# Adapt a recipe: servings, simple swaps

> Quantities multiply, but cooking time does not. A bolognese for eight simmers as long as a bolognese for four, it just takes a little longer to heat up at the start.

## The essentials

A recipe is not set in stone. You can change the number of people, and you can replace an ingredient with a cousin, as long as you know which one. The only recipes that dislike this are the ones where chemistry matters: cakes, risen doughs, custards.

## The one thing to know

Quantities multiply, but cooking time does not. A bolognese for eight simmers as long as a bolognese for four, it just takes a little longer to heat up at the start.

## The landmarks

- To change servings: multiply every ingredient by the same number. Salt and spices a little less than the rest, and you taste.
- Swaps that work: a vegetable for one of the same family (zucchini and eggplant, leek and onion, spinach and chard), one fresh herb for another, cream for yogurt or fromage blanc in a cold sauce, butter for oil in a frying pan, white wine for stock or water with a squeeze of lemon, parmesan for any grated cheese.
- The ones that do not: the baking powder, sugar and eggs of a cake, the flour of a dough, gelatin. There, follow the recipe.
- A dish that divides badly, like a quiche, a tart or a gratin: make the whole dish and keep the rest, rather than scaling down.

## How long it takes

The time to read the ingredient list.

## If it goes wrong

A swap that changed the taste is not a failure, it is a variation. A cake batter that did not rise, though, is almost always a changed quantity or ingredient: next time, follow the recipe.

## Make it tonight

The build-your-own marinated chicken: the recipe is made for this, you choose the marinade and the quantities follow.

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Source : disheazy, https://disheazy.com/bases/adapt-a-recipe