Measurements

What cooking measurement do you think in?

  • Traditional (ounces and pounds)

    Votes: 3 37.5%
  • Metric (grams and liters)

    Votes: 2 25.0%
  • Culinary (spoons and cups)

    Votes: 3 37.5%
  • Estimate (pinch, handful, "some" and "a lot")

    Votes: 4 50.0%

  • Total voters
    8

Ellyn

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The more recipes I read, the more occasion I get to practice and experience converting measurements in my mind. I don't even know what the system of ounces and pounds should be called, but I'm personally more comfortable with grams and liters.

Of course, other recipes go by standardized culinary spoons (teaspoon and tablespoon) and cups, with fraction numbers there to try to make it look scientific when it's really not.

The best way, in my opinion, really is to recognize the proportions of the ingredients, their properties, and be able to mix them up with an intuitive and experienced knowledge of how it's all going to turn out and why.

But that last method makes it nigh impossible to write down properly, so that others can repeat the recipe!


So, what recipe measurements are you the most comfortable with?




1 cup = 8 oz = 227 grams

(I don't even know if that's fluid ounces)
 
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I have a conversion chart on the inside of one of the cabinet doors in the kitchen. Really I should know it by now and yet I don't. I do make some rough guesses and some of my measuring cups do have both traditional and metric measurements.
 
I have had to vote for all of the options! (sorry)

I use whatever is best for the recipe. Some recipes seem to work better in lbs & ounces, whilst others are cups (for which we purchased some measuring cups - I don't bother converting them) and other recipes seem to work best in kg/g... it is the same with measurements (like yesterday when I was repairing a door at my step-fathers, one dimension fitted inches better - it was exactly 8 inches and another dimension was exactly 275mm!). I freely switch between km and miles as well!

One or two of my recipes I know inside out and know that 8oz of flour for instance is 7 headed to the roof dessertspoons and given I know what 2 oz of marg/butter looks like, nothing will get weighed with those recipes. 2oz of caster sugar is also easily spooned out and not measured.
 
Ahh I don't think I can manage a hybrid measurement recipe even if I knew all of the measurements backwards, forwards, inside-out and upside-down. Multitasking in the brain is not one of my strengths.


As it turns out, fluid ounces measure volume whereas ounces-ounces measure weight. Some recipes come with both dry and wet ingredients, so...

Also I thought that the spoons couldn't convert to cups, but it seems that they do. 1 U.S. teaspoon makes 0.333 U.S. tablespoons, and 16 U.S. tablespoons make a U.S. cup. Those are not round numbers, and that it's U.S. measurements specifically suggest that every country has its own varying sizes of so-called standardized culinary spoons and cups.

There are also pints (which Google only converts to 0.473 liters and not grams, so that's supposed to be a liquid measurement, but last week I bought a pint of ice cream! It was solid! A quart is 0.946 liters.)

If I can't go with estimates, I'll go with metric. I might have remarked in a couple of posts before that I'm intimidated by sciencey stuff, but irregular measurements are more intimidating to me!
 
I believe it's important to get it right when baking but not for main course cooking. Since I no longer do any home baking I never need to measure anything.

I do cook all my meals at home and I just throw in the amount I think looks right. When it comes to seasoning I do a taste test. If it lacks the right taste I will add more spice or whatever it needs.

I think anyone new to cooking should pay attention to measurements but an established cook no longer needs to.
 
I honestly use two different measurements. I use the cups, spoons, and estimating. But it really varies on what I am doing. If I am baking something, yes I'm going to measure everything perfectly. If I am creating a recipe or making a recipe I know from heart I'm going to be estimating the ingredients, because I've made it so often I can kind of eyeball it.
 
I use pounds and ounces, although I do have recipes that also use cups. I also have some that use metric, so bugger, like satnavsaystraighton, I use a bit of everything.
 
The more recipes I read, the more occasion I get to practice and experience converting measurements in my mind. I don't even know what the system of ounces and pounds should be called, but I'm personally more comfortable with grams and liters.

Of course, other recipes go by standardized culinary spoons (teaspoon and tablespoon) and cups, with fraction numbers there to try to make it look scientific when it's really not.

The best way, in my opinion, really is to recognize the proportions of the ingredients, their properties, and be able to mix them up with an intuitive and experienced knowledge of how it's all going to turn out and why.

But that last method makes it nigh impossible to write down properly, so that others can repeat the recipe!


So, what recipe measurements are you the most comfortable with?




1 cup = 8 oz = 227 grams

(I don't even know if that's fluid ounces)
I like to use ounces. It's just easier plus it's a standard measurement for most recipes (At least in the US). Any measurement can be converted to the size your most comfortable with. I'm sure if you just googled measurement convertor you will find what your looking for.
 
I stick to what the recipe says, but if it looks wrong, too much or not enough then I adjust. I learned this from my home economics teacher when I added too much and she taught me to always add less because you can add more later on. I use whatever I have to hand to measure and sometimes just go with how the recipe looks to be honest. Only in baking am I more precise as that does make a difference with liquids and fats.
 
The more recipes I read, the more occasion I get to practice and experience converting measurements in my mind. I don't even know what the system of ounces and pounds should be called, but I'm personally more comfortable with grams and liters.

Of course, other recipes go by standardized culinary spoons (teaspoon and tablespoon) and cups, with fraction numbers there to try to make it look scientific when it's really not.

The best way, in my opinion, really is to recognize the proportions of the ingredients, their properties, and be able to mix them up with an intuitive and experienced knowledge of how it's all going to turn out and why.

But that last method makes it nigh impossible to write down properly, so that others can repeat the recipe!


So, what recipe measurements are you the most comfortable with?




1 cup = 8 oz = 227 grams

(I don't even know if that's fluid ounces)
They're the same

SMIDGEN - A smidgen holds 1/2 pinch or 1/32 teaspoon. 2 smidgens = 1 pinch

PINCH - A pinch holds 1/2 dash or 1/16 teaspoon. 2 pinches = 1 dash
A pinch has historically been defined as "an amount that can be taken between the thumb and forefinger" but without any definite equivalent in other units of measurement.

DASH - A dash holds 1/8 teaspoon. 8 dashes = 1 teaspoon
A dash was originally considered a liquid measure, a small but indefinite amount. More recently the term has been used as both a liquid and dry measurement.

NOTE: There is some contention as to just how much a pinch or dash is. Some contend that they are both equal to 1/16 teaspoon, while others claim a pinch equals 1/16 teaspoon, but a dash equals 1/8 teaspoon.

http://www.accuracyproject.org/pinchdash.html

&
In the early 2000s some companies began selling measuring spoons that defined (or redefined) a dash as 1⁄8 teaspoon, a pinch as 1⁄16 teaspoon, and a smidgen as 1⁄32 teaspoon. Based on these spoons, there are two pinches in a dash and two smidgens in a pinch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinch_(cooking)
 
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