Stumped the Chefs! Audio Cooking Class: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Shirl from Florence, Kentucky is looking for some rules of thumb for adjusting cooking times for scaled recipes and larger dishes. She writes “I find myself doubling, tripling and even quadrupling recipes. Can you tell me how to adjust the baking time and/or temperature for these large quantities to bake all at once? It’s been hit or miss so far and I’d like a rule of thumb.” Shirl, thanks for the question! You generated quite a bit of discussion among ChefsLine chefs. Chef Cary offers some guidance on why you “stumped” the chefs as well as some sugestions for how to, for example, adjust your cooking temperature for casseroles.

Alas, there are few rules of thumb. The reason we struggled with your question is that there are some key variables in play: the number of dishes in the oven, the type(s) of dish you’re preparing, cuts of meat and their size especially, your oven itself, etc. For example, a smaller cut of tender, first-cut meat might handle a higher cooking temperature than a large piece but lowering the temperature might dry out your roast - you’ll need to adjust the recipe AND cooking time.

ChefsLine is the culinary hotline. We offer on-demand cooking advice and instruction. We’re highly experienced chefs standing by when you need us. And, we have years of professional experience testing and adjusting cooking temperatures and cooking times when faced with just your challenge. Just give us a call at 1-800-977-1224 when you’re preparing your dishes and we’ll give you the customized culinary advice you need today and help you build your cooking knowledge for life! We’re sorry we could not be more helpful to you, but we look forward to working together to uncover the ‘ole cooking mysteries. Thanks for writing, Shirl.