The Art of Measuring Recipes: COSTING A RECIPE

Cost figures are then used to determine whether menu prices need to be changed or whether portions and ingredients should be modified to meet budget requirements. Recipe costs are also used in developing new menu items.

The units of weight and volume that we use in the United States are not used in other countries. Most of the world uses the metric system.

You may run into recipes using the metric system, perhaps in Canadian and European publications. Someday we will probably all be cooking in metric units. Meantime it is useful to know metric terms and equivalents and be able to translate them into the units of measurement for which our equipment is designed.

The metric system is simple and logical. It is based on the decimal system. You are familiar with this system through our money, in which units are decimal parts or multiples of a basic unit, the dollar. A penny is 0.01 dollar; a dime is 0.10 dollar, and so on.

The metric system of measurement applies the decimal system to weight, volume, and other systems of measurement such as length, distance, and area. Units of measurement are decimal parts or multiples-by-10 of a basic unit: milli- = 0.001 unit (1/1000) Cents = 0.01 unit ( 1/ 100) deci- = 0.1 unit ( 1/ 10) basic unit deca- = 10 units (10 x unit) hecto- = 100 units (100 x unit) kilo- = 1000 units (1000 x unit)

Metric weight

The basic unit of weight is the gram. In the kitchen the units of weight used are the gram (abbreviated g or gm) and the kilogram (abbreviated kg and pronounced kill-o-gram), sometimes shortened to kilo (pronounced kee'-loh).

A kilogram is 1000 grams. A gram is 0.035 ounce. A kilogram is 2.2 pounds.

In translating a recipe from metric weight to U.S. weight, these are your multipliers. You multiply each ingredient as you do in converting a recipe from one quantity to another.

Here is a recipe in which metric measures are converted to pounds:

Lima Beans 15 kilograms X 2.2 = 33.0 pounds Mushrooms 4 kilograms X 2.2 = 8.8 pounds Shallots 500 grams (0.5 kilograms) X 2.2 = 1.1 pounds Butter 1 kilogram X 2.2 = 2.2 pounds

Go To Page: 1

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic