A recipe everyone makes the same way
A good kitchen recipe leaves no room for interpretation. Start with a clear name and the yield: how many litres, how many pieces or how many covers. Below that, list all ingredients in the order you use them, with quantities in grams or millilitres rather than spoons or cups. Write the method in short steps, one action per step.
Always note the critical points: temperatures, times, the desired thickness or colour and what to watch out for. "Reduce to a third" or "core temperature 58 °C" prevents more mistakes than a beautiful description.
Scaling up without mistakes
You scale with a factor: the desired yield divided by the yield of the base recipe. If your beurre blanc makes 1 litre and you need 3.5 litres, the factor is 3.5 and you multiply every ingredient by 3.5. Always calculate by weight; then the result is exact.
Not everything scales one-to-one. Reduction times get longer, because a larger pan evaporates relatively less. Taste salt, acidity and spices again in large batches. For baking, the baking time changes when you use a different tin or a full oven. Setting agents such as gelatine and agar do scale exactly with the amount of liquid.
From scribble to recipe card
Many recipes start as a scribble at the pass. Turn them into a fixed recipe as soon as possible, while you still remember what you meant. Photograph a handwritten recipe in good light, straight from above and with the whole page in view. Then check the numbers in particular: a 3 and an 8 or a 1 and a 7 are easily mixed up on a stained note.
Organising: categories and folders
Use categories for what a recipe is, such as sauces, garnishes or pastry, and folders for how you work, such as the current menu, an event or the cold kitchen. That way a recipe sits in one category but can appear in several folders. Keep names short and recognisable so everyone on the team finds a recipe with a single search word.
Working with your brigade
A kitchen works best with one source for every recipe. Share recipes through a shared folder instead of loose photos or messages. Give the sous-chef rights to edit recipes and the rest of the team rights to view them. When you change a recipe, everyone works with the new version straight away, and no old version gets lost in a group chat.
Allergens and fixed agreements
For every recipe, list components containing allergens clearly in the ingredient list, even when they come from another base recipe. For a composed dish, note which base recipes it contains, so that when a guest asks you can quickly check exactly what is in it.