Reddit reviews The Book of Yields: Accuracy in Food Costing and Purchasing

> the manager in charge of food cost is always on my ass about 'wasting chicken'

Your manager is an idiot then. This is an industry bible.

https://smile.amazon.com/Book-Yields-Accuracy-Costing-Purchasing/dp/0470197498

As far as JUST meat goes, waste on whole chickens is like ~50%. Of course thats as far as meat is concerned, you can still throw everything else in a stock pot, but you shouldnt expect even 2lbs of meat from a 4lb chicken.

https://i.imgur.com/phHtY8r.png

I’d figure 9oz cooked pasta p/p, 3oz protein, 3oz veg, 4oz sauce.

So for your protein the total minimum is 120oz. If you evenly divide that between three proteins you’d have 40oz each. Now it really depends on your crowd and the proteins. If you have shrimp you better believe more people will want that and adjust accordingly. That being said, let’s assume sweet Italian sausage 50oz, grilled chicken 50oz, and shrimp 60oz shrimp. I’ve added a little to adjust for error in portioning on the fly. Probabaly gotta round up to the nearest pound so that would give you 3#,3# and 4# cooked proteins.

If you use boneless skinless chicken breast which might give an 80% yield cooked. You need to buy 4# (3.75 rounded up.)

Sausage cooked yield is about 77%. So also purchase 4# (3.9# rounded up.)

If you buy peeled deveined shrimp your cooked yield is about 80% of the original weight which means you need to purchase 5# total.

So we’ve rounded up three times to account for choice, for getting portions right while serving and to adjust for cooking yield.

Pasta take your cooked portion and divide by 2.5 (being conservative.) so 3.6oz dry times 40 = 144 oz or 9 #. so purchase 10 # of pasta.

That should get you through the trickiest part of the planning. That being said you have to know your crowd and event. Demographics, time of day, other food being served, alcohol consumption and other factors could affect how you plan portions.

I used two sources every chef should use and learn inside and out. The Book of Yields: Accuracy in Food Costing and Purchasing https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470197498/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_r3GnDbHQN537K
And The USDA Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry; https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400525/Data/retn/USDA_CookingYields_MeatPoultry.pdf

Setting the Table by Danny Meyer.

Math by the CIA.

The Book of Yields by Francis Lynch.

That book is an excellent addition and sounds like you would really love it. It’s full of charts and formulas for expected yields. I found my copy used for $20.

Your friend needs "The Book of Yields"

http://www.amazon.ca/The-Book-Yields-Accuracy-Purchasing/dp/0470197498