How to Measure Any Ingredient
Believe it or not, adding a pinch of this, a handful of that, and a little of the “good stuff” all count as “measuring” your food; even if the unit of measurement is unique to you. There’s nothing wrong with spontaneously exploring flavors and ingredients while cooking. That’s part of the fun. When you want to duplicate a recipe over and over again or follow someone else’s recipe, consistent measurement becomes important. Here’s how to reliably measure every ingredient in your grown-up kitchen.
When and how to measure volume
When you measure something “by volume,” you are measuring the amount of space the ingredient takes up. Simple enough, the word “cup” has two meanings in the kitchen: short, scoop-like cups are for dry ingredients, while taller cups with spouts and little lines on the sides are for liquids.
Measuring cups, both wet and dry, are the most common tool for measuring volume. Many recipes, especially in America, list ingredients by volume rather than by weight. If you baked chocolate chip cookies or made chicken soup, you measured the volume. For dry ingredients, scoop or pour ingredient into measuring cup until full and level with top. For liquids, fill the container to the appropriate size.
For flour and other ground or powdered ingredients, the standard recipe is “spoon and smooth.” (Or measure by weight, but more on that later.) Using a separate spoon, scoop the flour from the bag into a measuring cup. Then take a straight edge, such as a bench scraper or the back of a butter knife, and smooth the flour to the top edge.
The reason for this extra step, and ultimately why the volume measurement is limited in volume, is the density of the particles. A cup of flour scooped directly is packed denser and weighs more than a cup of flour scooped and leveled with a spoon. When you spoon and level, you’re adding air to the quad, so less flour takes up the same amount of space. Think about the difference between brown sugar being dropped into a cup and squeezing it. If you scoop flour directly, your recipes may end up drier or tougher than intended.
How to buy measuring cups
Make no mistake, I have dry and wet measuring cups and use them. If I’m working with a recipe that measures in cups, I use the spoon and level method for everything powdery and it works out great. For best results, choose dry measuring cups with clearly defined edges for easy leveling. Handmade ceramic measuring cups that look like elephants or lemons are adorable, but you’ll never be able to clean out that chest. I like stainless steel cups because they have sharp edges, don’t absorb odors or scratch like plastic cups, and are easy to clean.
For wet food measuring cups, I like PYREX ( not Pyrex ) because it’s made from borosilicate glass, so you can use it to measure hot liquids, or pop one in the microwave to melt and measure butter or chocolate, and it’s easy. clean. Whichever brand you choose, look at both sides of the cup. You want one that measures in cups, ounces, and milliliters.
Make sure you have both wet and dry measuring cups:
Volume will get you pretty far, but if you fall in love with a recipe and want to repeat it forever or want to really get into baking, you’re better off converting the measurements to grams and documenting the mass for the most consistent result. results every time.
When and how to measure mass
I switched to weighing ingredients when I started baking professionally, but more and more home cooks are opting for the humble kitchen scale. They are small, affordable, electronic and easy to use. These are exciting times not only for home cooks, but also for the metric system (at least in the United States).
Weighing ingredients shows how much of the actual ingredient is on the scale. The size of the grain, the amount of air mixed in, or the degree to which an object is compressed will not change its mass. If you put an egg white on a scale and then beat it twice as much, the mass of the egg white will remain the same—at least in theory; some egg white may remain on the whisk.
Weigh ingredients as accurately and consistently as your scale. Most of them are damn accurate, and mass is much harder to argue with than volume. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Once you take your kitchen scale, weigh the cup of flour you scooped up and the cup you spooned in and leveled out. The difference can be surprising. Press the scale to measure grams and weigh a tablespoon of fine table salt and a tablespoon of coarse kosher salt. If you’re baking bread, measuring the amount of salt can mean life or death (for the yeast).
Once the fun is over, explore the features. Jump back and forth between grams, ounces and pounds. Be sure to use the “container” function. Taring, sometimes called “zeroing”, returns the scale to zero regardless of what is on it. This allows you to measure everything in one bowl. Measure the flour, measure the container to zero, measure the sugar, measure the butter. No more need for separate bowls.
First of all, get a kitchen scale. All you need is something simple:
The scale is a baker’s best friend, but you don’t have to be an oven obsessive to appreciate a kitchen scale. Use it to measure out portions of pasta (two ounces isn’t what you think), weigh hamburger meat to make uniform patties, or use it to weigh food for weekly meal prep.
When and how to measure strong things
There are times when measuring weight isn’t the most practical, such as with herbs, spices, or other ingredients where a little goes a long way.
Use measuring spoons to measure things like dried and fresh herbs, dried spices, hot sauce, chili flakes, salt, ground pepper, citrus zest and juice, and extracts. Most kitchen scales are only sensitive to one point. Unless you have some sort of apothecary scale (and you won’t), it’s best to use tiny spoons. Once you get down to a difference of a gram or two, your scale may not detect small increases until a more significant weight change occurs, and this can result in a dish that is over-seasoned or leavened.
Stainless steel measuring spoons will always be my favorite:
When measuring powders, you need to level the top of the spoon, so look for a set with a sharp top edge. Stainless steel is your best bet for something durable and practical. The classic design includes a round spoon, but the tablespoon size is often too large for most spice jars . Instead, look for oblong or rectangular spoons like the ones I listed above. Equip your kitchen with these four types of tools and you’ll be ready to tackle any recipe.