mixed measuring units

On this side of the pond they are used all the time! :) As are milliliteres...

Here cups are very rarely used. Certainly not for dry things like flour or sugar, and not for butter! Those are all done by weight.

Recipes are often given in imperial and metric measures here: one uses one or the other, as they are not exact translations. My kitchen scales with measure liquid and dry quantities in imperial or metric, oz/fl oz or kg/lt. I usually find that kids will choose metric, but use imperial quite happily if it's an old recipe. Same with sewing: all my quilting kit is in imperial, and that's what I usually use to sew. It doesn't faze the kids if you explain, and they feel quite clever to have mastered some new mathematical skill while actually doing something else! :)

Well, it gets more complicated. I just weighed, on our postal scale which is pretty accurate, a level cup of white granulated sugar. 8 ounces. A level cup of unbleached flour, aerated only by stirring thoroughly, was 5 ounces. Without going through the motions to make sure (I'm sposed to be _sewing_!), I have to suspect that a cup of packed brown sugar would weigh more than 8 ounces, and that a cup of cake flour, or flour sifted a couple of times before measuring, might weigh less than 5 ounces. Likewise, a weight difference between the same measure of sifted and unsifted confectioner's sugar...

No wonder recipes don't always turn out predictably!

Doreen in Alabama

Indeed it does. Thankfully, someone else already figured it out for us. See the rec.food.cooking FAQ:

On 2005-07-08 snipped-for-privacy@cet.invalid.com said: >Newsgroups: alt.sewing [snipped]

Call when you are on your way - I'll meet you there (specify which ), and it's on me! 505-847-0142.

Tom Willmon Mountainair, (mid) New Mexico, USA

I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Net-Tamer V 1.12.0 - Registered

This discussion (on different terms for weights and measures) has been very informative. I just found this site:

Does it include the essential measurements for a handful, a pinch, and a smidgen? ;-)

In my kitchen, I have a cookbook that has recipes with such measurements as a teacupful and a dessertspoonful. It's Indian recipes printed in England. Wonderful cookbook, too.

Doubtful about the "handful". ;->

However, I do actually have a set of measuring spoons for a "Drop", a "Smidge", a "Pinch", and "Hint". I saw them online, just couldn't resist. ;-)

Love it! I have several recipes from a couple-or three generations back, and the references to "Handfuls" of this and "Smidgeons" of that are colorful to say the least.

I have books like that: they say things like 'enough of X to get Y result...' Proof that cooking isn't science at all, but a kind of magic. How about this for a quantity-free recipe:

Aubergines Provencales

Aubergines Tomatoes Parsley Garlic

Cover the bottom of a saucepan with olive oil. Slice the aubergines and cook until transparent.

Remove and keep warm... Peel and slice the tomatoes and cook for a minute or two, adding salt, pepper, and a dust of basil. Now add the aubergines to the tomatoes; with a handful of parsley and a small clove of garlic finely minced. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add a little more parsley and serve. (This dish dwindles in a surprising way, so start with aubergines and tomatoes than you think you can possibly want.)

Yup - straight from the book - A Flash In The Pan by Ernestine Carter, published in 1953! The book is a true gem. One of the best things she says is 'The only way to treat vegetables is with love'! :)

I would dearly love a copy of the classic Marguerite Patten book, An Omelet and a Glass of Wine.

We have some very good friends that hail from Albequerque, that turned us on to red chile ( with an e). We are forever grateful. I've also spent a bit of time in the Jemez Mts backcountry, back in my younger wilder days.

Penny

:-)

Dang! I don't have a measuring device for a "dust" either. ;->

Then there're some of my family recipes, calling for a $0.05 bag of potato chips, or $0.10 worth of raisins.... I translate both quantities as "some".

ROTF,LOL! I'm not sure what multiplier one would have to use to create the inflation-adjusted price.

Amazon lists "Omelette and a Glass of Wine, An (Hardcover) by Elizabeth David" with 44 used & new available from $3.49 and a paperback edition at $10.17, with 61 used and new from 99 cents.

Marguerite Patten has other books at

Between the two, I hope you can find the book you'd like.

'Some' is a universal measure, along with 'a bit' and 'enough'. My granny taught me to make plain scones with this recipe:

Tip some four in a bowl Add a bit of baking powder Mix to a stiff dough with enough cream/full fat milk just on the turn Bake on the girdle...

I knew it was one of them! Thanks - I just guessed which one without checking! Well, I had two chances... ;)

'Bout that much... depends, really. ;P

In article , Kate Dicey of Customer of PlusNet plc

I have so far resisted temptation to say "depends how big your knob is.." - this being a mainly female gathering - but ... we are going to descend before long