Topic: Scaling spices and bulk cooking.

[Bob-A-Job]

Good afternoon Livo, my hours are not your normal '9-5' so yeah, up late some nights and out early the following day.

I am new in tonight and going to have to work through the numbers, just had to try to explain tax law (on his variable earnings) to my son and he doesn't recognise or agree that it is not a linear scale based on his earnings as they vary, as do mine, on a weekly basis, he thinks tax should be the same every week irrespective of earnings... scaling debate with different thresholds springs to mind!

MB6 look different (lighting), MB8 look the same.  I think you have it, visually, now if you could send me a portion of each, I can taste test it for you. No fee. 

[livo]

Now all the debates are concluded  ;D Comit big and get yourself practice a 50l pot and earn some money! 

Wishful thinking perhaps LC. I'm now convinced having performed the operation.  Some may argue my results are tainted. I can however, assure the naysayers that my experiment was legit.  The proof will be in the pudding when my son comes home and reports on his lunch.  If he complains about it being still too spicy from the batch of 8 serves then I will know for sure that linear is out.

I have no idea where to even start to get rid of 100 serves of curry.  ;D

[livo]

Good afternoon Livo, my hours are not your normal '9-5' so yeah, up late some nights and out early the following day.

I am new in tonight and going to have to work through the numbers, just had to try to explain tax law (on his variable earnings) to my son and he doesn't recognise or agree that it is not a linear scale based on his earnings as they vary, as do mine, on a weekly basis, he thinks tax should be the same every week irrespective of earnings... scaling debate with different thresholds springs to mind!

MB6 look different (lighting), MB8 look the same.  I think you have it, visually, now if you could send me a portion of each, I can taste test it for you. No fee. 

I have a friend who works in hospitality and since he started I rarely see him.  He sleeps when I'm awake and works when I'm asleep.

Aha. Marginal tax and bracket creep.  I recently had to try to explain to my son, in his first year of employment, that he can't simply make up deductions so he gets all his pre-paid tax back.  His response. Everybody else does!

The 2 pans in MB6 are the same sauce but the curry pan is being used to rapidly reduce the sauce from the bigger pot.  This is also providing the usual caramelization on the circumference to provide the Maillard reaction flavour.  I did this twice, dumping it back into the big pot and repeating.  It is at this stage where you could add extra spicing if you choose.

MB8 shows the 2 preparations together.  There really was no discernible difference between the 2.

[Secret Santa]

Conclusion: Non linear scaling is necessary  Had I used linear scaling with the 8 serve quantity the spicing levels would have been too high..

Did you actually do that too? Unless you did you can't draw that conclusion.

[Secret Santa]

MB8 shows the 2 preparations together.  There really was no discernible difference between the 2.

Based on how many testers?

[livo]

I had anticipated both questions SS and they are valid.

No, I didn't prepare 8 serves with linear scaling as it is too much food to waste in the likely event that all information I have been given is correct. Let's just say then that linear scaling is not necessary and therefore wasteful, (also undesirable for my purpose).

There were 3 testers and there can be no more as the comparison sample is gone.  As the cook and being more tolerant of spice, my own judgement may be questioned. Both my wife and son agreed they were the same dish with no discernible difference. 

Also keep in mind that I deliberately reduced the spice in the X8 serve dish even further than the  X 1.5  conversion factor calculated amount.  Probably down to as little as 1.3 - 1.4.  This would suggest that the spice levels are easily matched in larger cooking preparations by using considerably less than linear scaling. Are the dishes "exactly" the same? Probably not!.  Is it acceptable and very close?  Definitely!.

You might repeat this experiment and draw a different conclusion. However, for my needs and purposes, this test has convinced me that I will not be using linear scaling when I bulk cook soon to feed 40 - 50 people curries that need to be mild.

Some people really enjoy spicy heat and willingly use extra hot chilli.  For such people linear scaling is most likely quite acceptable, even desirable.  I on the other hand, enjoy some spiciness in food but find the extreme heat of chilli overload to be ruinous of otherwise enjoyable food.  I don't enjoy the burning sensations and I don't need perspiration dripping from my brow to assure me I'm eating nice food.

I will again reinforce the reason I have performed this test. I need to do bulk preparation of mild curry dishes for a target consumer group.  This is a very specific test and inquiry for that purpose.  It is not intended to be the be all and end all of this discussion. 

I do have 1.5 kg of Chicken Breast remaining.  This would be sufficient to do another test comparing a single serve to a batch of 4 - 5 serves using linear scaling.  I'll put it in the freezer as I won't have time over the weekend.  I still have to finish the Andy2295 Base Gravy.