Recipes

General Advice

Some dishes are easier to make in large quantities than others, and some dishes will take longer than the 2.5 hours of a typical cook. This section has some general advice for getting to the serve on time, with food that is hot and delicious.

We usually make a main dish with 1-2 sides. When you decide what to cook, think about how long each will take, and start with the ones that will take the longest. For example, if you are making a tomato-based sauce from fresh tomatoes, start that as soon as possible, as the water needs 2-3 hours to cook off into a thick sauce. Here are a few more items that can be hard to finish on time:

• Flat topping a lot of vegetables (start chopping what needs to be flat topped right away)
• Making a lot of garlic bread (one batch can take as long as 30 minutes if the oven isn’t heating to broil temps)

The best way to make a large quantity of food on time is one pot foods. Think soup, curry, pasta with sauce, stir fry over rice.

A pound of pasta generally feeds 5 people, more if you are making a side starch like mashed potatoes. A large pot can comfortably cook around 10 pounds of pasta at a time.

Prep

Below are a few disconnected tips for food prep.

If you need to thicken a sauce in a hurry, you can add corn starch. Make sure to mix the corn starch in a bowl of cold water with a fork or whisk before adding to your soup/sauce, or the corn starch will clump.

Potatoes should pretty much always be par boiled before frying. It is very difficult to fully cook potatoes by frying alone without burning them.

Seasoning

You can always add more seasoning, but it’s difficult or impossible to remove. Salt individual ingredients moderately, and it will be easier to get a dish that is evenly and well salted. So for example, if you are frying vegan meat and then adding it to a sauce, salt the meat before frying and the sauce separately, then taste and add additional salt if necessary. If a soup or sauce is too salty, you can add raw potatoes cut in half to absorb some of the salt.

Try not to make a main dish very spicy. Moderate spiciness is ok, especially if it is a dish that is traditionally spicy, like a curry. This is subjective and cultural of course, but it’s important to know your audience and make food that most who live in our area can enjoy.

Don’t be afraid to add a little sugar or honey to a sauce or soup if you think it needs it!You can also add sweetness to a soup by caramelizing carrots, yams, or tomato paste, converting their starches to sugars.

Flat topping

Flat topping effectively and safely takes skill and time to master. It is best to learn from someone who can show you how and help you improve. Nevertheless, here are some tips:

Flat topping is all about high temp. You can crank out a lot of flavorful food quickly if you have a very hot piece of metal and keep the food moving on it.

Flat topping is a full time role. Consider swapping off to not get overheated, but if you are flat topping, expect that to occupy your full attention.

You might have to use more oil than you think you need. Make sure you have plenty of neutral oil on hand. If food is sticking to the flat top, you are likely not using enough oil, or the flat top is not hot enough.

Don’t use olive oil or an oil with a low smoke point. Use only corn, canola, or another high smoke point oil.

Keep foods moving. You will rarely leave food undisturbed on a properly heated flat top for more than 60 seconds at a time.

Foods with a high water content can be salted 10 minutes or so before frying. Salt will draw the water out, so it can evaporate quickly, allowing the outsides of food to get crispy before the insides turn to mush.

Breakfast & Coffee Recipes

Coffee Recipes

• Sugar syrup
• Cold Brew Coffee
• Iced Coffee

Dinner Recipes

Staples

• Tomato Sauce
• Vegetable Curry

Sides

• Ian's Mashed Potato Recipe