Cooking Measurement

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Many of us love to dabble in the kitchen but don’t want to be bothered with paying attention to cooking measurements. We want to be artists and have the freedom to add a dash of this, throw in a handful of that, and shout “voila!” when we present our guests with our creation. That’s great if you’re tossing a salad or building a sandwich, but it doesn’t always work with other recipes.

Accuracy Is Key to Successful Measuring

Sometimes cooking doesn’t require extreme accuracy. When putting together a soup or casserole, for instance, there’s some room to add a little more here, a little less there, and you can still end up with something delicious. With things like baking, candy making, or canning, it’s a different story. Accurate measuring can make or break your recipe. Though it may seem like a mundane task that you can rush through, be warned: sometimes it is absolutely necessary to pay close attention to your cooking or baking measurements if you’re hoping for a successful final product.

Consider baking a loaf of bread. We know that yeast is the ingredient responsible for making the bread rise, right? If the recipe calls for one tablespoon and you add one teaspoon, what happens? Your potato bread looks more like a brick than the big airy loaf you expected. It’s the same with cookies. You crave oatmeal cookies but get lazy with the baking measurements and add what looks like the right amount of flour, instead of the full two cups. When you pull the cookies from the oven, they look flat and crispy – not what you hoped for! Learning how to measure and having the discipline for accuracy can help you say good-bye to those kind of surprises.

How to Measure

Want to create perfectly puffed popovers that your friends will rave over? There’s nothing special about the ingredients, just in the way you measure them.

For Dry Ingredients

Simply overfill your measuring cup or spoon and use the dull side of a butter knife to scrape off the extra and make it level. If a recipe calls for sifted flour or sugar, sift directly into the measuring cup or spoon first, then use the knife trick. The only dry ingredient that strays from this method is brown sugar. Brown sugar should be packed into the cup or spoon and leveled flat.

For Liquids

It’s best to use a glass or plastic measuring cup that is larger than your final measurement. Choosing something with clear incremental markings makes it easier. Place the measuring cup on a level surface at eye level then add the liquid to your desired measurement.

Cooking Measurement Equivalents

So you’ve found the perfect recipe, are convinced that you’ll pay close attention to the cooking measurements, but realize it only makes enough for six servings and you want to feed a party of twelve? No problem. Simply double the recipe (or triple it, if you want leftovers). Just remember to adjust every single measurement. Use the guide below to convert smaller measurements into larger quantities.