Parkway Introduction to Culinary and Hospitality Practice Test

In recipe scaling, the conversion factor is the ratio you use to adjust all ingredient amounts from the original yield to the amount you want. That means you compare what you desire to what you started with, so the conversion factor is Desired divided by Original. For example, if you want 15 servings but the recipe is for 10, the factor is 15/10 = 1.5, and you multiply every ingredient by 1.5. If you wanted fewer servings, say 5 from 10, the factor would be 5/10 = 0.5. Using Original/Desired would not give the correct scaling, since it represents the reciprocal of the needed adjustment, and sums or products don’t represent a scaling factor at all.