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Standardizing recipes

AzJon

AzJon

Hey all,
 
I realized after posting a recipe in another thread, that it may not be the normal or best way to do it for standardization.
 
Are most recipes written, at least for production ore repeating a recipe, similar to baker's math? E.g. habanero 20%, Salt 5%, Vinegar 40%, etc?
 
Just curious your recipe building/tinkering techniques and didn't find anything readily searchable.
 
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Yup all weights is good if you can. Because sometimes you need a pinch less than a teaspoon etc. So to be precise, weigh it.
 
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One major example is salt. 1 cup of table salt has a lot more salt than 1 cup of large grain kosher salt. Pics and other examples in the above link.
 
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Yes but kosher salt also has corn starch so you are weighing some of that :lol:
 
I don't user kosher for recipes, the corn starch is so it doesn't stick to your fingers when you use wet hands to put it on things etc. But I know your point is about the larger grain vs. fine grain and air space.
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
Yes but kosher salt also has corn starch so you are weighing some of that :lol:
 
I don't user kosher for recipes, the corn starch is so it doesn't stick to your fingers when you use wet hands to put it on things etc. But I know your point is about the larger grain vs. fine grain and air space.
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Boss, what kind/brand of kosher salt are you (not) using?
IMG_20200524_162505.jpg
 
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I've only bought the red box of Diamond kosher salt.  I buy sea salt (some brand that starts with a "G"  Guillame, Guisseppe?????) And I have purchased the RealSalt before, a long time ago.  Seems like it was pretty expensive compared to sea salt.  For use in sauces, salt so far back in the flavor, I use the regular sea salt, bought in 25# bags.  For some of the seasoning salt blends, it would probably be worth it to try RealSalt.
 
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Hi all,
 
To clarify, I'm working off of something similar to Baker's Math, which is everything measured in grams as percentages. That way you can scale up a recipe or tweak it based on percentage. Therefore my recipe from the other post would look something like this:
 
Habanero 30g/11.4%
 
Lime zest 1g/.5%
 
Salt 5g/1.9%
 
shallot 20g/7.6%
 
Mango 100g/38%
 
Water 100g/38%
 
Vinegar 5g/1.9%
 
Coriander 2g/.8%
 
Total: 263g
 
Obviously, this isn't exactly baker's math, because that bases percentages off of the flour weight, but it gets us a rough percentage amount from the total weight. That way, if I want to make 1kg of this hot sauce, all I have to do is multiply out the percentages to get my amount. Therefore, the recipe is written like this:
 
 
Habanero 11.4%
 
Lime zest .5%
 
Salt 1.9%
 
shallot 7.6%
 
Mango 38%
 
Water 38%
 
Vinegar 1.9%
 
Coriander .8%
 
Total: 1000g
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
I don't buy kosher salt I use this brand because I can taste the difference, it's amazing salt: https://realsalt.com/products/
 
When I did buy kosher I also bought the pure but it is common to add anti-caking to kosher.
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FWIW, Real Salt, while really good, also has other stuff in it. More than once I've crunched down on a piece of not salt. If you dissolve it in water, you will also see left over mineral desposits from other rocks.
 
I use Diamond Kosher for almost all of my seasoning needs. Its just pure salt, no additives. Its just super light, so you 100% have to measure it by weight if you are following a recipe. You need 2-3x the volume of Diamond Kosher as, say Real Salt.
 
Maldon salt is my finishing salt. Wife laughs at me because I'll just cruch the larger crystals like a chip.
 
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AzJon said:
FWIW, Real Salt, while really good, also has other stuff in it. More than once I've crunched down on a piece of not salt. If you dissolve it in water, you will also see left over mineral desposits from other rocks.
Click to expand...
 
I know but they explain it.
 
"Many salts contain anti-caking agents and even dextrose (sugar). Others have been heat processed and stripped of their natural trace minerals. Real Salt® brand sea salt on the other hand, is unrefined and full of natural minerals and flavor – the way salt was meant to be savored."
 
I just base my decision on flavor and the fact in comes in fine because I don't use coarse much. BANGIN table salt! :)
 
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AzJon,
that's the right kind of recipe breakdown. I never bother with translating to percentages. I just use the grams, add a few, reduce a few of whatever the ingredient is. Then multiply it out to the size batch desired.
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
 
I know but they explain it.
 
"Many salts contain anti-caking agents and even dextrose (sugar). Others have been heat processed and stripped of their natural trace minerals. Real Salt® brand sea salt on the other hand, is unrefined and full of natural minerals and flavor – the way salt was meant to be savored."
 
I just base my decision on flavor and the fact in comes in fine because I don't use coarse much. BANGIN table salt! :)
Click to expand...
 
Oh for sure. It is a really good tasting salt. I was just surprised to find sand particles n the water when I dissolved it for a saline solution. It is super good though and really salty. Just a little sprinkle really ups the saltiness. 
 
 
salsalady said:
AzJon,
that's the right kind of recipe breakdown. I never bother with translating to percentages. I just use the grams, add a few, reduce a few of whatever the ingredient is. Then multiply it out to the size batch desired.
Click to expand...
Ok, cool. That makes sense. Thanks! :)
 
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AzJon said:
Hi all,
 
To clarify, I'm working off of something similar to Baker's Math, which is everything measured in grams as percentages. That way you can scale up a recipe or tweak it based on percentage. Therefore my recipe from the other post would look something like this:
 
Habanero 30g/11.4%
 
Lime zest 1g/.5%
 
Salt 5g/1.9%
 
shallot 20g/7.6%
 
Mango 100g/38%
 
Water 100g/38%
 
Vinegar 5g/1.9%
 
Coriander 2g/.8%
 
Total: 263g
 
Obviously, this isn't exactly baker's math, because that bases percentages off of the flour weight, but it gets us a rough percentage amount from the total weight. That way, if I want to make 1kg of this hot sauce, all I have to do is multiply out the percentages to get my amount. Therefore, the recipe is written like this:
 
 
Habanero 11.4%
 
Lime zest .5%
 
Salt 1.9%
 
shallot 7.6%
 
Mango 38%
 
Water 38%
 
Vinegar 1.9%
 
Coriander .8%
 
Total: 1000g
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azjon, math hurts my head. i know what 30 grams of habanero is. i don`t know how much 11.4% of habanero is. percentages makes things more complicated. 
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
I don't buy kosher salt I use this brand because I can taste the difference, it's amazing salt: https://realsalt.com/products/
 
When I did buy kosher I also bought the pure but it is common to add anti-caking to kosher.
Click to expand...
i just picked up some of this salt yesterday , bought it for pickling and fermenting. today i opened it up to taste and it is very good. very fine crystals and very good taste!
 
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luvmesump3pp3rz said:
azjon, math hurts my head. i know what 30 grams of habanero is. i don`t know how much 11.4% of habanero is. percentages makes things more complicated. 
Click to expand...
 
Neither do I, and that's the point. The recipe stays the same if its 30g of habaneros or 10000g of habaneros. What it does, is allows me to calculate the same ingredients at the proper ratios to recreate a recipe regarless the desired end amount.
 
As was noted, this is based off of Baker's Math which actually makes things very easy for scaling batches up and down. Hence why baker's use it. Lets you scale, fairly quickly, the mass of ingredients and their relative amounts within a recipe for a target production.
 
It could also be modified to pre-calculate approximate pH before I even make a recipe.
 
I don't need this recipe to make a quick hab hot sauce for the weekend with a few ingredients. I would like this if I was batching up from one bottle to 10,000.
 
 
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salsalady said:
One major example is salt. 1 cup of table salt has a lot more salt than 1 cup of large grain kosher salt. Pics and other examples in the above link.
Click to expand...
Also dif salts have diff strengths, pink /Himalayan salt is stronger then the white stuff.
 
In regards to starch ingredients, many products use it and dont have it in the ingredients list, 100% coco powder also has starch in some products.
 
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