If asked to think of a measurement that relates to cooking, most people would immediately think of dashes of salt and teaspoons of sugar rather than ounces or pounds. In a household kitchen, a cook deals with small quantities

Chefs must use the mathematics of proportions to increase the size of recipes so as to accommodate large numbers of people.

of ingredients like cups and tablespoons. In the kitchen of a restaurant or hotel, however, the recipes are more likely to require ounces and pounds. The reason for this is quite simple: restaurants must cook for a lot of people and cannot cook each meal individually.

Increasing the Size of a Recipe

To bake a cake in a household kitchen, a recipe will probably call for onehalf cup of butter, usually packaged in a one-pound box containing four sticks. A recipe requiring a quarter-pound...