Why You Can’t Always Multiply a Recipe

Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

If you’re planning a dinner party for 20 people and you find a recipe that feeds 4 people, the natural idea is to just multiply the recipe by 5, right? Wrong. There are a lot of factors that go into a recipe, whether you’re cooking or baking, so next time you want to make a recipe in a larger amount, consider the following.

Spices

A lot of times, if a recipe says 1/4 a teaspoon of a spice, you may or may not actually be measuring exactly that much seasoning. Depending on how you measured and how the spice is packed, you could be getting a lot more or less of the flavor than you want. That will impact the overall flavor of the dish, so make sure you’re tasting it along the way.

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Space

If you’re searing meat or browning anything, you really need room in the pan to do so. If you’re making a lot larger of a volume of food, you will need more space in order for the cooking to happen. If you overcrowd a pan, it will not only take longer, it will also affect the taste of the food. This means you should consider doing things in batches and allow a lot more time.