American cookery terms

patchwork_cat

Yes squeaky the size difference is the reason I bought proper US ones.

champys

Do you also know the ml sizes for the american tablespoon and teaspoon? Thanks a lot!

thriftlady_2

champys wrote: »

Do you also know the ml sizes for the american tablespoon and teaspoon? Thanks a lot!

The difference between US spoon measures and Uk ones is pretty minimal. I always use standard British spoons in US recipes which are 5ml for a tsp and 15 ml for a tbsp;)

It is much easier to use fluid ounces as a measure for US cups as that is the system they are based on -1 cup = 8 fl oz. British measuring jugs will have fl oz as well as ml marked on them.

You can also use yogurt pots to make your own set of cup measures. Mark and cut round the mark so that you can use the pots to scoop and level off dry ingredients like flour.

Don't forget that an American pint is not 20 fl oz but 16 fl oz (2 cups). Therefore when American recipes call for a quart of something they mean 32 fl oz and not 40 fl oz. Handily, a US quart is nearly the same as 1 litre.

MrsB2100

Does anyone know how much a stick of butter is?! Or, for that matter, what a cup of butter would be?!! I have seen this on a South African receipe website (cheese and bacom muffins), so I made it up as I went along ... they were not nice!

thriftlady_2

The almost exact conversion to metric of an 8 oz US cup is 227.2 ml. So, if you are using 250 ml you're recipes are going to be a bit out. This probably won't matter too much but it may affect the quantities of baking powder, bicarb or eggs you need.

thriftlady_2

MrsB2100 wrote: »

Does anyone know how much a stick of butter is?! Or, for that matter, what a cup of butter would be?!! I have seen this on a South African receipe website (cheese and bacom muffins), so I made it up as I went along ... they were not nice!

A US stick of butter is 4 oz (227g).

½ stick = 2 oz = 56g = ¼ cup
1 stick = 4oz = 112g = ½ cup
2 sticks = 8oz = 227g =1 cup
4 sticks =1 lb =454g =2 cups

patchwork_cat

Ahh, but there is another problem using fl ozs as I Us fl oz is 1.04 Imp fl oz. The measure is 237 ml or 240ml. There is a problem between customary cups and legal cups! So use the 60ml as a 1/4 cup and you will be fine.(All measures checked with my set of US cups and wikipedia - correct at time of going to press!!)

thriftlady_2

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Ahh, but there is another problem using fl ozs as I Us fl oz is 1.04 Imp fl oz. The measure is 237 ml or 240ml. There is a problem between customary cups and legal cups! So use the 60ml as a 1/4 cup and you will be fine.(All measures checked with my set of US cups and wikipedia - correct at time of going to press!!)

:rotfl: :rotfl:Strewth -it's a minefield isn't it? Well, I use a set of US cups when following US recipes -as Squeaky says they're easily available and not expensive.

patchwork_cat

YEs totally - I couldn't find any cheap US cups, (mine were from Lakeland and expensive) mind it was a few years ago - where did you get yours at a good price?

Triker

I'm baffled that you MUST be aware that I just (this morning) bought a set of measuring scoops from Morrissons for 99p for the cup measurements.

It's like the spirit of oldstyle is following me and reminding me that I didn't need to buy them.:o