Christopher Kimball, the founder and editor of Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines and star of "America's Test Kitchen" on PBS, asked for questions from Kitchen readers.
This week, we're posting his replies. Here's today's question:
I know that the folks at Cook's Illustrated emphasize how important it is to follow the letter of the recipe, but I often needing to cook only for myself or for two and I don't want to make a dish that serves 6 or 8 people. What's the best way to cut the portion size of a Cook's Illustrated recipe?
- Laetitiae
Christopher Kimball's answer is after the jump ...
Good question -- we have had a lot of interest in "cooking for two." I have two answers. Many dishes such as soups or stews freeze well so I
would make the full recipe and then store the rest in the freezer.
If you want to cut a recipe, most soups and stews are easily cut down proportionally (with the exception of the oil required at the outset to saute meat or aromatics -- you will only need a little more).
Forget about baking -- just make the whole recipe since just about everything can go wrong.
Individual steaks, chops, or chicken part recipes can also be cut down easily. Finally, if you do a bit of planning, you can use leftovers later that week in other recipes. Our Make-Ahead cookbook addressed many of these issues.
- Christopher Kimball
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I always hate the suggestion to freeze extra portions or to use the leftovers. It just isn't very realistic of how a single person shops and eats. I would have 7 frozen portions of the same thing to eat and lots of leftovers of each item I needed to cook with.
I'm a professional baker and I have no problem making a fraction of a recipe. If you put most things into weights, you can make any amount of any recipe.
my reply is to get a boyfriend.
I routinely freeze stuff, its a lot better than eating sandwiches for lunch----most of the recipes are for 4 to 6 servings so they go into the freezer and alternate with other food also in the freezer so any particular dish gets eaten 2-3 times in a week. Basically its like this, if you put in the time and effort to make something good its no problem to eat it again. Still, I rarely make any recipe more than once a year because you really don't want it for a while after that.
I'd love to follow the freeze-for-later idea, except that with an under-the-counter fridge (which AT promotes as small/cool), there's just not a lot of room for these leftovers. I've got room for a small carton of ice cream, one ice cube tray, and a few small portions of extra tomato sauce.
I can't wait to get a bigger fridge! :)
I make half batch baked goods all the time, although I tend to favor recipes with even numbers of eggs . . .
yes, I know you can divide them out of the shell (scramble, halve) but I'm not that willing
I feel genetically programmed to disagree with Kimball.
: )
excellent feature tho!
Guido, the trick with eggs is to round down. 3 eggs in half= 1 egg.
hmm...I halve cookie, biscuit and piecrust recipes all the time without trouble...I probably wouldn't do it with a fancy cake or bread recipe, but it mostly depends on how complicated it is. It also depends on how much I feel like doing fractions. I divided my mom's pumpkin pie recipe tonight - hers is for two pies, and it took me a while to figure out half of 1 1/4 cups...
Rosie, a cup is 16 tablespoons, so half of 1 1/4 cups is 10 tablespoons, or 1/2 cup plus two tablespoons.
Notice how C. Kimball skillfully uses this question to flog one of the CI books.
I don't think it's important to "follow a recipe to the letter." I think the most important thing is to understand the techniques used in any recipe, so that you develop a basic repertoire of cooking procedures and then use them as you wish, without recipes. I wonder if publishers of cookbooks are more interested in making home cooks dependent on using cookbooks, so that they'll buy more of them. Once you know how to cook, cookbooks are wonderful for recreation (I read them like novels) but you don't really need them to make food in your kitchen, unless you happen to really like a particular recipe by a particular cookbook author.
Chris Kimball is a great entrepreneur and has used the television medium to bring some wonderful education in cooking and its related equipment into our homes. I enjoy "America's Test Kichen" no end and I'm looking forward to the new show. But I don't buy his cookbooks!
Peace, V.
I would DIE if I couldn't make meals ahead and freeze them. I am single but I don't eat out much so I don't want to cook every single meal. I make a couple batches of soup and freeze single portions in Mason jars. I put a jar in the fridge to defrost the night before I want it. I tote it to work, take off the lid, and heat it in the microwave. Simple. I have halved simple baking recipes successfully, but like Rosie, I wouldn't do it for complicated recipes. Do whatever fits your lifestyle.