Creating a New Recipe

It is recommended to copy an existing recipe and use it as a base to create a new recipe.

However, if you want to create a new blank recipe from scratch, then that functionality is available in MealSuite. This article explains how to create a new recipe from scratch. 

• Getting Started
• Setting the Recipe Portion Size
  • Entering Special Unit of Measure (SUoM) for Portion Size
• Entering Cook and Temperature Info
• Adding Ingredients
  • About Adding Ingredients
  • Adding Ingredients to a Recipe
  • Sorting Ingredients
  • Editing an Ingredient
  • Removing an Ingredient
• Adding Preparation Steps
  • Adding a Standard Step
  • Adding a Custom Step
  • Deleting a Step
• Assigning Ingredients to Preparation Steps
• Click Save
• Assign the New Recipe to a Production Area
• The Nutritional Content Section
• Scaling Recipe by Yield

Getting Started

1. From the left navigation sidebar, select Menus & Recipes > Recipes Listing. The Recipes Listing screen appears.
2. Click the Add New button. The Add New Recipe screen appears.
   
   
    
3. In the Recipe Information section, enter or select the following (fields with an orange left border are mandatory):
   • Recipe Creator - defaulted to your account. This field allows the account that created the recipe the recognition if in future the Recipe Owner field is ever changed by your parent account; for more information, see Changing Recipe Ownership from Child Account to Parent Account.
   • Recipe Owner - defaulted to your account. For more information on the Recipe owner field, see About Recipe Ownership.
   • Recipe Box:
     • If you are a facility account, the only value is My Recipes. The My Recipes label allows users of a facility account the ability to quickly find recipes owned by their account on the Recipe Listing screen (see Finding and Opening a “My Recipe" Recipe (for Facility Accounts) ).
     • If you are a system or corporate account, then to have the recipe be available to child accounts, assign the appropriate Recipe Box label. A recipe box label identifies the recipe (e.g., Entrees Poultry, Entrees Vegetarian, etc.), including a recipe that is a therapeutic substitute for a regular recipe (e.g., Gluten Free, LoCal, Low Salt, etc.) and/or IDDSI-compliant (e.g., SB6, MM5, etc.). Note: There is the option to keep the My Recipes label, but this will prevent the recipe from being available to its child accounts. Recipe boxes can also be created by system and corporate account for their purposes (see Recipe Box Labels for more information). 
       
   • Name (also known as system name or lookup name) - enter the unique name for the recipe. The name should follow the protocol of starting with a general category and include production information to allow for searching and listing recipes. Optionally, you can add a facility identifier at the end of the name to identify it as a recipe owned by your account. For example, “Beef Burger Patty Ckd_FAC_ID” or “Cake Banana f/Plain Mix Unfrosted_FAC_ID”. The character limit is 40.
   • Display Name - the display name is the user-facing name that is available on menus, reports, and the front-end ordering apps (Touch app, POS, Portal app). The display name does not have to be unique (i.e., other recipes can have the same display name). The character limit is 30.
   • Recipe Categories - select the recipe category to assign the recipe to. A recipe category is a means to organize/identify the recipe in the system (e.g., Beverage, Entree, Starch). You can select more than one category if necessary. For example, a yogurt can be included in the Dessert, Breakfast, and Snack categories. Note: Recipe categories are predefined in the system and there is no ability for an account to add its own recipe categories.
   • Description (optional) - enter a description for the recipe. The description appears when the recipe is added as a menu item, and is an option to appear on the Daily Display Menus Report (Menus). The character limit is 150. Note that the recipe description is not available for menu items on the Touch app, POS, Digital Menu Board, and Menu website. The recipe description is available for menu items on the Portal App.
   • Include in Scaled Recipes and Cookbooks - selected by default. This check box needs to be selected for the recipe to appear in the following reports:
     • Scaled Recipes Report (Recipes)
     • Recipe Cookbook Report (Menus)
     • Recipes at Scale Report (Production)
     • Note that if this check box is cleared, the recipe will still print on your other production reports so that you would know the total that needs to be prepared.
   • Image - you can generate an AI image for the recipe based on the recipe information. For more information and instructions, see Recipe Photos.
      
4. You can apply IDDSI tags, diet order tags, and custom tags to the recipe, which will print with a recipe report and allow for identification and search purposes in the system. To apply a tag, click Add New, and a drop-down section appears that allows you to search for and select the desired tags from the following sub-sections: IDDSI Tags, Diet Order Tags, and Custom Tags. 
   
   

Setting the Recipe Portion Size

1. In the Portion Size field, enter the portion size to be served for the recipe based on your facility standards. For example, for a soup recipe, the portion size could be 180 ml or 6 fluid ounces. The portion size accepts numbers up to two decimal points and fractions.
   
   
   
   Note 1: If you do not know the portion size yet, then enter a placeholder for now until the estimated serving size (ESS) weight is automatically calculated by the system after you add ingredients and adjust yield. The ESS is the sum of the edible portion of each ingredient divided by the yield. However, depending on the recipe, the ESS and the portion size may not be equal because different food items (i.e., ingredients) have different densities. See Relationship Between Portion Size and ESS for more information. 
   
   Note 2: If a standard unit of measure is not applicable for the recipe, then you can create a special unit of measure (SUoM), such as “each” or “slice”. See Entering Special Unit of Measure (SUoM) for Portion Size below.
    
2. In the Description field (screenshot below), you can enter a description of what the portion size consists of, which can be useful in a production kitchen. For example, the portion size of a ham and cheese sandwich can be described as follows: “2 slices of bread, 1 oz of meat, and 1 oz of cheese”. The character limit is 50. Click here for a list of reports that print the portion size description 
   
   
    

3. In the Yield field (screenshot below), enter the number of servings the recipe will produce. Typically, you enter the yield as stated from the original recipe.
    

   

   
   Warning: If modifying an existing recipe (i.e., one with ingredients already added), adjusting the yield in the Yield field does not adjust the ingredient amounts accordingly. The Estimated Serving Size will be adjusted to accommodate the new yield using the existing ingredient amounts (see Understanding Estimated Serving Size of Recipe for more information). To adjust the ingredient amounts when you adjust the yield, click the icon above the Yield field (first screenshot below) to bring up the Yield Adjustment window (second screenshot below), where entering a new yield in the Scale To field will show the new ingredient amounts that will be applied. For more information, see Scaling Recipe by Yield.
   
   
   
   
    

4. If there is a serving utensil required for the recipe, then select it from the Serving Utensil field. if using a scoop to serve the portion size, enter the required scoop in the Serving Utensil field; this is important so that not only is the recipe's portion size met, but when the serving size for the recipe changes (due to a personal serving size adjustment or portion size adjustment to regular recipe being used as a substitute recipe), the system will adjust the scoop accordingly and list it on the various reports. For more information, see Using a Scoop as a Serving Utensil.
    
5. Click the Save button. The recipe is saved and you can now enter the remaining information as per instructions below.

Entering Special Unit of Measure (SUoM) for Portion Size

For the Portion Size, if a standard unit of measure (i.e., oz, lb, gram) is not applicable, then you can create a special unit of measure (SUoM), such as “each” or “slice”. To do so:

1. Adjacent to the Portion Size field, select Other from the unit of measurement drop-down (first screenshot below). The Special Unit of Measure pop-up appears (second screenshot below). 

   

   

2. In the Unit of Measure field, enter your special unit of measure (e.g., Each or Slice).|
    
3. In the Amount field, enter the approximate weight or volume of the special unit of measure, and in the adjacent measurement field, enter the appropriate unit of measure (i.e., grams, ounces, quarts, etc.). Note: If entering weight and you do not know the weight yet, then enter a placeholder for now until the estimated serving size weight is automatically calculated by the system after you add ingredients. The estimated serving size is the sum of the edible portion of each ingredient divided by the yield. See Understanding Estimated Serving Size of a Recipe for more information.
    

4. Click Save to apply your changes and close the pop-up. When an SUoM is used, the edit icon beside Portion Size is available, which you can click to adjust or create a new special unit of measure.

   
   

Entering Cook and Temperature Info

In the Ingredients and Preparation section, enter or select the following:

• Cook Method
• Cook Temp
• Cook Time
• Cook End Temperature - enter as per HACCP. This is the temperature that food must reach at the end of the cooking process to ensure it is safe for consumption.
• Holding Temperature - enter as per HACCP. This refers to the temperature at which food should be maintained after cooking to keep it safe and palatable until served.
• Holding Time - enter as per HACCP

Note: The temperature unit (Celsius or Fahrenheit) can be changed via Tools & Setup > Recipe Tools > Temperature tab. See Changing Temperature Unit (Celsius or Fahrenheit) for more information.

Adding Ingredients

About Adding Ingredients

The food items (ingredients and prepared foods) that you will add to a recipe are "generic" and are not specific brand products (i.e., vendor products). The system treats food items similar to a cookbook, in which the ingredients are listed as general. 

"Behind the scenes" in the system, a food item is associated with one or more actual vendor products that are verified to match with the food item.

From a food item's associated vendor products, one is selected for that food item, which in turn determines the nutritional content of the food and the nutritional content of a recipe for which the food is an ingredient. In addition, the price of the vendor product that is selected for the food item is calculated as part of the cost for the recipe.

The system will automatically select the vendor product for the food item via its product-item selection logic. However, If needed you can manually select a different product for the food item. For more information, see the following articles:

• Verified Vendor Products and the Selected Product for a Food Item
• Selecting Vendor Products for Food Items

Adding Ingredients to a Recipe

To add ingredients to a recipe:

1. In the Ingredients and Preparation section, click the Add Ingredient button (first screenshot below). The Add Recipe Ingredients modal appears (second screenshot below).
   
   
   
    
2. Select the Food & Non-Food Items option and use its associated filters as needed:
   • Food Type - filter by Ingredients, Prepared Foods, Recipes.
   • Categories - the options in the Categories filter depend on what is selected in the Food Type filter:
     • Food Type = Ingredients: the Recipe categories (listed first) and Food categories (listed second) are available. 
       
       
        
     • Food Type = Prepared Food: the Food categories are available.
       
       
        
     • Food Type = Recipe: the Recipe categories are available.
       
       
        
   • Tags - if searching for a recipe or prepared food to add as an ingredient, then you can filter by tags that are applied to recipes and prepared foods
     .
   • Recipe Box - (available only if Recipe is selected from Food Type) - returns recipes assigned to a recipe box label. More than one recipe box label can be selected. A recipe box label identifies the recipe (e.g., Entrees Poultry, Entrees Vegetarian, etc.), including a recipe that is a therapeutic substitute for a regular recipe (e.g., Gluten Free, LoCal, Low Salt, etc.) and/or IDDSI-compliant (e.g., SB6, MM5, etc.). 
      
   • My Recipes Only -  returns only recipes with the My Recipes recipe box label. 
      
3. As another search option, the Vendor Products option is a means to select a food item associated with a vendor product. From the vendor products that are returned from the search results, you then select one, which in turns adds the food item the vendor product is linked with (i.e., vendor product is verified for the food item). In other words, the food item the vendor product is linked with is added, and not the vendor product itself. 
    
4. In the Search field, enter the description or ID of the item or product you are searching for and click Apply. The search results are returned.  
   
   
    
   Note 1: If searching for a vendor product, and that vendor product does not appear in the search results, it indicates that it currently does not have an Active status (i.e., not available) or is unlinked to a food item. To get a vendor product linked to a food item, see Suggesting a Food Item be Linked to a Vendor Product.
   
   Note 2: If searching for a vendor product, and that product appears in red text in the search results, this indicates that the vendor product is either a special order vendor product or out-of-stock. 
    
5. By clicking the eye icon () of the item, a separate window appears with the following tabs:
   • Details - displays the details of the item.
     
     
      
   • Nutrient Value - displays the nutrient values. 
     
     
      
6. To add an item to the recipe, click its + icon. The item appears in the Food To Add section (screenshot below).
   
   
    
7. For an added item, enter or select the the following values:
   • Amount and Measure - you can enter the amount and associated unit of measure for the item, or leave the default amounts and later scale the recipe by yield to have the amounts adjusted automatically.
     Note 1: If attempting to select a volume unit of measure (e.g., ml, l, oz, cup, etc.), and the volume unit of measure is not available, it most likely indicates that the food item is not set with a density value (see Density Value of a Food Item for more information). Please reach out to MealSuite Support to have the density value added. 
     Note 2: If a standard unit of measure is not applicable for the item, then you can create a special unit of measure (SUoM), such as “each”. To do so:
     • Select Other from the Measure drop-down. The Special Unit of Measure pop-up appears.
     • In the Unit of Measure field, enter your special unit of measure. For example, Each.
     • In the Amount field, enter the approximate weight or volume of the unit of measure. In the adjacent measurement field, enter appropriate unit of measure (e.g., grams, ounces, tsp, ml, fl. oz, etc.)
     • Click Save.
   • Pull (if applicable) - a pull value is the number of days an ingredient is pulled from a freezer for thawing before being used in the recipe, or the days beforehand that an ingredient is first cooked before being served.
   • Prep (i.e., pre prep) - select the preparation action associated with the item. For example, drained, diced, grated, mashed, etc.
   • Step # - preparation step number in the recipe in which the item is used. By default, the system selects step 1. You can leave as is for now and change the step later when after you add the preparation steps to the recipe.
      
8. Repeat steps 2 to 8 to add other ingredients.
    
9. Click the Add Ingredients button to add your ingredients and close Add Recipe Ingredients window. The added items are listed in the Ingredients section. Note how the Estimated Serving Size in the Recipe Information section above is updated with the weights you entered for each item. For more information, see Understanding Estimated Serving Size of Recipe.

Sorting Ingredients

Ingredients will be sorted in the Ingredients section according to their assigned step. When multiple ingredients are in the same step, you can sub-sort the order within that same set of steps by clicking and holding the = icon of an ingredient and dragging it to its desired position within the same set of steps.

Note that if you drag an ingredient to a different set of steps than what the ingredient is assigned, the system will ignore that positioning and instead place the ingredient at the bottom of the set of steps to which the ingredient belongs. For example, dragging an ingredient of step 1 to the step 3 set will be ignored, and instead the system will place that ingredient at the bottom of the step 1 set.

Editing an Ingredient

You can edit the values for each ingredient by clicking its edit icon () from the Actions column.

Removing an Ingredient

To remove an ingredient from a recipe, click its delete icon from the Actions column. 

Adding Preparation Steps

The Preparation Steps section (screenshot below) is where you add the recipe steps. There are two types of preparation steps that can be used in a recipe:

• Standard Step - A standard step is one with a common trend you see within recipes (e.g., “WASH HANDS before beginning…”, “Chop prepared food item to desired consistency”) along with HACCP steps. It is recommended to use these standard steps in your recipe. The content of a standard step is sourced from the MealSuite system; therefore if the step is updated by the MealSuite Nutrition Services Team according to standards, then that step is “globally updated” in all uses by MealSuite clients.
• Custom Step - a custom step is one where you can write the step instructions as you deem fit.

Adding a Standard Step

1. In the Ingredients and Preparation section, click the Use Standard Step button. The Use Standard Step window appears.
2. Locate the standard step you want to add and click its + icon. Note that you can use the Search field and Type filter to aid in your search.
3. Locate and click the + icons of other standard steps you want to add.
4. Click Use Standard Step(s) button to add the steps to the recipe and close the Add Standard Step window.
5. The added steps are listed in the Preparation Steps section; they are listed in the order in which the + icons were clicked. You can adjust the step order by clicking and holding the = icon of a step and dragging the step to its desired position.
6. If you want to edit the content of a standard step, you can do so by clicking its edit icon (). Before editing, you will have to confirm you wish to do so via a message that appears stating that converting a standard step to a customizable step will break any global updates applied by MealSuite.
   
   
   
   Note: New templates for standard steps can be added to your account if needed. For more information and instructions, see Preparation Step Templates.

Adding a Custom Step

To add a custom step, complete the following steps:

1. Click the Add Step button. An appropriately-numbered steps with an empty Description field is added to the Preparation Step section. If there are existing steps, the new step is added to the bottom of the list.
2. Click within the Description field to enter the step instructions. The character limit is 500. You can also enter line breaks between the text by pressing the Enter key on the keyboard. These line breaks will appear on any reports in which the preparation steps are listed.
3. You can adjust the step order by clicking and holding the = icon of a step and dragging it to its desired position.

Deleting a Step

If it is necessary to delete a step, click its remove icon ().

Assigning Ingredients to Preparation Steps

After you add the preparation steps, you can then assign each ingredient to its associated preparation step.

1. In the Ingredients section, click the edit icon () of the ingredient you want to assign to a preparation step. The Edit Ingredient window appears.
2. Click in the Step # field and select the appropriate step.
3. Click the Update Ingredient button. The ingredient in the Ingredients section is updated with its assigned Step #.

Click Save

With all of the above recipe creation steps completed, click the Save button at the top right of screen (screenshot below) to save the recipe. 

Assign the New Recipe to a Production Area

After your recipe is created, your final step is to assign the recipe to a production area for your kitchen staff. For example, a “hot” production area to prepare cooked items and a “cold” production area to prepare non-cooked items. 

• For more information on why production areas are important, see About Production Areas.
• To assign a recipe to a production area, see Assigning Menu Items to a Production Area. 

The Nutritional Content Section

The Nutritional Content section (screenshot below) allows for the following (click on a link for more information and specific instructions):

• View nutrition content of the recipe
• View preference group the recipe is associated with
• Add recipe to a preference group
• Remove recipe from a preference group
• View allergens associated with the recipe

Scaling Recipe by Yield

When you scale the recipe by yield, the amounts for each ingredient in the recipe will scale accordingly to accommodate the new yield number. For instructions on scaling the recipe by yield and automatically adjusting the ingredient amounts, see Scaling Recipe by Yield.