question for British people
Replies
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Germany here
All of our recipes are in grams and we don't use cups at all. I lived in the US for one year and prefer the cups system.0 -
We have plastic measuring spoons and digital scales in our kitchen, I prefer the scales, but cups have their uses too.0
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I'm not British but am living in Scotland at the moment. I mostly use a scale. I was using a scale back when I lived in the states, too. It's actually much easier to accurately measure using a scale, and you don't have to dirty a bunch of different measuring cups and spoons.
I did bring my measuring cups and spoons over from the US, so I have those in a drawer...but honestly, the scale is just much simpler.0 -
British here, and its got to be scales and grams all the way- I have one American cookbook but I have taken to converting and noting the mesurements.0
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dear British people,
In British cook books, and even here on MFP, when you talk about food you use grams. So does everyone have a kitchen scale, or do you just know off the top of your head how many grams are in standard measures like one cup of flour?
I've always owned kitchen scales and couldn't cope without them! I would say that I would measure ingredients exactly (in grams or ounces) when baking and making a new recipes, but for some in the past (savoury dishes) I would add 'to taste'. Since being on mfp I measure everything, always, including breakfast cereal etc.
I do own a set of measuring cups, which I bought so I could make US recipes seen online etc, but the first time I make them I usually weigh things out and convert the recipe to metric for future reference!
This is what I was going to write. For us "standard measures" doesn't mean "cups", it means grams, or ounces if the recipe's an old one of your granny's written out by her thirty years ago on the back of an old envelope. And I know from experience how high to heap a tablespoon to measure out one ounce of flour or sugar.
I didn't realise for years that an american recipe using "cups" means "use a standard cup". I tried using any old random cup off the shelf & it worked for some recipes, provided everything was measured by the same cup.
You think we're weird using grams, we think you're weird using cups!0 -
T think everyone who cooks from scratch has kitchen scales and uses them - although like another poster said you get a feel for some portions you use regularly and don't necessarilt need to weigh every time. We use grams mostly, but I have a lot od old cook books which use ounces, I have a and antique and extremely accurate balancing scales, and I have both metric and imperial weights for it.
We also measure liquids in ml these days, athough again the older fl oz measure is also still in use.
I do have a set of measuring cups which I've had for years so I can make recipes that call for them, but I rarely use them. A measuring jug is more convenient for liquids, and they'd be too innaccurate to use for solids.0 -
I use scales, because I have no idea what a "cup" measurement is.
Also, found out that what I was using as a "tablespoon" was actually a much larger dessert spoon. God damn spoons. Y U come in so many sizes and shapes?
This is incorrect. A tablespoon is around 15mls, a dessert spoon is around 10mls & a teaspoon is around 5mls. Have another look at your spoons!0 -
I weigh EVERYTHING using my kitchen scales, in grammes, it's just the most accurate way.0
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dear British people,
In British cook books, and even here on MFP, when you talk about food you use grams. So does everyone have a kitchen scale, or do you just know off the top of your head how many grams are in standard measures like one cup of flour?
Yes, we use a scale. Cups are inherently flawed, you can't consistently or accurately measure large solids using a unit of volume. Depending on the tessellation of the pieces, two different "cups" of pasta could have completely different amounts in them.0 -
dear British people,
In British cook books, and even here on MFP, when you talk about food you use grams. So does everyone have a kitchen scale, or do you just know off the top of your head how many grams are in standard measures like one cup of flour?
I've always owned kitchen scales and couldn't cope without them! I would say that I would measure ingredients exactly (in grams or ounces) when baking and making a new recipes, but for some in the past (savoury dishes) I would add 'to taste'. Since being on mfp I measure everything, always, including breakfast cereal etc.
I do own a set of measuring cups, which I bought so I could make US recipes seen online etc, but the first time I make them I usually weigh things out and convert the recipe to metric for future reference!
This!!!!0 -
I measure most things on a digital kitchen scale (e.g. a 50g portion of granola - otherwise I'd just keep on pouring!)
But after a while you just get used to doing it by eye0 -
I use scales, because I have no idea what a "cup" measurement is.
Also, found out that what I was using as a "tablespoon" was actually a much larger dessert spoon. God damn spoons. Y U come in so many sizes and shapes?
This is incorrect. A tablespoon is around 15mls, a dessert spoon is around 10mls & a teaspoon is around 5mls. Have another look at your spoons!
She said a tablespoon was larger than a dessert spoon!0 -
Also you need to remember what you are doing.
If you want to know what you are eating in g's for breakfast you need scales.
If you are making a cake you can get away with cups, as long as you stick broadly to the ratios involved, ie 100g flour, 200g sugar, you will get away with one cup and 2 cups, etc.
Not always, but mainly!0 -
I use scales - before MFP it was usually only for baking, where its important to have accurate measurements. Now, as part of calorie counting I need to know how much of something I'm eating.
When I search for recipes I'm instantly turned off by recipes with "cups" in them. I want to know in grams or even lbs and oz.0 -
I'm a cook and I'm British. I find recipes come in all sorts of measurement scales. I find cups as a measure a bit hit and miss. I do have a conversion chart I pulled out of a Waitrose magazine that converts cups to ounces to grammes. Unfortunately there isn't one online. I use a digital scale. I prefer grammes as it easier to divide and multiply recipes that way.
Someone mentioned Grandma's recipe measurements. I have a good one-"Take half a piece if butter the size of a walnut...." So how much is that exactly???0 -
dear British people,
In British cook books, and even here on MFP, when you talk about food you use grams. So does everyone have a kitchen scale, or do you just know off the top of your head how many grams are in standard measures like one cup of flour?
everyone has a kitchen scale
my mum has one that's actually like a balance with little weights you put on one side. It's probably antique. before I had my digital one, I had one where you put the food in the tray at the top and the pointy hand pointed at the weight, i.e. mechanical, but not archaic like my mum's one.
My mum's one weighs in ounces, although she has a few gram weights as well. My one has grams and ounces and lbs on it.
also spoons, i.e. teaspoon (5ml) and tablespoon (15ml)
also measuring jugs, which are in ml and fluid ounces. occasionally you get the with cups
When I first came across cups, it confused me totally.... because I didn't know whether it meant a tea cup, a child's beaker, a mug, or what.... (I know now...)0 -
Scales and measure in grams, i have no idea about cups, although the new scales i bought use this measurements also0
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I have diet scales as I had no idea what grams were in what.0
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Yep, I have a kitchen scales since I first moved out of home, one of the first things I bought - it's so necessary. This whole 'cup' business pees me off, grams/ounces etc I can work with!0
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You think we're weird using grams, we think you're weird using cups!
^^^^ this, very very very this!!0 -
Norfolk uk
I couldn't live with out my scales at the moment. I measure all my food so it is completely accurate to heat I put in mfp.
I don't use recipes when it uses cups.0 -
Swedish here! We use grams as well, and I've got a kitchen scale. Though we usually measure in decilitre, centilitre, millilitre. A measuring "kit" would have a dl measure, half a dl, tablespoon, teaspoon, and a ml.0
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dear British people,
In British cook books, and even here on MFP, when you talk about food you use grams. So does everyone have a kitchen scale, or do you just know off the top of your head how many grams are in standard measures like one cup of flour?
americans can't even agree what a cup is, i wouldn't enter into a recipe with cups i'd just look for an alternative that works with weight in lbs or grams
and yeah pretty much everyone has scales
also just a side note say you get a recipe with chunks of apple, and it says a cup full of chunks of apples, for a start you don't know how big the chunks are, a 1" chunk filled cup will very likely be less than a 1/4" chunk filled cup due to the fact you'll be left with pockets where if you weight it you'll get the same0 -
dear British people,
In British cook books, and even here on MFP, when you talk about food you use grams. So does everyone have a kitchen scale, or do you just know off the top of your head how many grams are in standard measures like one cup of flour?
Dear American person, did you not think that seeing as we don't use cups, a "cup" might not be a standard measure here......?
Dear American person, as everything weighs different amounts, why do you measure in volume? A cup of flour is different to a cup of rice, which is different to a cup of grated cheese.
Where you have a set of cups that measure fluid ounces and volume, we have one scale which we measure everything on. Easy.0 -
Another Brit and I've never been into a kitchen that didn't have a set of scales. I use digital metric/imperial ones with a TARE function so that I don't have to weigh everything that's going into the same dish in separate bowls.
I do also have a set of US cups so that I don't have to bother with conversions on American recipes however.0 -
I use scales. I get really frustrated when I find a good recipe and it uses cups! I don't want to risk using cups because I don't know if its a tea cup or a mug or a coffee cup. What's a cup?0
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Here in Britain we mostly use grams or ounces. The cup measurement seems to be mainly USA & Canada.
Most English cook books use metric measure older ones use the ounces.0 -
U.S. citizen here. As a kid I was taught in school that we would be converting to metrics along with the rest of the world and that we better get used to it. I'm 60 and I'm still waiting. Cups, spoons, pounds... it's crazy.0
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Cups are very misleading! I use either grams or ounces. And one recipe I have for a delectable apple cake in fact uses both in one recipe...but this recipe was handed down to me and isn't in a book so that's why!
When I first read a recipe using 'cups' I thought you could use like a regular coffee mug...I think you can but in order to be more accurate you should have a proper measuring cup, shouldn't you?0 -
Canada is metric and we just eyeball everything, because we're, just better. j/k :happy:Here in Britain we mostly use grams or ounces. The cup measurement seems to be mainly USA & Canada.
Most English cook books use metric measure older ones use the ounces.0
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