From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of the Cuisine series
Foods
Bread - Pasta - Cheese - Rice Sauces - Soups - Desserts Herbs and spices Other ingredients
Regional cuisines
Asia - Europe - Caribbean South Asia - Latin America Middle East - North America - Africa Other cuisines...
Preparation techniques and cooking items
Techniques - Utensils Weights and measures
See also:
Famous chefs - Kitchens - Meals Wikibooks: Cookbook

Contents 1 Metric measures 2 United States measures 3 British (Imperial) measures 4 Special instructions 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

In most of the world, recipes use the metric system of litres (l) and millilitres (ml), grams (g) and kilograms (kg), and degrees Celsius (°C). The word litre is often spelt liter in the USA.

The English-speaking world frequently measures weight in pounds (avoirdupois), with 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. Some common measures in English-speaking countries are:

Measure	Australia	UK	USA	FDA[1]
Teaspoon	5 ml	5 ml	4.93 ml	5 ml
Dessertspoon		10 ml	—	—
Tablespoon	20 ml	15 ml	14.79 ml	15 ml
Cup	250 ml	285 ml	236.59 ml	240 ml
fl.oz.	28.41 ml		29.57 ml	30 ml
Pint	568.26 ml		473.18 ml	—
Quart	1136.52 ml		946.35 ml	—
Gallon	4546.09 ml		3785.41 ml	—

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

In addition the “cooks cup” above is not the same as a “coffee cup” which can vary anywhere from 4–7 fl.oz. (or even smaller for espresso)

In Australia the utensil units have been standardized by law (the so-called “metric cup”), while the Imperial volume measure no longer has legal status, and sometimes “pints” of beer are as small as 300 ml. It is dangerous to rely on any of the utensil measures, since they could have been transcribed without adjustment from another country. There are also reports that dessert spoons are used as a measure in Australia, though they are not officially part of the “metric cup” system.

In Germany, and to a lesser extent in France, recipes frequently refer to pounds (Pfund in German, livre in French). In each case, the unit refers to 500 g, about 10% more than an avoirdupois pound (453.59237 g).

The U.S. still uses pounds and ounces (avoirdupois) for weight, and U.S. customary units for volume. For measures used in cookbooks published in other nations navigate to the apropos 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.

Fluid Measures
Unit	Abrev.	Defined	fl oz	ml
drop	–	1/96 tsp.	1/576	0.05
dash	ds.	1/8 tsp.	1/48	0.62
teaspoon	tsp. or t.	1/3 tbsp.	1/6	4.93
tablespoon	tbsp. or T.	½ fl.oz.	½	14.79
fluid ounce	fl.oz. or oz.	1/128 gal.	1	29.57
jigger	—	1½ fl.oz.	1.5	44.36
gill	gi.	½ cup	4	118.29
cup	C	½ pint	8	236.59
pint	pt.	½ quart	16	473.18
fifth [2]	—	1/5 gal.	25.36	750
quart	qt.	¼ gal.	32	946.35
gallon	gal.	231 cu.in.	128	3,785.41
Dry Measures
Unit	Abrev.	Defined	cu.in.	ml
pinch	–	½ dash	0.02	0.31
pint, dry	pt.	½ dry qt.	33.60	550.61
quart, dry	qt.	⅛ peck	67.20	1,101.22
peck	pk.	¼ bushel	537.61	8,809.77
bushel [3]	bu.	684.5π in³	2,150.42	35,239.07

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 and butter; butter is sold by weight but in packages marked to facilitate common divisions by eye. (As a sub-packaged unit, a stick of butter, at ¼ lb, is a de facto measure in the U.S.)

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

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 (with 20 fl.oz. per pint). The Imperial gallon was originally defined as 10 pounds of water in 1824, and refined as exactly 4.54609 litres in 1985. Older recipes may well give measurements in cups; in so far as a standard cup was used, it was usually half a pint (sometimes a third of a pint), 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.

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 1/20th of a 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, it must be noted that an Imperial gallon is eight Imperial pints (160 Imperial 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, some decades ago, and both taught in schools and used in books. It is now mandatory for the sale of food and almost all new cookery books are in metric only, as well as cookery programmes using metric exclusively. However, it is not uncommon to purchase goods which are measured and labelled in Mertic, but the actual measure is rounded to the equivalent Imperial measure (i.e you buy milk which is labelled correctly as 568ml which also happens to be the equivalent of 1 pint).

Some recipes include 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.

1. ^ For Nutritional facts labeling purposes, the FDA definitions state that "a teaspoon means 5 milliliters (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."
2. ^ The “fifth”, originally exactly one-fifth gallon (25.6 fl.oz.) was adjusted slightly to make it exactly 750 ml (25.36 fl.oz.). It is normally only used as a retail measure of liquor.
3. ^ Volume measures in the U.S. are based on the U.S. gallon (fluids, legally defined as 231 cubic inches) and the U.S. bushel (dry goods, legally defined as an 8 inch tall cylinder 18.5 inches in diameter).

• Cooking
• Gastronorm sizes (standard sizes of container)
• Gas mark, a system of oven temperatures used in the UK

• Conversion Charts from FoodGeeks.com
• How much does a cup weigh? from Veg World