Excel Quick Reference Recipe Template
Every professional kitchen has recipes which must be followed in order to maintain consistency and to control food costs. Many establishments will give new cooks an inch thick binder with all the recipes which they need to learn. But carrying that thick binder around and leafing through it on the Line can be cumbersome and impractical. The purpose of the quick reference recipe template is to provide your staff with an “at a glance” summary of multiple recipes on just a few pages.
It assumes that they already have a full recipe book with complete documentation of the techniques and procedures for each recipe and that they already know how to prepare each dish.
The quick reference recipe is simply a reminder of the ingredients and portion amounts for each ingredient. It allows the cook to see at a glance which ingredients are in a recipe and the correct portion amount of each ingredient without having to rifle through their thick recipe book.
It can also be posted on the wall as a quick reference for your waitstaff to help educate them about the recipes and answer simple guest questions about recipe ingredients.
How to Use the Quick Reference Recipe Template
You’ll notice that each recipe is in the far left column and that it’s ingredients are indented and listed below it. This makes it easy to quickly view a recipe and all it’s components. You can also list the ingredients in the order in which they a) are added to the recipe, or b) are added to the plate-up. If you want to designate an ingredient as a garnish (and not part of the cooking process) you can do something like “Fried Basil – G” (G for garnish, or F for finishing, or X for Expo).
Add Photos for the Correct Plate Design
You can also insert images into the Excel quick reference recipe template so your crew will have an at a glace look of how to plate each dish. This can help standardize your plate presentations and give no excuse for improper plating by the crew.
The Quick Reference Recipe Template is available to Standard Subscribers
(get membership info)
Microsoft Excel required (not included)
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Plate design? Feh. Every time I am served like this, I know I’ll be disappointed. And don’t stack food! Items should be next to or near each other, and fill the plate. No one eats china. Don’t put cold garnishes on hot food! Don’t use flavors that don’t complement each other. Don’t use salt crystals! In other words, NO CONTEMPORARY COOKING!