this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
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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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[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It's close enough for home cooking

And now you are getting to the reason why American use volume for recipes. If I don't need the precision of mass for recipes as it won't appreciably affect the taste, then why break out the scale?

[–] BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Because the difference between packing a cup of flour and not packing a cup of flour is as much as 30%

https://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2020/01/weight-vs-volume-measurements-in-baking-and-the-best-way-to-measure-flour.html#:~:text=So%20depending%20on%20how%20you,of%20150%20grams%20(!!)

It doesn't really matter for liquids, but dry ingredients are a whole other ballgame when it comes to this mess.

[–] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It’s really mainly only flour though, because can be compacted, most of the things that you’re using in the kitchen like baking powder or sugar aren’t going to be compacted to any appreciable level.

For flour, you pour it into your measuring cup and then run the spine of a knife or something over it to get rid of the excess flour and get a level cup

[–] BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

There are many of other things that can be compacted or have different volume to weight ratios.

Corn starch is like flour, you can pack it down.

Salt (Table vs Kosher) Kosher salt has about half the volume to weight as table salt.

Shredded Cheese (this one always bugs me. Is it 3 cups after shredding, or before... how packed in should it be), etc.

[–] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 3 points 5 months ago

Also, the proper amount of shredded cheese is the container.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 2 points 5 months ago

A lot of volumetric baking recipes tell you to run the grain through a sieve to remove clumps, this generally standardizes the density well enough.

Salt is usually assumed to be table salt unless noted in the recipe. Even then, most recipes have a point to them where they tell you to taste the food and add salt to taste as necessary.

What are you cooking with shredded cheese where the ratio is that important?

[–] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Are you measuring cornstarch?

Maybe I just have weird cornstarch but anytime I try to actively scoop out of it, it’s like trying to scoop baking powder.

[–] BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I use it frequently in coatings for Japanese deep fried foods, usually mixed with flour and salt in particular ratios.

[–] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 2 points 5 months ago

I usually just eyeball stuff like that

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

In my other responses, I've noted that I don't bake. In other people's responses, they've noted that there are still a lot of baking recipes out there that don't require precision.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 months ago

Precision in baking is massively overstated. The earliest recipes are in parts if you're lucky. More likely they are mix in these ingredients until it looks right.