Cooking weights and measures

This article is part
of the Cuisine series
Preparation techniques and cooking items
Techniques - Utensils
Weights and measures
Ingredients and types of food
Spices and Herbs
Sauces - Soups - Desserts
Cheese - Pasta - Bread

Other ingredients

Regional cuisines
Asia - Europe - Caribbean
South Asian - Latin America
Mideast - North America - Africa
Other cuisines...
See also:
Famous chefs - Kitchens - Meals
Wikibooks: Cookbook

Contents

Metric measures

In most of the world, recipes use the metric system of litres (l) and millilitres (ml), grams (g) and kilograms (kg), and degrees Celsius (°C). The word litre is often spelt liter.

The English-speaking world frequently measures weight in pounds (avoirdupois), with volume measures based on cooking utensils and pre-metric measures. The actual values frequently deviate from the utensils on which they were based, and there is little consistency from one country to another. Some common measures in English-speaking countries are:

Measure Australia UK USA
Teaspoon 5 ml 5 ml 4.93 ml
Dessertspoon 10 ml —
Tablespoon 20 ml 15 ml 14.79 ml
Cup 250 ml 285 ml 236.59 ml
fl.oz. 28.41 ml 29.57 ml
Pint 568.26 ml 473.18 ml
Quart 1136.52 ml 946.35 ml
Gallon 4546.09 ml 3785.41 ml

The volumetric measures here are for comparison only. See below for the definition of Gallon for more details.

In addition the “cooks cup” above is not the same as a “coffee cup” which can vary anywhere from 4 – 7 fl.oz.(or even smaller for espresso)

In Australia the utensil units have been standardized by law (the so-called “metric cup”), while the Imperial volume measure no longer has legal status, and sometimes “pints” of beer are as small as 300 ml. In general, it is safe to assume that New Zealand follows Australian measures, and Canada follows US measures. It is dangerous to rely on any of the utensil measures, since they could have been transcribed without adjustment from another country. There are also reports that dessert spoons are used as a measure in Australia, though they are not officially part of the “metric cup” system.

Note also that in Germany, and to a lesser extent in France, recipes frequently refer to pounds (Pfund in German, livre in French). In each case, the unit refers to 500 g, about 10% more than an avoirdupois pound (453.59237 g).

United States measures

The U.S. still uses pounds and ounces (avoirdupois) for weight, and U.S. customary units for volume. For measures used in cookbooks published in other nations navigate to the apropos regional section in Traditional measurement systems.

Measures are classified as either dry measures or fluid measures. Some of the fluid and dry measures have similar names, but the actual measured volume is quite different. A recipe will generally specify which measurement is required. U.S. recipes are commonly in terms of fluid measures.

Fluid Measures
Unit Abrev. Defined fl oz ml
drop – 1/12 dash 1/576 0.05
dash ds. ⅛ tsp. 1/48 0.62
teaspoon tsp. or t. ⅓ tbsp. 1/6 4.93
tablespoon tbsp. or T. ½ fl.oz. ½ 14.79
fluid ounce fl.oz. or oz. 1/128 gal. 1      29.57
jigger — 1½ fl.oz. 1.5   44.36
gill gi. ½ cup 4      118.29
cup C ½ pint 8      236.59
pint pt. ½ quart 16      473.18
fifth¹ — 1/5 gal. 25.36 750     
quart qt. ¼ gal. 32      946.35
gallon gal. 231 cu.in. 128      3,785.41
Dry Measures
Unit Abrev. Defined cu.in. ml
pinch – ½ dash 0.02 0.31
pint, dry pt. ½ dry qt. 33.60 550.61
quart, dry qt. ⅛ peck 67.20 1,101.22
peck pk. ¼ bushel 537.61 8,809.77
bushel bu. — ² 2,150.42 35,239.07

¹The “fifth”, originally exactly one-fifth gallon (25.6 fl.oz.) was adjusted slightly to make it exactly 750 ml (25.36 fl.oz.).

²All of the above are based on the U.S. gallon (legally defined as 231 cubic inches) and the U.S. bushel (legally defined as an 8 inch tall cylinder 18.5 inches in diameter).

In domestic cooking, bulk solids, notably flour and sugar, are measured by volume, often cups, though they are sold by weight at retail. Weight measures are used for meat and butter; butter is sold by weight but in packages marked to facilitate common divisions by eye. (As a sub-packaged unit, a stick of butter, at ¼ lb, is a de facto measure in the U.S.)

Cookbooks in Canada use the same system, although pints and gallons would be taken as their Imperial quantities unless specified otherwise. Following the popularization of the metric system, recipes in Canada are frequently published with metric conversions.

British (Imperial) measures

Note that measurements in this section are in Imperial units

Traditional British measures distinguish between weight and volume.

  • Weight is measured in ounces and pounds (avoirdupois) as in the U.S.
  • Volume is measured in Imperial gallons, quarts, pints, and fluid ounces (with 20 fl.oz. per pint). The Imperial gallon was originally defined as 10 pounds of water in 1824, and refined as exactly 4.54609 litres in 1985. Older recipes may well give measurements in cups; in so far as a standard cup was used, it was usually half a pint (sometimes a third of a pint), but if the recipe is one that has been handed down in a family, it is just as likely to refer to someone's favourite kitchen cup as to that standard.

American cooks using British recipes, and vice versa, need to be careful with pints and fluid ounces. A US pint is 473 ml, while a UK pint is 568 ml, about 20% larger. A US fluid ounce is 1/16 of a US pint (29.6 ml); a UK fluid ounce is 1/20th of a UK pint (28.4 ml).

On a larger scale, perhaps for institutional cookery, it must be noted that an Imperial gallon is eight Imperial pints (160 Imperial fl.oz., 4.546 liters) whereas the US gallon is eight US pints (128 US fl.oz., 3.785 liters).

The Metric system was officially adopted in the UK for most purposes, some decades ago, and both taught in schools and used in books. It is now mandatory for the sale of food. However, many people continue to use Imperial measures. Most modern cookery books give ingredients in both units, although it is now common for new cookery books to use metric measures only.

Special instructions

Some recipes include additional instructions for measuring the correct amount of an ingredient. For example, a recipe might call for “1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed”, or “2 heaping cups flour.” A few of the more common special measuring methods:

Firmly Packed
With a spatula, a spoon, or by hand, the ingredient is pressed as tightly as possible into the measuring device.
Lightly Packed
The ingredient is pressed lightly into the measuring device, only tightly enough to ensure no air pockets.
Even / Level
A precise measure of an ingredient, discarding all of the ingredient that rises above the rim of the measuring device. Sweeping across the top of the measure with the back of a straight knife or the blade of a spatula are common leveling methods.
Rounded
Allowing a measure of an ingredient to pile up above the rim of the measuring device naturally, into a soft, rounded shape.
Heaping / Heaped
The maximum amount of an ingredient which will stay on the measuring device.
Sifted
This instruction may be seen in two different ways, with two different meanings: before the ingredient, as “1 cup sifted flour”, indicates the ingredient should be sifted into the measuring device (and normally leveled), while after the ingredient, as “1 cup flour, sifted”, denotes the sifting should occur after measurement.

See also

External links


   This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cooking weights and measures".