good, be presented properly, and be the same portion size every time they
order it. Consider how the customer would feel if the portion size fluctuated with the
cook’s mood. A cook’s bad mood might mean a smaller portion or, if the cook was in a
good mood because the workweek was over, the portion might be very large.

It may be hard to grasp the importance of consistency with one single portion, but
consider if fast-food outlets did not have portion control. Their costs, as well as their
ordering and inventory systems, would be incredibly inaccurate, all of which would
impact negatively on their profit margin.

Strict portion control has several side benefits beyond keeping costs under control.
First, customers are more satisfied when they can see that the portion they have is very
similar to the portions of the same dish they can see around them. Second, servers are
quite happy because they know that if they pick up a dish from the kitchen, it will con-
tain the same portions as another server’s plate of the same order.

Simple methods to control portion include weighing meat before it is served, using the
same size juice glasses when juice is served, counting items such as shrimp, and por-
tioning with scoops and ladles that hold a known volume. Another method is using

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 convenience products. These products are received usually frozen and are ready to
cook. Portions are consistent in size and presentation and are easily costed out on a per
unit basis. This can be helpful when determining the standard portion costs.

Note: Using convenience products is usually more costly than preparing the
item in-house. However, some chefs and managers feel that using premade con-
venience products is easier than hiring and training qualified sta#. But always
keep in mind that if the quality of the convenience item is not comparable to an
in-house made product, the reputation of the restaurant may su#er.

Standard portions are assured if the food operation provides and requires sta# to use
such tools as scales, measured ladles or spoodles, and standard size scoops. Many opera-
tions use a management portion control record for menu items. The control record is
posted in the kitchen so cooks and those who plate the dishes know what constitutes
standard portions. Some operations also have photographs of each item posted in the
kitchen area to remind workers what the final product should look like.

TYPES OF MEASUREMENTS USED IN THE KITCHEN

There are three types of measurements used to measure ingredients and to serve por-
tions in the restaurant trade.

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

Recipes may have all three types of measurement. A recipe may call for 3 eggs (mea-
surement by count), 8 ounces of milk (measurement by volume), and 1 pound of cheese
(measurement by weight).

There are formal and informal rules governing which type of measurement should be
used. There are also specific procedures to ensure that the measuring is done accurately
and consistently.

Number or Count

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 Number measurement is only used when accurate measurement is not critical and the
items to be used are understood to be close in size.

For example, “3 eggs” is a common measurement called for in recipes, not just because
3 is easy to count but also because eggs are graded to specific sizes. Most recipes call for
large eggs unless stated otherwise.

Numbers are also used if the final product is countable. For example, 24 pre-made tart
shells would be called for if the final product is to be 24 filled tart shells.

Volume

Volume measurement is usually used with liquids or fluids because such items are awk-
ward to weigh. It is also used for dry ingredients in home cooking, but it is less often
used for dry measurement in the industry.

Volume is often the measure used when portioning sizes of finished product. For ex-
ample, portion scoops are used to dole out vegetables, potato salad, and sandwich fill-
ings to keep serving size consistent. Ladles of an exact size are used to portion out
soups and sauces. Often scoops and ladles used for portioning are sized by number. On
a scoop, such a number refers to the number of full scoops needed to fill a volume of
one quart. Ladles and spoodles are sized in ounces.

Weight

Weight is the most accurate way to measure ingredients or portions. When propor-
tions of ingredients are critical, their measurements are always given in weights. This
is particularly true in baking where it is common to list all ingredients by weight, in-
cluding eggs (which, as mentioned earlier, in almost all other applications are called for
by count). Whether measuring solids or liquids, measuring by weight is more reliable
and consistent.

Weighing is a bit more time consuming and requires the use of scales, but it pays o# in
accuracy. Digital portion scales are most commonly used in industry and come in vari-

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 ous sizes to measure weights up to 11 lbs. This is adequate for most recipes, although
larger operations may require scales with a larger capacity.

The reason weight is more accurate than volume is because it takes into account fac-
tors such as density, moisture, and temperature that can have an e#ect on the volume
of ingredients. For example, 1 cup of brown sugar (measured by volume) could change
drastically depending on whether it is loosely or tightly packed in the vessel. On the
other hand, 10 oz of brown sugar, will always be 10 oz. Even flour, which one might
think is very consistent, will vary from location to location, and the result will mean an
adjustment in the amount of liquid needed to get the same consistency when mixed
with a given volume.

Another common mistake is interchanging between volume and weight. The only in-
gredient that will have the same volume and weight consistently is water: 1 cup water
= 8 ounces water.

There is no other ingredient that can be measured interchangeably because of gravity

and the density of an item. Every ingredient has a di#erent density and di#erent gravi-
tational weight, which will also change according to location. This is called specific
gravity. Water has a specific gravity of 1.0. Liquids that are lighter than water (such as
oils that float on water) have a specific gravity of less than 1.0. Those that are heavier
than water and will sink, such as molasses, have a specific gravity greater than 1.0. Un-
less you are measuring water, remember not to use a volume measure for a weight
measure, and vice versa.

CONVERTING AND ADJUSTING RECIPES AND FORMULAS

Recipes often need to be adjusted to meet the needs of di#erent situations. The most
common reason to adjust recipes is to change the number of individual portions that
the recipe produces. For example, a standard recipe might be written to prepare 25
portions. If a situation arises where 60 portions of the item are needed, the recipe must
be properly adjusted.

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 Other reasons to adjust recipes include changing portion sizes (which may mean
changing the batch size of the recipe) and better utilizing available preparation equip-
ment (for example, you need to divide a recipe to make two half batches due to a lack
of oven space).

Conversion Factor Method

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

1. Finding a conversion factor

2. Multiplying the ingredients in the original recipe by that factor.

Finding Conversion Factors

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

1. Note the yield of the recipe that is to be adjusted. The number of portions is usu-
ally included at the top of the recipe (or formulation) or at the bottom of the
recipe. This is the information that you HAVE.

2. Decide what yield is required. This is the information you NEED.

3. Obtain the conversion factor by dividing the required yield (from Step 2) by the
old yield (from Step 1). That is, conversion factor = (required yield)/(recipe yield),
conversion factor = what you NEED ÷ what you HAVE

If the number of portions and the size of each portion change, you will have to find a
conversion factor using a similar approach:

1. Determine the total yield of the recipe by multiplying the number of portions and
the size of each portion.

2. Determine the required yield of the recipe by multiplying the new number of por-
tions and the new size of each portion.

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 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)

ADJUSTING RECIPES USING 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 you begin, there is an important first step:

Before converting a recipe, express the original ingredients by weight

whenever possible.

Converting to weight is particularly important for dry ingredients. Most recipes in

commercial kitchens express the ingredients by weight, while most recipes intended
for home cooks express the ingredients by volume. If the amounts of some ingredients
are too small to weigh (such as spices and seasonings), they may be left as volume mea-
sures. Liquid ingredients also are sometimes left as volume measures because it is easi-
er to measure a quart of liquid than it is to weigh it. However, a major exception is
measuring liquids with a high sugar content, such as honey and syrup; these should
always be measured by weight, not volume.

Converting from volume to weight can be a bit tricky and will require the use of tables
that provide the approximate weight of di#erent volume measures of commonly used
recipe ingredients. A resource to use in converting volume to weight is the Book of
Yields. Once you have all the ingredients in weight, you can then multiply by the con-
version factor to adjust the recipe. Often, you must change the quantities of the origi-
nal recipe into smaller units, then multiply by the conversion factor, then put back into
the largest unit that makes sense for the recipe. For example, pounds may need to be
expressed as ounces, and cups, pints, quarts, and gallons must be converted into fluid
ounces. Example:

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 Ingredient Original Common Conversion New New amount expressed in
amount unit Factor amount largest unit on recipe
96 fl.
Skim oz. or
1 ½ cup 12 fl. oz. 8 3 quarts
milk
12 cups
Cheddar
2 ¼ lbs 36 oz. 3 108 oz. 6 ¾ lbs. or 6 lbs. 12 oz.
cheese
16 fl.
Olive Oil 1 qt. 32 fl. oz. .5 1 pt.
oz.
Table 6.1 Ingredient Information.

Table 6.1 Ingredient Information

CAUTIONS WHEN CONVERTING RECIPES

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

Equipment
Mixing and cooking times – this can be a#ected if the equipment used to cook or
mix is di#erent from the equipment used in the original recipe

Cooking temperatures
Shrinkage – the percentage of food lost during its storage and preparation

Recipe errors

Some other problems that can occur with recipe conversions are:

Substantially increasing the yield of small home cook recipes can be problematic
as all the ingredients are usually given in volume measure, which can be inaccu-
rate, and increasing the amounts dramatically magnifies this problem.
Spices and seasonings must be increased with caution as doubling or tripling the

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 amount to satisfy a conversion factor can have negative consequences. If possible,
it is best to under-season and then adjust just before serving.

The fine adjustments that have to be made when converting a recipe can only be
learned from experience, as there are no hard and fast rules. Generally, if you have
recipes that you use often, convert them, test them, and then keep copies of the recipes
adjusted for di#erent yields.

S.A.M.E.

Remember – Standardization Always Meets Expectations. Foodservice operations need

to meet the expectations of their customers, every time they visit. Foodservice opera-
tions need to meet expectations for employees, their skill level and training. Foodser-
vice businesses need to meet expectations for costs and profit for all menu items. Stan-
dardized recipes are critical to the foodservice industry. They are simply good business!

REVIEW QUESTIONS (THINK ABOUT):

Why is using standardized recipes an important cost control tool for foodservice
operations?
What are the benefits of using standardized recipes in a foodservice business opera-
tion?
Why is it important to understand the di#erence between volume and weight mea-
surements when developing recipes?

REVIEW EXERCISE 1

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 Drag the words into the correct boxes

1. A set of written instructions used to consistently Mise en place

prepare a known quantity and quality of food for a Conversion factor
specific operation.
Weight measurement
2. Used to reduce or expand the number of servings a
Volume measurement
recipe will yield.
Standard yield
3. The total amount (weight, volume or count) of
Standardized recipe
product made by a recipe.
Standard portion

4. Provided on a recipe –the consistent serving size for

each customer.
5. An organization system for kitchens meaning
everything is in place.
6. Usually used for liquids, examples include a cup,
pint, quart, liter, gallon.
7. The most accurate way to measure in a kitchen,
examples include lb., oz., kg, gm.

REVIEW EXERCISE 2

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 What are the three attributes of a standardized recipe?

 Consistent quality & yield for a specific kitchen

 Ingredients, directions, tools

 Name, portion size, ingredients

 Looks good & tastes good

 Check 

Reuse Embed 
Think about this: When you produce the expanded chicken tortilla soup recipe in
Café Laura,
you run out of soup after serving only 30 customers? What are some possible rea-
sons that this
happened?

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 A recipe for Marinara Sauce makes 2 quarts and calls for 1 pint of
tomato puree. What conversion factor will you use if you need to make
160 half-cup servings of marinara sauce?

 26

 20

 10

 5

 40

 Check 

Reuse Embed 

LICENSE SHARE THIS BOOK

Introduction to Food Production

and Service Copyright © by Beth
Egan is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0
International License, except
where otherwise noted.

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