Cook for a Crew

Today we will learn about recipe scaling on the USS Intrepid during its time of service!

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Before we start, let’s reflect on these questions:

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• What is an aircraft carrier?
• How is it possible to feed all the crew on an aircraft carrier?
• How did mess cooks use math to help them do their job effectively?

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What is an Aircraft Carrier?

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An aircraft carrier functions as a portable, floating airport.

There were many different �jobs on board that made �the ship function like a �city at sea.

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The USS Intrepid is an aircraft carrier that served from 1943-1974

Food Service on Intrepid

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In service from 1943-1974, Intrepid would deploy for about 6-7 months at a time with an average crew of 3,000 men. That crew needed to be well-fed to perform their jobs effectively.

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Press play on the next slide to hear what was needed to make this possible!

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How is it possible to feed all the crew on an aircraft carrier?

Feeding 3,000 sailors was hard work. Intrepid’s commissarymen started well before breakfast and worked until after dinner, serving about 7,500 meals daily, which requires 7 tons of food every day

• The ship would restock when in port or by delivery from supply ship or helicopter

How did mess cooks use math to help them do their job effectively?

The men of the S-2 Division oversaw food service onboard Intrepid. They had to make use of all of the ingredients delivered to the ship whether it be potatoes, eggs, or rabbit.

This involved a lot of planning to use those supplies and ensure that they had enough ingredients to cook for a crew of 3000. To do this, knowledge of fractions and proportions was needed.

How can I scale a recipe?

• A standard Navy recipe is designed to yield 100 servings. Recipe scaling was needed to make enough of a recipe to feed the whole crew.
• Recipe scaling involves using proportions and fraction multiplication to adjust a given amount.
• For example, to yield 100 servings a recipe for cookies requires –

2 ½ cups of sugar

2 ¾ quarts of flour

• But if we want the recipe to yield 200 servings, we can use fraction multiplication to determine how much of an ingredient we need.
• Watch the video on the next slide to find out how to scale this recipe!

Let’s Scale A Recipe

Look at the recipes on the next slides. How many portions does each recipe make? If 3,000 people were served on Intrepid, how many of each recipe would the cooks need to make to serve the crew?

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Which recipe would you want to try making?

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Plan for a meal

In addition to scaling recipes to feed the crew, cooks on Intrepid would have to plan what recipes to make for each meal. A bill of fare would list what foods would be made for different meals in the week.

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Take a look at the bill of fare on the next slides. Find a recipe that is made more than once in the week. How many times is that recipe made? If the recipe makes 100 portions, what would you multiply by to get enough portions for the crew for the entire week?

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Plan for a meal

Once the meals for the week were planned out, cooks had to gather all of the ingredients and prepare food for 3,000 men!

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Use the Cook for Your Crew! Worksheet to plan out a meal for your family or friends.

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Reflection

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• What was the most challenging thing about scaling these recipes?
• What was the most interesting thing that you learned?
• What do you want to learn more about?
• If you had to cook a meal for 3000 people, what would you make?

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For More Information

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USS Intrepid: Mess Deck

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Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum