Handling Drained Canned Ingredients in Galley

Overview

Many recipes use canned ingredients that are drained before use, such as canned pears, peaches, beans, or vegetables. Galley's cooking methods feature is the recommended way to capture accurate nutrition and yield for these ingredients. This article covers how to set up cooking methods for drained items, how they differ from preparations, and how to handle recipes where you use the liquid too.

Cooking Methods vs. Preparations: What's the Difference

Both cooking methods and preparations account for yield loss, but they apply at different points in the recipe workflow.

For most drained canned ingredients, use a cooking method, not a preparation.

The usage quantity shown in a recipe reflects how much of the ingredient is pulled from the storeroom before the cooking method is applied. So for canned pears, the usage quantity will show the number of cans (undrained), which is exactly what the kitchen team needs to know.

Setting Up a Cooking Method for Drained Ingredients

Step 1: Create the cooking method

Navigate to your cooking methods settings and create a new cooking method. Name it clearly, for example: Drained.

Step 2: Set the yield percentage

Enter the yield percentage for this ingredient after draining. This represents how much of the original undrained weight remains after the liquid is removed.

To find an accurate yield percentage, you can:

• Weigh the canned product before draining (or use the can weight from the label)

• Weigh the drained solids

• Divide drained weight by undrained weight

For example: if you start with 100g of canned pears and end up with 56g after draining, your yield percentage is 56%.

You can also reference established yield resources rather than weighing each ingredient:

• USDA meat and produce yield PDFs

• The Book of Yields

• Child Nutrition Program yield PDFs

Step 3: Select the USDA ingredient for the drained state

In the cooking method, there is a field to select a USDA ingredient. This should reflect the drained nutritional state, since that is what is actually consumed.

Search for the drained version of the ingredient in the USDA database. For example, use "pears, canned, juice pack, drained" rather than "pears, canned, solids and liquids."

Why USDA commodity items are preferred: USDA commodity entries are typically averages across multiple lab analyses of the same product from different brands and time periods. Unless your vendor provides verified drained nutrition data directly, the USDA commodity entry is usually the most reliable option.

Note on vendor nutrition labels: Most vendors list nutrition for the undrained product since that is how it is sold. If your vendor does provide drained nutrition data, you can use that instead.

How the Yield Percentage and USDA Ingredient Work Together

The cooking method uses these two fields together to calculate what is actually consumed:

• The recipe quantity (usage) is entered in terms of the undrained ingredient, for example, four #10 cans.

• The yield percentage scales that quantity down to the consumed amount, for example, 56% of the undrained weight.

• The USDA ingredient provides the nutritional values per 100g of the drained product.

• Galley then applies the yield percentage as a scaling factor to the drained USDA values to calculate the final nutrition for what is consumed.

The ingredient-level nutrition shown at the top of the recipe screen reflects the undrained product. You can largely disregard this for nutrition purposes. The accurate nutrition is calculated from the cooking method fields below.

Applying a Cooking Method in a Recipe

Once a cooking method is created, apply it at the recipe line item level:

1. Open your recipe and locate the ingredient row.

2. Find the cooking methods column.

3. Select Drained (or whichever cooking method applies) for that ingredient.

Recipes where you use the liquid (for example, dumping the entire can, juice included) should have no cooking method applied on that ingredient line. Simply leave the cooking method blank for those recipe items.

When to Use a Preparation Instead: Recipes Written in Drained Amounts

If your recipe is authored in terms of the drained quantity, for example, "500g drained black beans" rather than "two #10 cans," use a preparation instead of a cooking method.

Here is why: usage quantity is measured after preparation but before cooking methods. So:

• With a cooking method, usage reflects the undrained/canned amount. The drained amount is calculated behind the scenes for nutrition. Use this when the kitchen needs to know how many cans to pull.

• With a preparation, usage reflects the drained amount (what the recipe is written in). The unprepped quantity then backs out to the number of cans needed for purchasing and cost calculations. Use this when the recipe is written in drained weights and you want usage to match.

Example: A recipe calls for 500g drained chickpeas. Apply a drain preparation with the appropriate yield percentage. Usage will show 500g (drained), and the unprepped quantity will show the larger undrained amount needed to yield 500g after draining. This keeps the recipe as written while still supporting accurate costing and purchasing.

In summary: if the kitchen is working from a drained quantity, use a preparation. If the kitchen is working from a can count or undrained weight, use a cooking method.

Ingredient-Level Setup: What to Check

Before relying on cooking method calculations, confirm your ingredient is set up correctly:

• Unit of measure: The ingredient should be measured by weight (ounces or grams), not fluid ounces, since you are working with solids post-drain. If your #10 can is set up in ounces, make sure a density conversion is present so Galley can convert between weight and volume when pulling USDA data.

• Vendor nutrition data: If the nutrition on your ingredient record reflects the undrained product (as is typical from vendor labels), the cooking method's USDA ingredient field will override this for nutrition calculations when the cooking method is applied.

Usage Quantity vs. Unprepped Quantity

In the recipe components view, you may see a toggle between Usage and Unprepped quantities.

• Usage: The amount of ingredient after any preparation has been applied, and before any cooking method is applied. For a canned item with no preparation, this is the quantity as purchased, for example, four #10 cans. This is what the kitchen team needs to know to pull from the storeroom.

• Unprepped: The amount of ingredient required before preparation, accounting for prep yield loss. This is used for cost calculations and purchasing. For example, if a preparation removes 20% of an ingredient, the unprepped quantity will be higher than usage.

For most canned and drained items where no preparation is applied, usage and unprepped will be the same.

Summary: Recommended Setup for Canned Drained Ingredients

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the yield percentage applied to the drained or undrained weight? It is applied to the undrained quantity. A 56% yield means 56g of drained product comes from 100g of undrained product. The USDA ingredient in the cooking method then provides the nutrition values for those 56g of drained pears.

If I have drained pears in multiple recipes, do I need to re-enter the yield each time? No. The cooking method (including its yield percentage and USDA ingredient) is defined once and then applied per recipe line item. Any recipe line where you select the drained cooking method will use the same yield percentage.

What if I have a different yield for a different product, for example, drained beans vs. drained pears? The yield percentage is part of the cooking method definition. If beans and pears have different yields, create separate cooking methods for each, or use a more general cooking method and confirm the yield is appropriate for each use case.

Should the word "drained" appear on printed recipe sheets? Yes, just make sure when printing a pdf of a recipe that the setting for Cookign Methods is checked.