Question
Lynn Whitehouse
How can we "size down" a recipe for a single eater rather than for multitudes while maintaining flavours?
Answer
Let's start with this, um, to begin with, it's typically safe. And I'm, I'm talking about, um, yeah, I'm talking about recipes in general. I mean, even, uh, even baking, uh, in this case. So just recipes in general. Start by cutting it in half. Okay? So, if you're talking about a, a home typical home recipe, uh, it's gonna feed, you know, maybe four to six people, let's say. And if you cut that in half, it's, you're gonna get a yield of, uh, two to three people approximately. Okay? So that's gonna get us closer, uh, to, uh, a single eater quantity. But that's gonna be a good way to start. Now, as we start to, uh, uh, cut down even further, um, then it becomes, uh, necessary to start to adjust the herbs and spices and other, uh, uh, flavorings that are usually used in small quantities. Uh, and I think in particularly spices, because many of them are, uh, they're strong, uh, they're pungent, uh, in flavor. And, um, we need to make, um, an adjustment to taste, uh, in that situation. Okay? So when it comes to the main ingredients, start by cutting 'em in half, um, and actually all ingredients, cut 'em, cut 'em in half. And then beyond that, if you wanna further reduce a recipe, you might try cutting it in half again. But again, those, uh, those smaller quantity, more, uh, uh, intensely flavored in greens will have to be adjusted to taste. And so this is where you put on your experimental cook hat and pull out your notebook and pencil and, uh, really take some notes and understand that this could be, you know, a multi-day or multi-week, uh, experiment, depending on just how frequently you want to, uh, address that recipe and, and tinker with it. Okay? Uh, but that's the process. Um, you know, there's really, uh, no other shortcut. I think, you know, even for, uh, r and d research and development chefs, um, that's what we do. Uh, when those instances come up, when or, or otherwise, when we're creating new recipes or adjusting recipes to make it our own, this is the, a, a very similar process that takes place in all of those scenarios. Thank you.
