Things in recipes that amuse you

bmeadows380

kenyonhaff wrote: »

bookgrlph wrote: »

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

This is not so much in a recipe, but of a recipe. Also it doesn’t amuse me, it makes me cross!

Finding a recipe online which has been written/developed by someone who is not American, i.e. is given in grams, ml, etc and seeing a bunch of people complaining that they either had to convert it (oh the horror!), demanding the originator convert it to ‘regular’ measurements for them and just generally criticising the entire recipe because it’s not done in cups.

I realise I’m probably offending a bunch of people here with this, so apologies if I do...but there are people in the world who are not American and the entire rest of the world does exist, eat and cook.

It ridiculous to complain about either way, but I always see non-Americans complaining about recipes not being in metric.

#1 Yes it's stupid Americans don't use metric. #2 It takes a minute to convert it using Google or other site.

I don't know what's so stupid about it; its a system that's been in use for longer than the metric was and it works for us in the general population. That would be like me going to Europe and saying its stupid that they all drive on the wrong side of the road.

Besides, most products here in the states gives you a serving size in both standard and metric, and what isn't given is easily converted, and most recipes used for home don't really need to be exact down to the 10th degree of a gram, anyway. If you're using antique recipes, they are probably even more imprecise - how much is exactly in a handful? lol

I'd say if the recipe looks interesting, make the conversions and enjoy the results. I do agree that its rather rude to demand that the recipe's producer provide all measurements in both systems; commercial books don't do that generally, so I know if I buy an American cookbook or get a recipe from an American website, I except to see english standard units; if I'm using a European recipe, it will be in metric. Considering how many versions of the same recipe exist these days, it probably wouldn't be very hard to find the recipe you want in the units you want.

AnnPT77

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

JetJaguar wrote: »

The only recipe conversion that annoys me is that sometimes I'll find older recipes from the UK that give oven temperatures in terms of "gas marks". Mostly it just offends my sensibilities as an engineer, because it's an arbitrary scale that doesn't directly relate to any real, physical unit.

But...but...what if you have a gas oven? They still work using regulo marks, not with a Celsius or Fahrenheit scale.

I grew up using a gas oven and there are still occasions where my brain goes back to ‘that cooks at Regulo 5 - so that’s 190°C’ 😂

Not in the US, they don't, at least not ones from the past 40+ years I've been an adult. They have a thermostat, and you set them in degrees F. I've never seen a gas oven with Regulo settings here. (Not saying they've never existed. Don't know.)

BarbaraHelen2013

AnnPT77 wrote: »

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

JetJaguar wrote: »

The only recipe conversion that annoys me is that sometimes I'll find older recipes from the UK that give oven temperatures in terms of "gas marks". Mostly it just offends my sensibilities as an engineer, because it's an arbitrary scale that doesn't directly relate to any real, physical unit.

But...but...what if you have a gas oven? They still work using regulo marks, not with a Celsius or Fahrenheit scale.

I grew up using a gas oven and there are still occasions where my brain goes back to ‘that cooks at Regulo 5 - so that’s 190°C’ 😂

Not in the US, they don't, at least not ones from the past 40+ years I've been an adult. They have a thermostat, and you set them in degrees F. I've never seen a gas oven with Regulo settings here. (Not saying they've never existed. Don't know.)

That’s interesting! After I typed that post I googled to check, because I’ve not actually seen a gas oven for some years. Looking at the U.K. stores that sell such things and examining the images I saw that they’re still sold with Gas Mark dials here.