5Measuring, recipes and mise en place

A dish comes out the same each time only when its ingredients go in at the same proportions each time. That makes careful measuring one of the first skills a cook learns.

Measuring is only part of the work. A cook also has to change a recipe to feed more people or fewer, and has to have everything ready before cooking starts. Professional kitchens call that readiness mise en place.

5.1 Measuring by weight and by volume

Accurate measuring has a clear purpose. It keeps the proportions of ingredients right, and it lets a food product turn out the same way every time it is made.

The recipe mixes small and large amounts:

• Topping: tablespoons and teaspoons of brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and butter.
• Batter: cups of sifted flour, sugar and milk, teaspoons of baking powder and salt, plus one beaten egg and a little vegetable oil.

Cutting each of these to a third is good practice in choosing the right spoon or cup.

Weighing needs scales; in a kitchen lab they are part of the shared equipment.

When you study measuring, be ready to answer these questions about technique:

• Why is flour sifted before it is measured by volume?
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• Why is it better to use the smallest possible number of measurements?
• Why do liquid ingredients and dry ingredients need different kinds of measuring cups?
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• How should brown sugar be measured, and why?

You should also know the basic equivalents by heart:

• cups in a pint
• pints in a quart
• quarts in a gallon
• cups in a gallon
• teaspoons in a tablespoon
• tablespoons in a cup
• grams in a pound

5.2 Scaling and converting a recipe

Step 1: find the conversion factor

The conversion factor is the one number used to change every amount in the recipe. Divide the number of servings you need by the number of servings the recipe makes now.

• What you want ÷ what you have = conversion factor.
• Example: a recipe makes 10 servings and you need 6. 6 ÷ 10 = 0.6.

Step 2: multiply every ingredient

Each ingredient amount is multiplied by the conversion factor. If the 10-serving recipe needs 2 quarts of chicken stock, the 6-serving version needs 2 × 0.6 = 1.2 quarts.

Step 3: turn the answer into a usable measure

The result is often a decimal. Some decimals are easy, because they match a common fraction:

• 0.25 is a quarter.
• 0.33 is a third.
• 0.50 is a half.
• 0.66 is two thirds.
• 0.75 is three quarters.

Other decimals, like the 0.2 in 1.2 quarts, are harder. You can judge the amount by eye, which is fine for much everyday cooking. In baking, though, exact amounts matter more, and guessing can ruin the result.

The more careful route is to convert to a smaller unit. A conversion chart shows 32 ounces in a quart, so 1.2 quarts is 32 × 1.2 = 38.4 ounces, or about 38. That is still an awkward amount. There are 8 ounces in a cup, and 38 ÷ 8 = 4.75, so the stock comes to roughly 4¾ cups, which is easy to measure. Most of the world uses metric units, so this kind of conversion is mainly needed in the U.S.

Do not expect every ingredient to need this much work. Many results land close to an easy fraction, and a half cup or two-thirds cup measure will do.

When the portion size changes too

Sometimes the number of guests and the size of each serving both change. A standardized recipe is one that reliably gives a known amount of food at a known quality, so it is the right starting point. In that case, compare total yields instead of numbers of servings.

Take a caterer asked to serve 284 guests a 6-ounce serving of jambalaya each, working from a standardized recipe for 100 servings of 4 ounces:

• Work out the total amount needed: 284 × 6 = 1,704 ounces. Work out the total the recipe makes: 100 × 4 = 400 ounces.
• Divide the amount needed by the amount the recipe makes: 1,704 ÷ 400 = 4.26. That is the conversion factor.
• Multiply every ingredient by 4.26, then cook following the recipe's own method.

Done this way, the kitchen neither runs short nor makes far too much.

5.3 Mise en place: everything in its place

Mise en place (said to rhyme with "cheese on sauce") is "a French term that literally means to put in place". It covers all the preparation done before a restaurant opens, so that each dish on the menu has its ingredients and tools ready at the station.

Four steps

Setting up mise en place follows four steps:

• Gather the tools.
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• Gather the ingredients.
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• Prepare the raw ingredients: wash, trim, cut and measure them.
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• Get the equipment ready, for example by heating the oven or pan, or lining a sheet pan with parchment paper.
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What gets done before service

Before service, cooks:

• chop vegetables
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• wash salad greens
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• make sauces and stocks
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• trim proteins and cut them into portions
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• perhaps also prepare garnishes and cook some ingredients sous-vide
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The aim is to finish as much work as possible early, as long as quality does not suffer. Then, during service, all of a cook's attention can go into putting together fresh plates.

Each prepared item should sit in the same place at the station every time. When it does, a cook can build a dish quickly, almost without looking.

Making enough

Once the lunch or dinner rush starts, nobody can pause to make a missing ingredient. Picture a strip steak on the menu, served with béarnaise sauce. If too little sauce was made in advance and it runs out with three steak orders still waiting, those steaks cannot be sold, and some guests leave unhappy.

A way of thinking

Mise en place is more than a list of jobs. It is a habit of thinking ahead: knowing which tasks must be done and in what order, and acting before problems arise instead of reacting to them. A cook who works this way controls the kitchen, rather than being controlled by it.

Small things help that frame of mind. A clean, unwrinkled uniform and proper headwear help a cook feel and look professional. The station must be ready before service and must stay clean and tidy all through it. Cleaning as you go keeps it that way, because a messy station is a sign of messy thinking.

Beyond the station

The same idea reaches past the line. Front-of-house staff serve guests better when they plan ahead in the same way. Managers use it in purchasing, inventory, cost control and payroll. A food business runs well only when the kitchen, the dining room and the management all work this way together.

5.4 Reference: measurement and conversion tables

The tables below are for looking up, not memorizing. Use the first table when you need an exact conversion, and the rounded tables for quick kitchen work.

Exact conversions

Mass and volume factors.

For temperature, there are two rules. To change Fahrenheit to Celsius, subtract 32 first, then multiply by 5/9. To change Celsius to Fahrenheit, multiply by 9/5 first, then add 32.

Rounded weights

Rounded for quick use.

Rounded volumes

Rounded for quick use.

Temperature landmarks

Three temperatures worth knowing on both scales.

Useful equivalents

Equivalents for planning and buying.

Scoop sizes

Level measures for each scoop.

Ladle sizes

Ladle portions.

Canned goods

Common can sizes.