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Why do Americans measure everything in cups?
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this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
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So many in the comments are talking about volume being more convenient but I find it so much more convenient to put a bowl on a scale, tare it, measure, and set it aside. Sure that’s more steps than using a cup, but when I have to fumble with a cup, a 1/3rd cup, a teaspoon, a 1/2 teaspoon and a tablespoon, all for a single recipe, especially one where dry and wet ingredients are being measured, a pain in the ass. So many little dishes that I may or may not need to rinse and dry between ingredients that call for the same measurement.
For the record I’m an American. I will sometimes ditch a recipe when I see it calls for volumetric measurements.
Go back 100, 200 years.
Hell, go back 40 years. Scales were less available, and before digital scales, much slower, take up space, and cost much more than cups and spoons, which you would still need.
100 years ago, even a poor person with little space could have a full set of measuring cups/spoons.
Cups and spoons are sufficiently accurate for anything other than baking. Even with baking, many simpler recipes it's still OK. My mother and grandmother baked many things using cups and spoons.
I still use cups and spoons for anything other than baking - they're sufficiently accurate. Why pull out a scale for things like 1/8 tsp ground pepper? Is that even a gram?
King Arthur, the flour company that's been around over 220 years, publishes numerous recipes that were originally in cups and spoons (because those were the tools 200 years ago), and those recipes are still in cups and spoons. Their muffin recipe is delicious.
English muffins originated in the late 1800s, using volumetric measures - they're still around, still delicious. I've made them, using volumetric measures.
Ever weighed 8oz of water?
It weighs a cup
Hahaha, you win! 🤣
Have an upvote
Although with things like spices, there’s no point in measuring them anyway. Spices are almost always added to taste, so it’s easier to think in terms of ‘x hand movements with the container’.
And yes, I have actually weighed 8oz of water. Well, not specifically 8oz, but I’ve certainly weighed out water to +- a couple grams for a recipe. If a recipe is specific about contents, why would I not measure it out?
So, what does 8 ounces of water weigh?
Also, tell a restaurant or a serious cook to not measure spices. You're gonna gave a bad time with more complex recipes.
You don't need to weight water if you don't use a measurement system from the dark ages.
That wasn't the question.
And stick your insults up your ass.
So, what does 1/8 tsp of ground pepper weigh.
Now imagine doing this before cheap digital scales were available. Cheap analog kitchen scales were utter garbage -- inaccurate, wobbly, bulky, and sometimes impossible to tare -- but cheap measuring cups and spoons generally work very nearly as well as expensive ones.
It's a lot easier for me to scoop 1/2 teaspoon of two spices, one tablespoon of another, and 2 teaspoons of a fourth than to measure 1.8 grams of one, 2.2 grams of one, 5.2 grams of one, and 3.8 grams of a fourth. The scoops I can put in the container and level off the top using the same container. The other way, I have to gently sprinkle or slowly scoop and sprinkle so it doesn't go over the required amount.
Way faster for me to scoop, level, dump.
Oh my god, rinsing a few dishes. How will you ever recover.