There are so many great conversations on the Hotline -- it's hard to choose a favorite. But we'll be doing it, once a week, to spread the wealth of our community's knowledge -- and to keep the conversation going.
Today: Is it time to toss our measuring cups?
We're pretty attached to our measuring cups. We have a drawer full in our new kitchen, and Brette has waxed poetic about them: "Measuring cups and spoons, sure, are one of the most essential items in a kitchen. They’re what this website is based on; they’re the building blocks of cookbooks and magazines; they’re how recipes are spread around the globe, through generations, across cultures and divides...Measuring utensils – and the quiet, respectful disregard of them – are what make cooking fun."
Even though we know a cup of flour weighs 4.5 ounces, we've perfected how to measure flour correctly without weighing it. Not every kitchen has a scale, and even when we do have access to a scale, somehow it doesn't feel right to be so precise with grandma's chocolate chip recipe. But giving up precision can come at a cost. Despite following proper procedure (spooning aerated flour into a measuring cup and sweeping off the excess), you still won't always end up with exactly 4.5 ounces, and slight differences can have a big impact on your baked goods. This doesn't just apply to flour -- extra ounces of any ingredient can throw off your results. As a result of this issue, this week on the Hotline, fionula shared a decision to convert to baking by weight rather than volume, and is now questioning what advantage -- if any -- there is to using volume measurements.
Are we just hanging on to measuring cups for nostalgia's sake? SeaJambon says: “I have a large bookcase full of cookbooks that use volume measures. I love and cherish way too many recipes in them to toss, and it is way too time consuming to make the conversions myself.”
Maedl says: "I switched to weighing ingredients years ago. It is more accurate, so results are more consistent. I also find it easier to measure using a scale rather than by trying to use cup measures. It doesn't mean tossing out old cookbooks -- you just learn what the weight equivalents are and carry on."
Are there advantages to baking with volume? Should we all toss our measuring cups and go buy scales? (While we’re at it, should we go all in and convert to the metric system too?) We can't wait for you to weigh in. Add your two cents to the question on the Hotline here or continue the conversation in the comments below!
Written by: Lindsay-Jean Hard
Popular on Food52
24 Comments
I came to appreciate the simplicity and mathematical ease of metric (consider the issues it would save in doubling or halving recipies alone!). I have never understood why we never made the conversion despite the number of dates the US set to have done that by back in the 60s and 70s.
ohsosweetbaker.com
I refuse to buy new baking-centric cookbooks that don't give volume measurements.
I also never use a recipe for meatloaf and probably haven't made the same one twice in 45 years of cooking unless it was by accident.
As for the precision of scales, the little conversion table that came with my Salter scale says that a cup of flour weights 5 ounces not 4.5. It says that 1 cup of cocoa weights 3 1/4 cup but a half cup weighs 1.5 ounces. It weighs in grams (and it's beyond FABULOUS to just switch a toggle and carry on with European recipes) but only in even numbers. So when my recipe calls for 75g my scale is already fudging. And, finally, when it calls for 30g of dry milk powder and that fluffy stuff starts billowing out of the package I'm lucky to keep my error down to 10%. Guess what? It doesn't make all that much difference. ...anymore than when my hands are less than adroit enough to get liquids exactly right.
My rule about baking is "Forget rules and anything that's intimidating and enjoy what you're doing!" Someone will always gratefully eat your "mistakes" even if it's the family dog. ; > The need for real precision belongs to the pros.
I really can relate to Helens, measuring butter by volume is the strangest thing ever and not very practical...
If you're weighing ingredients, typically you add them to the same bowl - which can be faster, and better...until you make a serious error in measurement. Imagine what would happen if the hand pouring the salt shook and added 4x too much? You'd have to start over, but as long as you aren't measuring your salt over the bowl when you use measuring spoons, you simply wipe up the salt and move on.
http://www.thehungrymouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dscn1169.jpg
http://www.thehungrymouse.com/2009/01/12/old-fashioned-pound-cake/
In Europe we tend to get butter in 250g blocks (shorter and wider than your sticks) with 25g or 50g lines along the wrapping. Anyway, I've converted enough American recipes in my time to have learnt that 1 US cup of butter is about 225g and 1tbsp is about 15g.
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