As far as I understand patchwise is used to determine how many things you produce/process on the top level (5 slender trunks => stakes/5 cords <=strings). The in recipe control is the optional one, which doesn't ask, but take as much as it can, so using that for control would require you to drop the portion you don't want consumed, Optional will ask for more if what you provided wasn't enough, but you can escape out of those ingredients immediately or after providing some volume.