Why do Americans measure everything in cups?
Used a couple of US recipes recently and most of the ingredients are in cups, or spoons, not by weight. This is a nightmare to convert. Do Americans not own scales or something? What's the reason for measuring everything by volume?
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Go back 100, 200 years.
Hell, go back 40 years. Scales were less available, and before digital scales, much slower, take up space, and cost much more than cups and spoons, which you would still need.
100 years ago, even a poor person with little space could have a full set of measuring cups/spoons.
Cups and spoons are sufficiently accurate for anything other than baking. Even with baking, many simpler recipes it's still OK. My mother and grandmother baked many things using cups and spoons.
I still use cups and spoons for anything other than baking - they're sufficiently accurate. Why pull out a scale for things like 1/8 tsp ground pepper? Is that even a gram?
King Arthur, the flour company that's been around over 220 years, publishes numerous recipes that were originally in cups and spoons (because those were the tools 200 years ago), and those recipes are still in cups and spoons. Their muffin recipe is delicious.
English muffins originated in the late 1800s, using volumetric measures - they're still around, still delicious. I've made them, using volumetric measures.
Ever weighed 8oz of water?
It weighs a cup
Hahaha, you win! 🤣
Have an upvote
Although with things like spices, there’s no point in measuring them anyway. Spices are almost always added to taste, so it’s easier to think in terms of ‘x hand movements with the container’.
And yes, I have actually weighed 8oz of water. Well, not specifically 8oz, but I’ve certainly weighed out water to +- a couple grams for a recipe. If a recipe is specific about contents, why would I not measure it out?
So, what does 8 ounces of water weigh?
Also, tell a restaurant or a serious cook to not measure spices. You're gonna gave a bad time with more complex recipes.
You don't need to weight water if you don't use a measurement system from the dark ages.
That wasn't the question.
And stick your insults up your ass.
So, what does 1/8 tsp of ground pepper weigh.