American cup measurements?

Savvy_Sue

HOLsale wrote:

as an american ex pat

are you able to tell me how to measure butter or margarine in cups? How do you know there isn't an air pocket hiding inside, IFKWIM?

carol_a_3

What about cups of dry ingredients though like flour and sugar, I couldn't see that on the conversion tables?

HOLsale

Savvy_Sue wrote:

are you able to tell me how to measure butter or margarine in cups? How do you know there isn't an air pocket hiding inside, IFKWIM?

that's always a pain and one of the few bugbears i have with the american system. generally i find the american way MUCH easier because a cup is a cup is a cup regardless of what it is so no messing with scales and all BUT it's not a problem in the states with butter as all butter and margerine that comes wrapped (most of it) actually has markings on the packaging telling you how much butter you're using. you usually get 4 sticks per lb and i believe 1 stick is half cup (maybe 1/4 can't remember) and it has tablespoon marks as well.

dh did manage to find me some butter with markings on it here in the uk but sadly i can't remember what brand!

i simply use the back of spoon to push it down into the cup. the spoon is also easy to use to make sure you get a level cupful. if you then make a mental note of how much of a full packet of butter you used you'll know for next time!

sorry i can't be any more helpful than that but the american system is set up to work for americans... though don't suprised if you see markings on uk butter in the future. i've been here 6.5 years and have seen a LOT of things changing to accomodate the american way... i think the internet may have a lot to do with that

HOLsale

carol_a wrote:

What about cups of dry ingredients though like flour and sugar, I couldn't see that on the conversion tables?

it's because ALL cups are the same. that's the beauty of the american system. if a recipe tells you to use a cup of flour that's what you use it's not down by weight but by volume. so as i mentioned it doesn't matter if they ask for a cup of water, milk, butter, sugar, flour, nuts etc it's just that one cup that you need. you don't weigh anything at all, much simpler once you have the measuring cups

Magentasue

This won't suit everyone but I think of a cup as about 250ml - I've got one of those measuring jugs with cup measures up the side and the scoop that came with my breadmaker. They may not be exactly the same, one may be UK and the other US but they do for me. I think of a block of butter as just over a cup so half a cup of butter is just under half a block and so on.

I suppose I've been cooking long enough to know what different doughs/mixtures etc are supposed to be like so have the confidence to be a bit 'out' with measurements.

I don't fret about spoonfuls of raising agents either as I use self-raising flour and chuck in a level teaspoonful of baking powder for each half pound of flour for sponge cakes, scones etc

Depends on whether you see baking as ant art or a science maybe!

squeaky

A stick of butter defined is:-

http://www.onlineconversion.com/forum/forum_1026097353.htm

As for the previously mentioned difference in my rough guide to cups...

Approximately 3 (point 423825265) mils/grams difference between my 240 mil guide and the actual accurate figure works out at 1/80th which really isn't going to make much difference unless you are doing a LOT of multiples.

If you don't believe me - just weigh three grams (approx) 1/8th ounce of sugar and see how much difference that might make to a standard recipe.

Savvy_Sue

HOLsale wrote:

that's always a pain and one of the few bugbears i have with the american system. generally i find the american way MUCH easier because a cup is a cup is a cup regardless of what it is so no messing with scales and all BUT it's not a problem in the states with butter as all butter and margerine that comes wrapped (most of it) actually has markings on the packaging telling you how much butter you're using. you usually get 4 sticks per lb and i believe 1 stick is half cup (maybe 1/4 can't remember) and it has tablespoon marks as well.

dh did manage to find me some butter with markings on it here in the uk but sadly i can't remember what brand!

i simply use the back of spoon to push it down into the cup. the spoon is also easy to use to make sure you get a level cupful. if you then make a mental note of how much of a full packet of butter you used you'll know for next time!

I think my problem is that I've usually only got I Kg tubs of marge in the fridge rather than blocks of butter or marge, and whereas, as you say, the dry ingredients is really easy, the marge is a bit of a palaver. My solution for the American recipe I use the most is that I have weighed how much marge that many cups is, and written a note in the book! So I weigh the marge, and then get the cups out!

Butter always used to have markers on the paper, IIRC, but if you have trouble finding the brand which still does again, you could always mark the wrapper before you start using it. Then you just have to cut straight ...

They probably stopped putting the markers on when we went metric. Too confusing for people who wanted 2 oz to find markings in grammes!

squeaky

They do marking in grams on all the packs I have (25g to the ounce) but I've never seen one in cups or sticks.

A stick is four ounces (100g) as far as I know...

..and as a ROUGH guide a tablespoon of "stuff" is fifteen grams or two tbsps to the ounce.

astep70uk

I have found a recipe which is all in american measurements ie cups

Is there a way to translate this into the UK equivalent??

Thanks

squeaky

A M E R I C A N C U P S
====================

As for cups - the americans work by volume rather than weight.

You can usually buy plastic cup sets in pretty much any supermarket - but for recipes that are ALL cups you just need to use any old cup or mug you like, and as long as you use THAT mug for all the ingredients the proportions will work out fine.

In the meantime - an american cup is 240mil and a european one is 250mil

Hardly worth bothering about the difference.

To get quantities right for a recipe that's one cup of something and everything else in in tablespoons etc there's a way to sort this out.

Put a mug or glass on your scales (glass is better 'cos you can mark it) and zero them. Now add water until the scales show 250grams. This is where you can stick a bit of label or sticky tape on the outside of this glass to mark the water level.

THAT is one cup

Just dry the glass off and fill it with flour or sugar (whatever) to that level and your recipe will be right.

If you happen to have a smaller glass or tumbler that comes to about 250 when full it's even easier