Recipe spec sheet

A spec sheet (short for specification, and known in the kitchen as the fiche technique) is the operational memory of a recipe. Where a home recipe gives rough measures, a spec sheet is precise and standardised: exact grammages, yield and portion size, step-by-step method, mise en place, a photo of the finished plate or glass, and the calculated cost per portion.

That precision does three jobs at once. It keeps every plate and every pour consistent no matter who is on the line, so the guest gets the same product at a Tuesday lunch as on a Saturday night. It makes food and beverage cost calculable, because the exact quantities feed straight into costing. And it documents allergens per item, which most of the EU now requires by law.

A spec sheet is only useful if it lives where the work happens, not in a binder in the office. Kept current and accessible at the pass or behind the bar, it turns know-how that sits in one person's head into a standard the whole house can reproduce and cost.