Cooking weights and measures

In recipes, quantities of ingredients may be specified by mass (commonly called weight), by volume, or by count.

Measuring spoons (metric) – 1 mL, 5 mL, 15 mL, 50 mL, 100 mL, 125 mL
Measuring spoons (customary units)

For most of history, most cookbooks did not specify quantities precisely, instead talking of "a nice leg of spring lamb", a "cupful" of lentils, a piece of butter "the size of a small apricot", and "sufficient" salt.[1] Informal measurements such as a "pinch", a "drop", or a "hint" (soupçon) continue to be used from time to time. In the US, Fannie Farmer introduced the more exact specification of quantities by volume in her 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book.

Today, most of the world prefers metric measurement by weight,[2] though the preference for volume measurements continues among home cooks in the United States ("almost exclusively"),[3][4] and the rest of North America. Different ingredients are measured in different ways:

Liquid ingredients are generally measured by volume worldwide.

Dry bulk ingredients, such as sugar and flour, are measured by weight in most of the world ("250 g flour"), and by volume in North America ("1/2 cup flour"). Small quantities of salt and spices are generally measured by volume worldwide, as few households have sufficiently precise balances to measure by weight.

Meats are generally specified by weight or count worldwide: "a 2 kg chicken"; "four lamb chops".

Eggs are usually specified by count. Vegetables are usually specified by weight or occasionally by count, despite the inherent imprecision of counts given the variability in the size of vegetables.

Metric measures

In most of the world, recipes use the metric system of units—litres (L) and millilitres (mL), grams (g) and kilograms (kg), and degrees Celsius (°C). The official spelling litre is used in most English-speaking nations; the notable exception is the United States where the spelling liter is preferred.

The USA measures weight in pounds (avoirdupois), while recipes in the UK, following the advice of the Guild of Food Writers, tend to be first in metric quantities and in pounds and ounces or may exclusively be in metric.[5] The USA also uses volume measures based on cooking utensils and pre-metric measures. The actual values frequently deviate from the utensils on which they were based, and there is little consistency from one country to another.

Common volume measures in millilitres
(English-speaking countries)
Measure AU CA NZ UK FDA (US)[6] US
Teaspoon 0005.00 005 0004.93
Dessertspoon 0010.00 0— —
Tablespoon 020 15 015 0014.79
Fluid ounce 0028.41 030 0029.57
Cup 250 284.1 240 0236.59
Pint 570† 568.26 — 0473.18
Quart 1136.52 — 0946.35
Gallon 4546.09 — 3785.41

† In South Australia, a "pint" of beer is traditionally 425 mL, while most other states have metricated this value to 570 mL.

The volumetric measures here are for comparison only. See below for the definition of Gallon for more details.

In addition, the "cook's cup" above is not the same as a "coffee cup" which can vary anywhere from 100 to 200 mL (3.5 to 7.0 imp fl oz; 3.4 to 6.8 US fl oz), or even smaller for espresso.

In Australia, since 1970, metric utensil units have been standardized by law and imperial measures no longer have legal status. However, it is wise to measure the actual volume of the utensil measures, particularly the 'Australian tablespoon' (see above), since many are imported from other countries with different values. Dessertspoons are standardized as part of the metric system at 10 mL, though they are not normally used in contemporary recipes. Australia is the only metricated country with a metric tablespoon of 20 mL, unlike the rest of the world, which has a 15 mL metric tablespoon.

In Europe, older recipes frequently refer to pounds (e.g. Pfund in German, pond in Dutch, livre in French). In each case, the unit refers to 500 g, about 10% more than an avoirdupois pound (454 g). Dutch recipes may also use the ons, which is 100 g.

Weight of liquids

With the advent of accurate electronic scales it has become more common to weigh liquids for use in recipes, avoiding the need for accurate volumetric utensils.[7][8][9] The most common liquids used in cooking are water and milk, milk having approximately the same density as water.

1 mL of water weighs 1 gram so a recipe calling for 300 mL (≈ ½ Imperial Pint) of water can simply be substituted with 300 g (≈ 10 oz.) of water.

1 fluid ounce of water weighs approximately 1 ounce so a recipe calling for a UK pint (20 fl oz) of water can be substituted with 20 oz of water.

More accurate measurements become important in the large volumes used in commercial food production. Also a home cook can use greater precision at times. Water at 4.0 °C (39.2 °F) may be volumetrically measured then weighed to determine an unknown measuring-utensil volume[10] without the need for a water-density adjustment.[11]

Density of common ingredients, very roughly
IngredientDensity (g/mL or av.oz./fl.oz.)
Sugar 0.8
Flour 0.7
Salt 1.2
Butter 0.9

United States measures

The US uses pounds and ounces (avoirdupois) for weight, and US customary units for volume. For measures used in cookbooks published in other nations navigate to the appropriate regional section in Traditional measurement systems.

Ratios between the larger and smaller US cooking volumetric measures.

Measures are classified as either dry measures or fluid measures. Some of the fluid and dry measures have similar names, but the actual measured volume is quite different. A recipe will generally specify which measurement is required. U.S. recipes are commonly in terms of fluid measures, even for dry ingredients. Most of these units derive from earlier English units, as applied to the U.S. gallon. Typically they follow a pattern of binary submultiples, where each larger measure consists of two units of the next-smallest measure.[12][13][14] An exception is with the commonly used teaspoon as one-third of a tablespoon.

Binary submultiples are fractional parts obtained by successively dividing by the number 2. Thus, one-half, one-fourth, one-eighth, one-sixteenth, and so on, are binary submultiples.[15] The system can be traced back to the measuring systems of the Hindus[15]:B-9 and the ancient Egyptians, who subdivided the hekat (about 4.8 litres) into parts of ​1⁄2, ​1⁄4,​1⁄8, ​1⁄16, ​1⁄32, and ​1⁄64 (1 ro, or mouthful, or about 14.5 ml),[16] and the hin similarly down to ​1⁄32 (1 ro) using hieratic notation,[17] as early as the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, 2494 to 2345 BC, thus making the "English doubling system" at least 4300 years old.

The introduction of measures that don't follow the system, combined with the dropping from common use of a few measures essential to the continuity of the system (dessertspoon, wineglass, and pottle), combined with the redefinition of the teaspoon from ​1⁄8 to ​1⁄6 of a fl oz, has gradually left the system little-understood. However, it is still a legal basis for measures in some states, such as Massachusetts, which mandates that "Glass bottles or jars used for the sale of milk or cream to the consumer shall be of the capacity of one gallon, a multiple of the gallon, or a binary submultiple of the gallon."[18]

Metric equivalents are based upon one of two nearly equivalent systems. In the standard system the conversion is that 1 gallon = 231 cubic inches and 1 inch = 2.54 cm, giving that a gallon = 3785.411784 millilitres exactly. For nutritional labeling on food packages in the US, the teaspoon is defined as exactly 5 ml,[19] giving 1 gallon = 3840 ml exactly. This chart uses the former.

Dry & Fluid Measures
Unit Abbrev. Defined fl oz mL
[note 1]		 Binary Submultiples
drop dr., gt., gtt. (plural) ​1⁄96 tsp ​1⁄576 0.0513429
smidgen smdg., smi. ​1⁄32 tsp ​1⁄256 0.115522 2 smidgens = 1 pinch
pinch pn. ​1⁄16 tsp ​1⁄128 0.231043 2 pinches = 1 dash
dash ds. ​1⁄8 tsp ​1⁄64 0.462086 2 dashes = 1 saltspoon
saltspoon or scruple ssp. ​1⁄4 tsp ​1⁄32 0.924173 2 saltspoons = 1 coffeespoon
coffeespoon csp. ​1⁄2 tsp ​1⁄16 1.84835 2 coffeespoons = 1 fluid dram
Fluid dram [note 2] fl.dr. ​3⁄4 tsp ​1⁄8 3.69669 2 fluid drams = 1 dessertspoon (Australia)
teaspoon (culinary)[note 3] tsp. or t. ​1⁄3 tbsp ​1⁄6 4.92892 2 teaspoons = 1 dessertspoon
dessertspoon [20] dsp., dssp. or dstspn. 2 tsp ​1⁄3 9.85784
tablespoon tbsp. or T. ​1⁄16 cup ​1⁄2 14.7868 2 tablespoons = 1 fluid ounce
fluid ounce fl.oz. or oz. ​1⁄8 cup 1 29.5735 2 fluid ounce = 1 wineglass
wineglass wgf. ​1⁄4 cup 2 59.1471 2 wineglasses = 1 teacup
gill or teacup tcf. ​1⁄2 cup 4 118.294 2 teacups = 1 cup
cup C ​1⁄2 pint 8 236.588 2 cups = 1 pint
pint pt. ​1⁄2 qt 16 473.176 2 pints = 1 quart
quart qt. ​1⁄4 gal 32 946.353 2 quarts = 1 pottle
pottle pot. 2 qt 64 1892.71 2 pottles = 1 gallon
gallon gal. 231 in3 128 3,785.41 2 gallons = 1 peck

In domestic cooking, bulk solids, notably flour and sugar, are measured by volume, often cups, though they are sold by weight at retail. Weight measures are used for meat. Butter may be measured by either weight (​1⁄4 lb) or volume (3 tbsp) or a combination of weight and volume (​1⁄4 lb plus 3 tbsp); it is sold by weight but in packages marked to facilitate common divisions by eye. (As a sub-packaged unit, a stick of butter, at ​1⁄4 lb [113 g], is a de facto measure in the US)

Cookbooks in Canada use the same system, although pints and gallons would be taken as their Imperial quantities unless specified otherwise. Following the adoption of the metric system, recipes in Canada are frequently published with metric conversions.

Approximate units

There are a variety of approximate units of measures, which are frequently undefined by any official source, or which have had conflicting definitions over time, yet which are commonly used. The measurement units that are most commonly understood to be approximate are the drop, smidgen, pinch, and dash, yet nearly all of the traditional cooking measurement units lack statutory definitions, or even any definition by any organization authorized to set standards in the U.S. For example, of the table above, only the fluid ounce, pint, quart, and gallon are officially defined by the NIST. All of the others appear only in conversion guides lacking statutory authority, or in now-obsolete publications of the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, or USP—essentially, the Apothecaries' system—which still has authority to define certain drug and supplement standards. The USP has long-since abandoned Apothecaries' measurements, and even now recommends against using teaspoons to measure doses of medicine.[22]

British (Imperial) measures

Note that measurements in this section are in imperial units.

Traditional British measures distinguish between weight and volume.

  • Weight is measured in ounces and pounds (avoirdupois) as in the U.S.
  • Volume is measured in Imperial gallons, quarts, pints, and fluid ounces. The Imperial gallon was originally defined as 10 pounds (4.5359 kg) of water in 1824, and refined as exactly 4.54609 litres in 1985. Older recipes may well give measurements in cups; insofar as a standard cup was used, it was usually ​1⁄2 pint [~285 mL] (or sometimes ​1⁄3 pint [~190 mL]), but if the recipe is one that has been handed down in a family, it is just as likely to refer to someone's favourite kitchen cup as to that standard.
Table of volume units
Unit Ounces Pints Millilitres Cubic inches US ounces US pints
fluid ounce (fl oz) 1​1⁄20 28.4130625 1.7339 0.96076 0.060047
gill 5​1⁄4 142.0653125 8.6694 4.8038 0.30024
pint (pt) 201 568.26125 34.677 19.215 1.2009
quart (qt) 402 1,136.5225 69.355 38.430 2.4019
gallon (gal) 1608 4,546.09 277.42 153.72 9.6076
Note: The millilitre figures are exact whereas the cubic-inch and US measure figures are to five significant digits.
Note 2: The Imperial Gallon is equal to 10 lbs of water.

American cooks using British recipes, and vice versa, need to be careful with pints and fluid ounces. A US pint is 473 mL, while a UK pint is 568 mL, about 20% larger. A US fluid ounce is ​1⁄16 of a US pint (29.6 mL); a UK fluid ounce is ​1⁄20 UK pint (28.4 mL). This makes an Imperial pint equivalent to 19.2 US fluid ounces.

On a larger scale, perhaps for institutional cookery, an Imperial gallon is eight Imperial pints (160 imp fl oz, 4.546 litres) whereas the US gallon is eight US pints (128 US fl oz, 3.785 litres).

The metric system was officially adopted in the UK, for most purposes, in the 20th century and both imperial and metric are taught in schools and used in books. It is now mandatory for the sale of food to also show metric. However, it is not uncommon to purchase goods which are measured and labeled in metric, but the actual measure is rounded to the equivalent imperial measure (i.e., milk labeled as 568 mL / 1 pint). In September 2007, the EU with Directive 2007/45/EC deregulated prescribed metric packaging of most products, leaving only wines and liqueurs subject to prescribed EU-wide pre-packaging legislation;[23][24][25] the law relating to labelling of products remaining unchanged.

Special instructions

Volume measures of compressible ingredients have a substantial measurement uncertainty, in the case of flour of about 20%.[26] Some volume-based recipes, therefore, attempt to improve the reproducibility by including additional instructions for measuring the correct amount of an ingredient. For example, a recipe might call for "1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed", or "2 heaping cups flour". A few of the more common special measuring methods:

Firmly packed
With a spatula, a spoon, or by hand, the ingredient is pressed as tightly as possible into the measuring device.
Lightly packed
The ingredient is pressed lightly into the measuring device, only tightly enough to ensure no air pockets.
Even / level
A precise measure of an ingredient, discarding all of the ingredient that rises above the rim of the measuring device. Sweeping across the top of the measure with the back of a straight knife or the blade of a spatula is a common leveling method.
Rounded
Allowing a measure of an ingredient to pile up above the rim of the measuring device naturally, into a soft, rounded shape.
Heaping / heaped
The maximum amount of an ingredient which will stay on the measuring device.
Sifted
This instruction may be seen in two different ways, with two different meanings: before the ingredient, as "1 cup sifted flour", indicates the ingredient should be sifted into the measuring device (and normally leveled), while after the ingredient, as "1 cup flour, sifted", denotes the sifting should occur after measurement.

Such special instructions are unnecessary in weight-based recipes.

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gollark: Or at least, it will, but you can't complain.
gollark: By the anthropic principle, it won't be one you're in.
gollark: It destroyed *a* universe.

See also

Notes
  1. Millilitre values based on fluid ounces by Google Units Converter.
  2. The bartender's teaspoon[20] was once a widely used unit of Apothecaries' measure, it is equal to 1 fluid dram (or drachm).[13][21]
  3. The U.S. customary teaspoon is exactly 1 1⁄3 US fluid drams.

References
  1. Schofield, Mary Anne (1989). Cooking by the book: food in literature and culture. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-87972-443-9. Retrieved 2011-04-20. An example is Lydia M. Child. The Frugal Housewife provides recipes of the "butter the size of a walnut, a good handful of sugar, bake until done" variety along with....
  2. Pat Chapman (2007). India Food and Cooking: The Ultimate Book on Indian Cuisine. London: New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd. p. 64. ISBN 978-1845376192. Retrieved 2014-11-20. Most of the world uses the metric system to weigh and measure. This book puts metric first, followed by imperial because the US uses it (with slight modifications which need not concern us).
  3. Gisslen, Wayne (2010). Professional Cooking, College Version. New York: Wiley. p. 107. ISBN 0-470-19752-8. Retrieved 2011-04-20. The system of measurement used in the United States is complicated. Even when people have used the system all their lives, they still sometimes have trouble remembering things like how many fluid ounces are in a quart or how many feet are in a mile. ... The United States is the only major country that uses almost exclusively the complex system of measurement we have just described.
  4. Lahey, Jim (2009). My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method. W.W. Norton. p. 48. ISBN 0-393-06630-4. Plenty, probably most, home cooks in America do their baking without the use of a kitchen scale, but measuring by weight is the norm in many other parts of the world, and certainly in professional bakeries. Weight measurements are crucial for precisely standardized results. When you measure only by volume, there is a lot of room for variance: a cup of flour can differ in amount, depending on how densely it's packed, but the weight will be accurate no matter what. So I've included the metric weights in this book for those who want to use them at home....
  5. "Metrication". Guild of Food Writers. 2013. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  6. "Food and Drugs: FDA Food Labeling". U.S. Government Printing Office. April 1, 2004.
    For Nutrition facts labeling "a teaspoon means 5 millilitres (mL), a tablespoon means 15 mL, a cup means 240 mL, 1 fl oz means 30 mL, and 1 oz in weight means 28 g."
  7. Scott, Alan; Daniel Wing (1999). The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens. Chelsea Green Publishing Company. p. 30. ISBN 1-890132-05-5. Retrieved 2010-12-15. Weight is more convenient and accurate than volume for measuring ingredients and is universally used in bakeries. Electronic scales can be set back to zero after each ingredient is added....
  8. Griffin, Mary Annarose; Gisslen, Wayne (2005). Professional baking (Fourth ed.). New York: John Wiley. p. 6. ISBN 0-471-46427-9. Retrieved 2010-12-15. Volume measure is often used when scaling water for small or medium-sized batches of bread. Results are generally good. However, whenever accuracy is critical, it is better to weigh.
  9. Rees, Nicole; Amendola, Joseph (2003). The baker's manual: 150 master formulas for baking. London: J. Wiley. p. 11. ISBN 0-471-40525-6. Retrieved 2010-12-15. Weighing the water and other liquids like milk also ensures accuracy, especially when increasing batch sizes.
  10. C.A. Street (1997). Flour Confectionery Manufacture. New York: Wiley-Interscience. p. 146. ISBN 0-471-19817-X. Retrieved 2011-04-28. The volume of the cup can be measured by filling it with water at 4°C (39°F) and weighing. At this temperature, the weight of water in grams will equal the volume of the cup in millilitres.
  11. "Water Density Calculator".
  12. The Banquet Book: A Classified Collection of Quotations Designed for General Audience. New York. 1902. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  13. Robert Borneman Ludy (1907). Answers to questions prescribed by pharmaceutical state boards. J.J. McVey. p. 125. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  14. Universal Dictionary of Weights and Measures. Baltimore. 1850. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  15. NIST Handbook 44: Specifications, Tolerances, and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices (PDF). National Institute of Standards and Technology. 2016. pp. D-7.
  16. Melville, Duncan J. "Basic Egyptian Metrology". Duncan J. Melville (Peterson Professor of mathematics at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY). Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  17. Selin, Helaine (1997). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. p. 1013. ISBN 0-7923-4066-3.
  18. "General Laws: Chapter 98, Section 15". Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  19. 21CFR101.9(b)(5)(viii) 2 1CFR101.9
  20. "A Dictionary of Units of Measurement".
  21. Dr. Collins (1803). Practical rules for the management and medical treatment of Negro slaves in the sugar colonies. Printed by J. Barfield, for Vernor and Hood. p. 465. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  22. Whitaker, Will (May 12, 2015). "Ditch the Kitchen Teaspoon". Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  23. "Legal metrology and pre-packaging – Pre-packaging – Pack sizes". European Commission – Enterprise and Industry. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  24. "Government response to the consultation on specified quantities – Non pre-packages and food information" (PDF). London: National Measurement Office, Department for Business Innovation and Skills. September 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  25. "Guidance note on UK implementation of a European directive deregulating specified quantities (fixed pack sizes)" (PDF). National Weights and Measures Laboratory, an Executive Agency of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. January 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  26. L. Fulton, E. Matthews, C. Davis: Average weight of a measured cup of various foods. Home Economics Research Report No. 41, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, 1977.
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