How much? - Recipes & Cooking Advice - Eat Your Books

Forum

Welcome Guest! You can not login or register.

Notification

Icon
Error

#1 Posted : Sunday, November 10, 2019 6:10:12 AM(UTC)
I have to admit I’ve never been a big fan of American cookbooks.... call me kinda weird but glossy photography etc. really doesn’t do it for me.

Anyway, in the past 6 months or so I’ve found some really good ones that I’ve bought and cooked from.

My question.... the ever tricky (for a Brit!) subject of the American Cup system! There have been times when I’ve felt that I’ve added too much or little of an ingredient purely because of the way it’s stacked in the cup. How much is 2 cups of cauliflower for instance?

Does anyone with experience of the cup system have any guidance? What am I missing?

Thanks
#2 Posted : Sunday, November 10, 2019 4:12:19 PM(UTC)
For anything oddly shaped like cauliflower florets, I just eyeball the amount and picture it in a measuring cup 😉 since exact measurements are not critical like in baking.
#3 Posted : Monday, November 11, 2019 3:00:40 AM(UTC)
I agree that I find recipes using weights are a lot easier. I also find recipes that use nonstandard measures problematic - there’s a recipe in one of the River Cottage books that I’ve been wanting to try, but haven’t got around to simply because it asks for ‘1/2 tube tomato paste’. Being Aussie & not typically having tubes of paste, how many grams would this be??? There seems to be quite a range of tube weights when doing an online search!
#4 Posted : Monday, November 11, 2019 9:16:31 AM(UTC)

E_Ballad,
I just checked my tube of Amore tomato paste (a major brand here), and it is 4.5 ounces, or 127 grams.

#5 Posted : Monday, November 11, 2019 10:27:20 PM(UTC)
@SilverSage: Thank you so so much!
#6 Posted : Tuesday, November 12, 2019 4:32:26 AM(UTC)

Indio32;18123 wrote:
How much is 2 cups of cauliflower for instance? Does anyone with experience of the cup system have any guidance? What am I missing?


As an American who learned to cook in a country kitchen with Mother owning only two cookbooks (she did up it to three at one point), it never occurred to me that outside of baking, the measurements were meant to be followed. What they give you is a sense of the ratios ... so you know if you put all the cauliflower in and you're a wee bit shy of 2 cups, pick another element to go a wee bit heavy on so your sauce remains more or less constant.


However, I must admit that despite my best efforts, my son actually follows the recipe the first time through and is obsessed on how to vary the hydration based on the source of his flour. Yes, he's taught high school students the math and science of the perfect Italian pizza.


And if you really have the need, one can simply convert the recipe to weight ratios. Many diet and diabetes "calorie" county books give you both weight and volume as the "industry standard" views it.

#7 Posted : Sunday, November 17, 2019 5:50:13 AM(UTC)

Thanks all... I consider myself a fairly confident cook so am happy to vary/substitute ingredients in a recipe. My main concern is when first following a recipe I want to get it as authentic as possible to how the recipes author intended it to be before “messing around” with it.
e_ballad.... As The River Cottage Cookbook is a UK one I assume they’d mean a UK tube of tomato paste, as such they’re 200 grams so 1/2 would be 100 grams.

You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.