In recipes, quantities of ingredients may be specified by mass (commonly called weight), by volume, or by count.
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. 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, though the preference for volume measurements continues among home cooks in the United States 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 (" flour"). Small quantities of salt and spices are generally measured by volume worldwide, as few households have sufficiently precise balances to measure by weight.
In most countries, meat is described by weight or count: "a 2 kilogram 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 United States measures weight in pounds (avoirdupois). Recipes in the UK tend to include both imperial and metric measures, following the advice of the Guild of Food Writers. The United States 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 NZ UK CACFIA (CA) FDA (US)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." US Teaspoon 5*5 or ≈3.55 5* ≈ 4.93 Dessertspoon 10—≈7.10—— — ≈ 9.86 Tablespoon 2015*15 or ≈14.2115* ≈ 14.79 Fluid ounce ≈ 28.41— 30 ≈ 29.57 Cup 250≈ 170.48 ≈ 227.31‡ 250 240 ≈ 236.59 Pint 570≈ 568.26— — ≈ 473.18 Quart ≈ 1136.52— — ≈ 946.35 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. ‡ In Canada, a cup was historically 8 imperial fluid ounces (227 mL) but could also refer to 10 imperial fl oz (284 mL), as in Britain, and even a metric cup of 250 mL. Serving sizes on nutrition labelling on food packages in Canada employ the metric cup of 250 mL, with nutrition labelling in the US using a cup of 240 mL, based on the US customary cup. * In Canada, a teaspoon is historically imperial fluid ounce (4.74 mL) and a tablespoon is imperial fl oz (14.21 mL). In Canada, cooking utensils commonly come in 5 mL for teaspoons and 15 mL for tablespoons. In the UK, teaspoons and tablespoons are formally and of an imperial pint (3.55 mL and 14.21 mL), respectively, with 1tbsp being equal to 2 dessert spoons or 4tsp. Cooking utensils are now commonly manufactured at 15 mL for tablespoons, and either 1 metric teaspoon (5ml) or a compromise measurement (such as 4ml) for teaspoons. Metric dessertspoons are not commonly used in the UK.
The volume measures here are for comparison only. See below for the definition of Gallon for more details.
The "cook's cup" above is not the same as a "coffee cup", which can vary anywhere from , 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. 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 other countries that metricated, which have a 15 mL metric tablespoon.
In Europe, older recipes frequently refer to "pounds" (e.g. in German, in Dutch, 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 , which is 100 g.
Weight of liquids + Density of common ingredients, very roughly Ingredient Density (g/mL or av.oz./fl.oz.) Sugar 0.8 Flour 0.7 Salt 1.2 Butter 0.9
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. 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 (≈ 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 may be volumetrically measured then weighed to determine an unknown measuring-utensil volume without the need for a water-density adjustment.
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.
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. 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. The system can be traced back to the measuring systems of the Hindus and the ancient Egyptians, who subdivided the (about 4.8 litres) into parts of , ,, , , and (1 , or mouthful, or about 14.5 ml), and the similarly down to (1 ) using hieratic notation, as early as the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, 2494 to 2345 BC, thus making the "English doubling system" at least 4,300 years old.
From units and tools of convenience, most of the system's history could have values vary widely. It was not until recent centuries that standardization began to take shape. The overlap with other systems like the apothecaries' system, and giving each division a unique and often variable by context, person, place, and time name instead of a systematic one, can make the system seem confusing for those not accustomed to it.
Other than the names themselves, the regular ratios make the actual measurements straightforward. In many cases, names have been deprecated in favor of fractionally denominated amounts of a few core units (such as taking gallons, cups, and teaspoons to their nearest quarters without names: nixing pottle; gill and wineglass; dram (as a culinary unit), coffeespoon, and saltspoon; respectively), or are limited to the specific or esoteric.
It is still a legal basis for measures in many 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."
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, which makes a gallon = 3785.411784 millilitres exactly. For nutritional labeling on food packages in the US, the teaspoon is defined as exactly 5 ml,21CFR101.9(b)(5)(viii) 2 1CFR101.9 giving 1 gallon = 3840 ml exactly. This chart uses the former.
+ Dry and fluid measures Unit Abbrev. Defined fl oz mL Binary submultiples drop dr., gt., gtt. (plural) 0.0513429 smidgen smdg., smi. tsp* 0.115522 2 smidgens = 1 pinch pinch pn. tsp* 0.231043 2 pinches = 1 dash dash ds. tsp* 0.462086 2 dashes = 1 saltspoon saltspoon‡ or scruple† ssp. † 0.924173† 2 saltspoons = 1 coffeespoon coffeespoon‡ csp. 1.84835 2 coffeespoons = Fluid dram fl.dr. 3.69669 2 fluid drams = 1 dessertspoon (Australia) teaspoon (culinary) tsp. or t. 4.92892 = 1 dessertspoon dessertspoon‡ dsp., dssp. or dstspn. 9.85784 tablespoon tbsp. or T. 14.7868 fluid ounce fl.oz. or oz. 1 29.5735 = 1 wineglass wineglass‡ wgf. 2 59.1471 2 wineglasses = 1 teacup gill‡ or teacup‡ tcf. 4 118.2942 teacups = cup C 8 236.588 pint pt. 16 473.176 quart qt. 32 946.3532 quarts = 1 pottle‡ gallon gal. 231 in3 128 3,785.41 =
Suffixed asterisks on some of the "tsp" units in the "Defined" column above indicate that those teaspoon units are defined as fl oz (4 fl dram), the old = amount, instead of . This definition fits with "barkeepers' teaspoon", and is used in many cocktail recipe books. Generally the subdivisions are not so explicitly defined nor named below in general culinary. This can be verified by comparing the associated values in the "fl oz" column. All other "tsp" units in the "Defined" column are indeed defined as , the current = amount.
* Discrepancies due to size, generally disregarded as at the scale it becomes a factor, the person generally is using the next size up measuring cup (i.e.: is likely to be straight measured in an ounce cup and not as 9 (vs 12) teaspoons)
‡ Rare if not nonexistent in use by name rather than as fraction of a different unit.
† The fluid scruple has been properly defined on its own in the apothecaries' system as fl oz, fluid dram, or = 20 minims (≈ 1.23223 ml), and also tsp. Mind that scruples and drams were pharmaceutical and intended to be specific and precise. Cooking measures tended to use what was on hand and/or actually used to consume what was being prepared, and not intended to be as formally scientific in its degree of precision.
The saltspoon most likely combined into the scruple over time, as a consequence of home cooks approximating standard measures with what they had at hand, much as the teaspoon was roughly "close enough" for a kitchen approximation to a fluid dram (= 60 minims), but not equal to the fl dr (80 minims) value it actually is. Especially with the variability of the method of measuring itself. Not of insignificance is the natural habit of customary measures to use a 2n dividing scheme regardless of exact definitions. This pattern is seen even with metric measuring spoons.