Topic: Cooking multiple portions

[Alchemist]

I always cook for four, as we eat the curries as a family.  I notice most recipes are single portions.  What are the pros and cons of trying to cook a larger batch?

[goncalo]

I always cook for four, as we eat the curries as a family.  I notice most recipes are single portions.  What are the pros and cons of trying to cook a larger batch?

The main thing behind single-portion recipes I think is because takeaways chefs would cook a single portion only too. I think it stems from the principle of trying to replicate a BIR. I sometimes cook double-portions and generally the only thing I change are veg and meat quantities slightly.

[Stephen Lindsay]

Getting the reduction right is difficult when trying to cook for four - you don't get the same evaporation and then when you serve your curry the sauce starts leaking water, leaving an unpleasant running mess under your rice. I always do single portions and if making more of the same dish add them to a casserole or pot one by one. Time consuming but the quality is there.

Another view is that the spicing doesn't scale up in direct proportion but needs to be adjusted down when making more than one portion at a time. Therefore the contention is that you wouldn't take a single portion recipe and multiply everything by four. You might multiply it 2 1/2 or 3 perhaps. This viewed caused a major debate (argument?) on the forum and I'm not sure it was ever resolved.

For me single portions are the way to go and if you wanted to make a four person curry I'd go for a more traditional home cooked (i.e. baseless) curry.

[RubyDoo]

I regularly cook for 4 or 6. Always do double portions but no more than that as I find the end result loses something in the cooking process. Therefore for 6 people I would do 3 double portions in my slightly larger no 4 sonex pan. Unlike Goncalo I do increase the quantities of mix \ other spices etc in addition to the meat but I do NOT double it. More like + 50% at most. I also find that it requires a bit less than double portionof base too. Bit trial and error to your liking.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I always cook for four, as we eat the curries as a family.  I notice most recipes are single portions.  What are the pros and cons of trying to cook a larger batch?

I think there are two related issues here :  (1) the lack of agreement on whether to scale everything pro-rata or whether to scale the hot spices (chilli, Bassar curry masala, ...) differently (e.g., in proportion to the square root of the portion size); and (2) the difficulty (unless you have an industrial burner) of achieving the same temperatures for a quad-sized portion as you would achieve for a single.  For myself, I always cook a double-sized portion and my own quantities are based on that; beyond a double and I would have difficulty (a) maintaining the temperature, and (b) preventing major splashing from taking place.

** Phil.

[meggeth]

Double portions mostly for me. I just double everything, including spices, end result seems fine to me!

[Naga]

Double portions mostly for me. I just double everything, including spices, end result seems fine to me!

Me too. I always make double portions and just double up on single portion ingredients. Works every time.

[Alchemist]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, some interesting points.  I have had good results when cooking a four portion curry, but also some flops.  Double seems the way to go in terms of getting the quality whilst at the same time getting something on the table in a reasonable time.