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Recipe Units of Measure

Let me preface this by saying I'm a little anal. I measure, weigh and count things. It's what I do and is probably why I was good in finance.
As a result of my affliction, I get bent out of shape, probably more than I should, when I see imprecise measurements listed in recipes. This was brought to the forefront of my waking thoughts recently when Menumaker mentioned that a stick of butter in Europe is about twice the size of a stick of butter in the USA.

By way of example, a recipe calls for a 'small can' of tomato, a 'bunch' of parsley, scallions, cilantro, a 'handful' of anything. A large can of tomato is 28 ounces. Is the small one 15 ounces or 8 ounces? Where I shop, bunches of greens vary in size based on whim. Your hand or mine? Do you fill just the palm or palm and fingers?

How big is a medium onion? When does it cross the line from medium to large or medium to small? Garlic cloves! Yikes! Do you know how much they can vary in size?

I could go on…

We have available to us here in our global cooking community, a comprehensive system of weights and measure that are precise, exact and not open to interpretation. Actually, we have several. Let's use one.

…and another thing. Why the heck isn't the ENTIRE WORLD using the metric system?

I'm not looking for answers here. I already know my level of precision is often not important. I can handle it. I just don't think I should have to. It's actually more of an issue for people new to cooking.

I'm just venting. Actually petty venting.
 
:LOL: DH would probably agree with you, Andy, he's a math freak. I'm a bit on the artistic side, and DH describes my style as "swooshy". I cook by taste and feel, and there's a good reason I'm not a baker! A handful of this, a smidge of that, it makes sense to me!
 
Andy M. said:
Let me preface this by saying I'm a little anal. I measure, weigh and count things. It's what I do and is probably why I was good in finance.
As a result of my affliction, I get bent out of shape, probably more than I should, when I see imprecise measurements listed in recipes. This was brought to the forefront of my waking thoughts recently when Menumaker mentioned that a stick of butter in Europe is about twice the size of a stick of butter in the USA.

By way of example, a recipe calls for a 'small can' of tomato, a 'bunch' of parsley, scallions, cilantro, a 'handful' of anything. A large can of tomato is 28 ounces. Is the small one 15 ounces or 8 ounces? Where I shop, bunches of greens vary in size based on whim. Your hand or mine? Do you fill just the palm or palm and fingers?

How big is a medium onion? When does it cross the line from medium to large or medium to small? Garlic cloves! Yikes! Do you know how much they can vary in size?

I could go on…

We have available to us here in our global cooking community, a comprehensive system of weights and measure that are precise, exact and not open to interpretation. Actually, we have several. Let's use one.

…and another thing. Why the heck isn't the ENTIRE WORLD using the metric system?

I'm not looking for answers here. I already know my level of precision is often not important. I can handle it. I just don't think I should have to. It's actually more of an issue for people new to cooking.

I'm just venting. Actually petty venting.
Click to expand...

Count me in! I call it 'fuzzy language' (no relation to all fuzzed up).

But it's always been like that for cooking and good cooks can get around it----not least of the reasons why is that very often a good dish can still be created even when a tiny clove of garlic is used rather than a larger one. I'm sure baking a cake needs more precision than making a stew though.

My ex-husband, who I'm still good friends with, is always trying to cook following a recipe that gives those same imprecise measurements you mention. He goes crazy and calls me----- and really goes crazy when I say----- it doesn't really matter if it's a large clove or a small one. :)

I have a lot of fun with him telling him to cook 'something' until just before it boils! I know how to do that----- but a new or anal or inexperienced cook would go crazy. (Evil laugh)

Oh, and I don't 'do' metric. I had a hard enough time learning our system. :rolleyes:
 
I'm with you Andy. It isn't always important, but I prefer it. That's one of the things I like about my Danish recipe site. They get precise enough to say how many grams of something like onions or potatoes, peeled weight.

Have a look at this excellent recipe for Moussaka (yes, I know it's Greek, not Danish, but it's a yummy recipe): Moussaka I med billede opskrift fra Alletiders Kogebog blandt over 37.000 forskellige opskrifter

If you hover over an underlined ingredient, it tells you info. E.g., 1 medium potato weighs 150 grams, peeled weight. If there had been a listing for "1 can of tomatoes", it would tell you how much is in that can. For some things where the recipe tells you in weight, the pop up gives the volume equivalents and vice versa.
 
I combine in one recipe whole items like onions with precise measurements like which can size, because I prefer to use a whole one if possible and I don't want to measure 1 cup of onions. I do try to write recipes so they're not ambiguous, though. Zucchini can range from 6-12 inches long, so I'll specify that.

Don't know what happened to the metric system here in the U.S. I remember learning about it in grade school in the '70s.
 
Andy M. said:
Let me preface this by saying I'm a little anal. I measure, weigh and count things. It's what I do and is probably why I was good in finance.
As a result of my affliction, I get bent out of shape, probably more than I should, when I see imprecise measurements listed in recipes. This was brought to the forefront of my waking thoughts recently when Menumaker mentioned that a stick of butter in Europe is about twice the size of a stick of butter in the USA.

By way of example, a recipe calls for a 'small can' of tomato, a 'bunch' of parsley, scallions, cilantro, a 'handful' of anything. A large can of tomato is 28 ounces. Is the small one 15 ounces or 8 ounces? Where I shop, bunches of greens vary in size based on whim. Your hand or mine? Do you fill just the palm or palm and fingers?

How big is a medium onion? When does it cross the line from medium to large or medium to small? Garlic cloves! Yikes! Do you know how much they can vary in size?

I could go on…

We have available to us here in our global cooking community, a comprehensive system of weights and measure that are precise, exact and not open to interpretation. Actually, we have several. Let's use one.

…and another thing. Why the heck isn't the ENTIRE WORLD using the metric system?

I'm not looking for answers here. I already know my level of precision is often not important. I can handle it. I just don't think I should have to. It's actually more of an issue for people new to cooking.

I'm just venting. Actually petty venting.
Click to expand...

I'm with you Andy, my anal retentive nature makes me a natural for baking, but cooking recipes sometimes drive me a bit batty. The whole onion thing gets me, who decides what is large and small? How much is a "bunch"?
 
Medium onion...tennis ball/1/2 cup diced, Large onion...baseball/1 cup diced.

Shrek will blorp something into a pot and ask me how much that was...I have no idea..."Well I wanted to write it down." It was a blorp, not a blorp-blorp. People who want precision after being imprecise chaps my, umm, fingers!
 
PrincessFiona60 said:
Medium onion...tennis ball/1/2 cup diced, Large onion...baseball/1 cup diced...
Click to expand...


What about minced? You can fit more small pieces in a cup than large pieces.

I think you're off by 100%. A medium onion is a cup.

...and another thing. When you measure grated cheese, do you pack it like brown sugar or just fill it with a light touch like flour?
 
Andy M. said:
What about minced? You can fit more small pieces in a cup than large pieces.

I think you're off by 100%. A medium onion is a cup.

...and another thing. When you measure grated cheese, do you pack it like brown sugar or just fill it with a light touch like flour?
Click to expand...

I did say diced onion in my example...and I just happen to have a tennis ball, a medium onion and measuring cup right here. I'm really close...I didn't differentiate between small, medium or large dice. Softball size onions yield about 2 cups...softball size cauliflower takes up room in the trash can.

Who measures grated cheese?:rolleyes:
 
Blorping is self-explanatory. And I've never measured grated cheese either.
 
Last edited:
Andy M. said:
Apparently you didn't read my post...
Click to expand...

I read it...in disbelief:ohmy: Totally flummoxed, gobsmacked and quite frankly, bespectacled or is that skeptical? All I know is it had a tickle in there...


I know, stop teasing Andy when he doesn't feel good...
 
Last edited:
PrincessFiona60 said:
I read it...in disbelief:ohmy: Totally flummoxed, gobsmacked and quite frankly, bespectacled or is that skeptical? All I know is it had a tickle in there...


I know, stop teasing Andy when he doesn't feel good...
Click to expand...

Keep teasing. I feel a lot better.

I was just venting. With things like mushrooms, onion, garlic and cheese, I don't mind a little extra. Over time I have learned to deal with imprecise quantities. I just do what I think is right.
 
I come home from Winthrop and my key won't work in the front door. The wind is blowing really hard and the snow is so thick you can't see the houses across the street. Fortunately there was someone on the inside and they opened the door for me. They inform me that the elevator is out and half the building of electricity. Oh great! That means my scooter will have to stay downstairs while I try to climb the stairs to the second floor. But before I can face that task, one of the tenants just got out of the hospital. She has had a serious episode with her heart and doesn't understand what happened. They put a pacemaker in her and she is scared to go near even her stove. So I went over all the papers she brought home with the doctors notes and instructions. It seems she has never had any kind of episode with her heart before.

So I get her calmed down and face the daunting task of the stairs. It is a very long flight. I get half way up and my bad leg starts to give out on me. I sit down on the steps to rest and then attempt it again. I honestly didn't think I was going to make it. I poke around the apartment and I get a phone call from the pharmacy. They are making a delivery for me. The front door still is not working so I go downstairs AGAIN and he is not there at the door where I told him to wait for me. I am about to give up and attack those dang stairs again and I spot him. I get my meds and go to attack the stairs. This time I almost fell down the flight of stairs. Scared the holy crap out of me. I sat there for ten minutes and finished going up the stairs.

I am hungry and I want to eat. The stove is not working. It only heats up to luke warm. And the micro won't even give me a sigh. I give up. I go to lay down and all of a sudden everything in the house goes on. Except for one lamp. And it is plugged into the same outlet as the computer. Oh well, I will let Spike worry about it. I am tired. I will go downstairs and bring up my scooter. :angel:
 
Dawgluver said:
:LOL: DH would probably agree with you, Andy, he's a math freak. I'm a bit on the artistic side, and DH describes my style as "swooshy". I cook by taste and feel, and there's a good reason I'm not a baker! A handful of this, a smidge of that, it makes sense to me!
Click to expand...
I'm "swooshy" too Dawg! That's why I tend to cook rather than bake.

Andy, maybe that's the answer. Do all the baking...and get take-out for all your meals from now on. Or just deal with it and get your math fix by balancing my checkbook. ;)
 
Cooking Goddess said:
I'm "swooshy" too Dawg! That's why I tend to cook rather than bake.

Andy, maybe that's the answer. Do all the baking...and get take-out for all your meals from now on. Or just deal with it and get your math fix by balancing my checkbook. ;)
Click to expand...

I am horrible with math. Not only am I horrible, I hate anything to do with numbers. Yet I have always been able to balance my checkbook the first time. Don't ask me why. I just am good at it. (As long as I have a calculator!) :angel:
 
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