AboutChef Todd Mohr Expertise I'd be glad to answer your questions about how basic cooking methods apply equally to cooking for two in your home, or 1000 for an event.
Experience Executive Chef at a large hospital, feeding 3000 people three times daily over 8 different menus. Chef at The National Security Agency in Washington, DC, part of a team feeding 15,000 people twice daily.
Publications I am a featured author at Ezine Articles (ezinearticles.com, ideamarketers.com, articlecity.com, buzzle.com, selfgrowth.net)
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Arts, Long Island University
Associate of Arts, Baltimore International Culinary College
Past/Present Clients My catering company boasts many of the nations largest companies as clients over the past 8 years.
Question Hello:
I was wondering if you can answer the following:
1) Does food have to be cooked for longer if it is in the oven with another pan of food. For example, if I am cooking chicken on one rack, and a pan of scallped potatoes in the other, do I need to lengthen the cooking times because now the oven's heat is now being spread and used by 2, instead of 1 pan/food?
2) I love to cook and constantly out new and different food. Most of the recipes I find yield at least 4-6 servings. Typcially, it is just my husband and myself who eat these new dishes (our kids are not big fans of trying something new) and neither one of us likes leftovers. Is there a rule of thumb for adjusting cooking times? For example, if a recipe calls for 5 lbs. of meat to be baked in a 350F oven for 2 hours, but I only want to cook 1 or 2 lbs., what should the time be reduced to? Or is it the oven temperature that needs to be adjusted, or both?
Thanks,
Lee
Answer Lee-
You are making cooking WAY too complicated. You don't need a calculator to figure out the time adjustment for cooking things. Cooking by TIME is another way that recipes always let you down. There are too many variables in the recipe and in your kitchen to cook by time. Like you say, the oven may have multiple items in it, the chicken may be bigger or smaller than the recipe, your oven may be 25 degrees different than the test-kitchen oven. How do you compensate for all these frustrating variables?
BUY YOURSELF A THERMOMETER! You should always cook to a finished INTERNAL temperature, never time.
Chicken should be cooked to 165F finished temperature as displayed by your instant read thermometer. The chicken won't stop cooking when you remove it from the oven, it continues to cook, called "carry-over". So, remove your chicken from the oven at 155F and let it rest 10 minutes.
Casseroles and potato dishes should be cooked above 140F to lower bacteria to a safe level.
Cooking by quantifiable methods takes all the guess work, and all your questions, out of cooking.
Some people have that special mattress and a personal "sleep number" as they advertised. I have a "steak number". Because I cook my steak to a precise internal finished temperature, I know it's exactly the way I want it at 128F. That's quantifiable. Not by time, not by color, not by touch, not poking it with a fork, not gashing it with a knife. Thermometer is the only way.
When you're ready to cook by basic cooking methods and forget recipes forever, visit my website at http://www.WebCookingClasses.com. I'll have you cooking like a chef at home in 16 weeks guaranteed!
