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?

  • subtext@lemmy.world
    5·
    8 months ago

    But also, there’s no real incentive to change… my brownies taste just fine with a 1/3 cup of oil and a 1/3 cup of water. I am sure they would taste just as good with 80 g of each, but if it works, why change it?

    What logic is there in saying grams are better than cups of both work well for the intended task? If I were a professional baker, it’s entirely possible I would have a different opinion, but I (like 99% of Americans) am not.

    • Litron3000@feddit.de
      3·
      8 months ago

      Oil and water are fine, but flour already starts to be a problem. How densely is it packed?
      Then we go on to salt, which can have a lot of different grain sizes (although that is annoying with a scale as well because most kitchen scales are not very accurate with single-digit-grams)
      Then it gets really weird when they say to use a cup of grated cheese, because depending on how you grate it it has very different densities

      • subtext@lemmy.world
        2·
        8 months ago

        But what I’m saying is I’m plenty accurate enough with cups… there would be no appreciable difference for my box of brownies.

        • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
          1·
          8 months ago

          You’re maybe plenty accurate for the brownies of your preference, but probably not for professional cooking or other activities that require accuracy.

              • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
                2·
                8 months ago

                Absolutely the point. Precision is not needed in the vast majority of cooking. It’s a pointless, time-consuming step.

                Volumetric measurement is superior. Yes, I’d rather it be liters instead of cups, but cups is better than grams.

                • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
                  1·
                  8 months ago

                  I’m not just talking about home cooking. It’s just one thing. I’m talking about life in general. We Americans have a tendency to do these weird things based purely on tradition when there are more precise and logical solutions available. But no, no: “We’re unique and exceptional. We do it the American way.” Ridiculous.