Sub-recipes

Sub-recipes are recipes that are used as components inside other recipes. They let you build your costing the same way you build your food - from the base up.

What sub-recipes are

A sub-recipe is simply a recipe that you reference as an ingredient within another recipe. Instead of listing every individual ingredient in a complex dish, you break it into logical components, each with its own cost.

Think of it like this: your burger has a bun, a patty, a sauce, and toppings. The sauce itself is made from multiple ingredients. Rather than listing every sauce ingredient inside the burger recipe, you create the sauce as its own recipe and then add "Burger Sauce - 30ml" as a single line in the burger recipe.

Common examples

Sub-recipes are everywhere in a professional kitchen:

Sub-recipe	Used in
Pizza dough	Margherita, Pepperoni, Calzone
Bechamel sauce	Lasagne, Croque Monsieur, Fish pie
Pastry (shortcrust)	Quiche, Pies, Tarts
Simple syrup	Cocktails, Iced coffee, Lemonade
Burger sauce	Classic burger, Chicken burger
Granola mix	Granola bowl, Yoghurt parfait
Spice blend	Multiple curry dishes
Vanilla sponge base	Victoria sponge, Trifle, Layered cake
Stock (chicken)	Soups, Risotto, Gravy

When to use a sub-recipe

A good rule of thumb: if you make a component in advance and use it across multiple dishes, it should be a sub-recipe. This keeps your costings DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) - update the sub-recipe once and every parent recipe updates automatically.

Creating a sub-recipe

Sub-recipes are created exactly like regular recipes:

1. Go to CostingBrik > Recipes.
2. Click Add Recipe.
3. Build the recipe as normal, adding all ingredients with quantities.
4. Set the yield - this is important because it determines the cost per unit when the sub-recipe is used elsewhere.
5. Assign it to the Prep / Sub-recipes category (or your equivalent).

Example - Bechamel Sauce (yields 1 litre):

Ingredient	Quantity	Unit	Cost
Unsalted butter	60	g	£0.19
Plain flour	60	g	£0.04
Whole milk	1,000	ml	£0.58
Nutmeg (ground)	2	g	£0.03
Salt	5	g	£0.01
White pepper	1	g	£0.02
Total			£0.87

With a yield of 1,000 ml, the cost is £0.87 per litre or £0.00087 per ml.

Using a sub-recipe inside another recipe

When adding ingredients to a parent recipe, you can search for and add sub-recipes just as you would any ingredient:

1. In the parent recipe, click Add Ingredient.
2. Search for the sub-recipe name (e.g. "Bechamel Sauce").
3. Enter the quantity you need in the sub-recipe's yield unit (e.g. 250 ml).
4. Brikly calculates the cost based on the sub-recipe's cost per unit.

Example - Lasagne (yields 6 portions):

Component	Quantity	Unit	Cost
Bolognese sauce (sub-recipe)	800	ml	£3.20
Bechamel sauce (sub-recipe)	500	ml	£0.44
Lasagne sheets	250	g	£0.32
Mozzarella	200	g	£1.10
Parmesan	50	g	£0.65
Total			£5.71

Cost per portion: £5.71 / 6 = £0.95

Nesting recipes

You can nest sub-recipes multiple levels deep. For example:

• Lasagne contains Bolognese sauce.
• Bolognese sauce contains Soffritto base.
• Soffritto base contains onion, celery, and carrot.

Brikly traces the cost through every level. When the price of onions changes, the soffritto cost updates, which updates the Bolognese cost, which updates the lasagne cost - all automatically.

Nesting limit

There is no strict limit on nesting depth, but for practical clarity, most kitchens rarely go beyond two or three levels. If your recipe structure is getting overly complex, consider whether some sub-recipes could be simplified.

Avoiding circular references

Brikly prevents you from creating circular references - where Recipe A contains Recipe B, and Recipe B contains Recipe A. If you attempt this, you will see an error message and the sub-recipe will not be added.

Cost roll-up

One of the key benefits of sub-recipes is automatic cost roll-up. Here is how it works:

1. Ingredient prices are updated (e.g. from a new invoice).
2. Sub-recipes that use those ingredients are re-costed.
3. Parent recipes that use those sub-recipes are re-costed.
4. This continues up through every level of nesting.

You do not need to trigger this manually - it happens in real time. When you open any recipe, the cost shown is always based on the latest ingredient prices, fully rolled up through all sub-recipe layers.

Review sub-recipe yields regularly

If your kitchen changes how it produces a sub-recipe (e.g. making a smaller batch of sauce), remember to update the yield. An incorrect yield on a frequently used sub-recipe will cascade incorrect costs into every dish that uses it.