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Used a couple of US recipes recently and most of the ingredients are in cups, or spoons, not by weight. This is a nightmare to convert. Do Americans not own scales or something? What's the reason for measuring everything by volume?

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[-] paultimate14@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago

Most baking doesn't require the precision of weighing. They are rough proportions, not an exact science.

An experienced baker, or really any kind of chef, will learn over time to make minor adjustments based on a lot of stuff. Maybe a bit less sugar, to taste. Maybe a difference in the brand or exact type of ingredient compared to what you're used to. Maybe it's a particularly dry day and you need to add more moisture to the dough.

If it's something I have a lot of experience with I don't even bother with measuring at all, just eyeball it.

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[-] Zerlyna@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)
[-] therealjcdenton@lemmy.zip 7 points 6 months ago
[-] stanleytweedle@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

Because it's quick and the tools to measure volume are cheap and simple and for cooking for a few people in a home kitchen it works well enough.

[-] Siegfried@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

The units used in the kitchen make sense, firstly because cups, spoons and shit are common things found in the kitchen, secondly because precision is not really a priority and thirdly because coocking is about proportions.

I usually take a piss on the american pathetic unit system anyway

[-] HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 6 months ago

Except I have cups in my kitchen that are double the size of other cups and I dont know which ones to use.

[-] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 6 months ago

I legit can't tell:

You guys DO realize that "cup" is the specific name of a measurement and not, like, telling us to go use whatever mug we have in the kitchen, right?

The comments on this specific thread make me wonder

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[-] ma1w4re@lemm.ee 7 points 6 months ago

I always try to search either for metric recipes or "tech cards", cus trying to follow imperial recipes is a frigen nightmare. My cup is 300 milliliters, hell if I know what volume cups they use.

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[-] Asclepiaz@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

As an American who was taught to use cups and had recipe books that used cups, I dunno but it's dumb. A cup of peanut butter?! Like no fucking way I'm scooping that shit into a cup then into whatever I'm making. But I did measure just like that before I knew better. I have a food scale and convert cups to a weight and I will never turn back.

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[-] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Measuring cups (special cup and fractional cup sized cups) are pretty convenient.

Although it's worth bearing in mind that a US cup is 240ml, an Imperial (British) cup is 284ml and a metric cup is 250ml.

[-] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

Stubborn, i guess

[-] Audacious@sh.itjust.works 6 points 6 months ago

Almost everything sold in USA is measured in metric and imperial units (technically wrong name, US customary units). You can get by with either.

Also, the measuring by volume can be bad for salts, because different types take up different volume amounts. A tale of two salts by Chef John (foodwishes channel on YouTube) has a nice little video about this: https://youtube.com/watch?v=XGCY9Cpia_A

[-] pseudo@jlai.lu 5 points 6 months ago

Fun fact : in France we mesure by weight except for the "gâteau au yaourt". The yoghurt cake is the most basic cake with each family having it's own recipe, a bit like maybe muffins in other places and this cake is entierly mesured in volumes.

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this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
198 points (90.6% liked)

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