Weights & Measures

One of my pet peeves is when people (particularly those writing or reviewing recipes) don't understand weights and measures. Specifically, people often confuse weight and volume, or they don't simplify numbers appropriately.

I saw a complaint on an ice cream recipe that called for "1.5 oz. cocoa powder, approx. 1/2 cup." This person said that 1/2 cup is equal to 4 oz., and that the recipe didn't make any sense. 1/2 cup is equal to 4 oz... of water. An ounce is a unit of weight; a cup is a unit of volume. Different ingredients have different densities; a cup of cocoa powder is much lighter than a cup of water.

But what really makes me angry is when a recipe calls for "3 teaspoons" or "1.5 teaspoons" or "4 tablespoons" of something. Three teaspoons is equal to one tablespoon. Why would you make something three times harder than it is? 1.5 teaspoons is equal to 1/2 tablespoon, which is again much easier. And four tablespoons? It's the same as 1/4-cup.

I know this is all information most of us only ever saw in the back of our school notebooks when we were bored out of our minds in middle school. But if you're going to cook, much less write recipes, you need to know the very basics:

3 teaspoons in 1 tablespoon
(4 tablespoons in 1/4 cup)
16 tablespoons in one cup
4 cups in a quart

Those are really the most common ones. Most recipes don't bother with pints, gallons, or 1/8 cups. Although, I have been seeing 1/8 cup more and more. (It is, of course, equal to two tablespoons.) I actually keep 1/8 scoops in my sugar and flour so I can measure quickly as needed; lots of recipes call for 2 tablespoons of one or the other, and I can easily count the number of scoops if it's higher (within reason; certainly not when baking).

So anyway, learn your measurements. And while you're at it, get a kitchen scale. Your cup of flour could weigh anywhere between 3 and 6 ounces!