Welcome Chef Ed and America's Chefs

We are happy to welcome another guest to our blog: Chef Ed is an up and coming chef in San Francisco North Bay area. He is also the Executive Chef for America’s Chefs – a great organization that we are sponsoring. Chef Ed begins a three-part series with some thoughts on recipes.
For many families the challenge of preparing and getting a tasty meal on the table daily can be intimidating. The planning, shopping and cooking seems overwhelming at times forcing some to eat out, or seek quicker less healthy alternatives. This task can be just as daunting for trained chefs so do not be discouraged. There is hope.
Dealing with the pressure of having to create great tasting healthy recipes, to be prepared and served hot and fresh for thousands of soldiers serving us in the armed forces is a part of my function as Executive chef for America’s Chefs. I also perform product testing, prepare new recipes for publication, convert recipes to food service size portions and assemble massive shopping lists for large scale events.
By spending a little time before hand in planning and having a strategy in place it will save you money and give you more healthy options when it comes to mealtime. Be prepared to change the plan if needed. Sometimes the planned item on the menu does not work on a certain day, say it started raining and hot chicken soup actually sounds better than the BBQ steaks you had in mind earlier.
Good recipes that are easy to follow are a good place to start in creating a good game plan.
Characteristics of a good recipe:
A good recipe has two parts
1. A list of ingredients with the amounts required
2. The directions for mixing the ingredients and preparing
It also includes the following things
1. Ingredients listed in the order of their use
2. Exact measurements (amounts) of each listed ingredient
3. Simple, step-by-step directions (steps listed in sequence)
4. Cooking time
5. Cooking temperature
6. Size of correct cooking equipment to use
7. Number and size of servings the recipe makes
8. That the recipe be a tested one
What qualities do you think make a great recipe?