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?

  • BlameThePeacock
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    3 months ago

    There are many of other things that can be compacted or have different volume to weight ratios.

    Corn starch is like flour, you can pack it down.

    Salt (Table vs Kosher) Kosher salt has about half the volume to weight as table salt.

    Shredded Cheese (this one always bugs me. Is it 3 cups after shredding, or before… how packed in should it be), etc.

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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      3 months ago

      A lot of volumetric baking recipes tell you to run the grain through a sieve to remove clumps, this generally standardizes the density well enough.

      Salt is usually assumed to be table salt unless noted in the recipe. Even then, most recipes have a point to them where they tell you to taste the food and add salt to taste as necessary.

      What are you cooking with shredded cheese where the ratio is that important?

    • NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth
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      3 months ago

      Are you measuring cornstarch?

      Maybe I just have weird cornstarch but anytime I try to actively scoop out of it, it’s like trying to scoop baking powder.