Food for Fifty

Whether one is cooking in a restaurant or a school kitchen, this is the most valuable handbook. You'll want it at ready reference. I know, because never a week went by that I didn't consult it while running my bakery/deli in the Oregon Cascades.I must confess that I didn't tell customers my recipe source. I preferred they think me a genius or as having come from a family steeped in cooking history. They knew I was no genius (hell, they knew I wasn't even very smart) but they did like the foods we provided. And, when I decided to produce a new, tasty meat pie, it was this book that I consulted to improve upon my concept.Choose not to buy this book and you probably are never going to know what you don't know. Choose not to consult it while it sets on your shelf will probably endanger your relationship with your harshest critics.

I discovered this book several years ago while working as a hall director for a cooperative living residence hall. The college women who lived there cooked for their fifty housemates. Molt's book was a godsend for us; the instructions were basic, easily understood, and useful. The best aspect of Food for Fifty is the fact that, recipes aside, the book gives excellent tables and instructions for cooking times/weights/quantities beyond the recipes it lists. In other words, it is quite useful when adapting one's own recipes to meals for 50 or 100 people. I have since used Food for Fifty in another food service job, where it was equally useful and well-received. I highly recommend it to anyone, whether you're doing institutional meals, church meals, or simply work with large food quantities on a regular basis. It's worth it!

Most referance books I use in my job (I am a cook) does not go into detail how to use math to compute how much to use or how less to use according to scale. Examples and explanation makes it so much easier to understand what is required to do the proper job. I love the equilivants of which items which could be compatable to food items. My only complaint is that sections to find measurements to total needs to be more organized to make it easier to find in the tables. At my job, this book really is considered a "bible" and I'd buy it for my own personal use!

The food for fifty book (including previous editions) is an excellent resource for those serious about mass production of food. I have yet to see any other cookbook which has the information on yeilds, recepie conversion and substitutions furnished herein.I have used this book for years (I also have 3 previous editions) and still reference earlier editions for some old favorites that did not make the later editions.The updated nutritional information is an excellent resource for menu planning for almost any institutional environment.Some of the recepies are a little quirky, and a few could use instructions worded more for the layman, but these minor points aside, This volume would make an excellent addition to your arsenal of cooking knowledge and reference.

The tables provided are worth the price alone but the basic recipes are invaluable. They can be adapted to different requirements. Quantities, particularly vegetables, are somewhat conservative compared to what I find needed but the age of the "fifty" (or 100)and their physical activities make a difference. It is the general guides - cooking temperatures/times/specific cuts of meats/yields of purchased bulk versus usuable portion that I find myself referring to over and over. This is also what is missing or reduced in other similar books. I have used a number of the baked goods recipes and find them all to be excellent. Seasonings are very low in most recipes but that is easily remedied - especially spices in the sweet breads and desserts and herbs in most dishes. They need to update that which I hope to find reflected in the newest edition. This book would be a great resource for any type of small catering company, restaurant with changing menu, or institutional food service.