SC - Recipe databases

[Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir]

Anya wrote:

>Well, you can convert Tbs. to metric, then the metric to ounces.
>
>1 teaspoon = 5 millileters
>1 tablespoon = 15 ML
>4 ounces = 120 ML


These are liquid measurements but the question was about converting cups to
grams, etc., i.e. volume to weight. And that can´t be done automatically
because a cup of flour weighs 130-150 grams, a cup of sugar 215 grams or
thereabouts. I cook a lot from American recipes and this is just something I
have to commit to memory, more or less, and do conversions in my head as I
go along.

Milliliters (ML), as I´ve said before, are not a measuring unit most of us
metric people generally use (with the exception of UK and Australian cooks,
maybe); I doubt one in ten Icelandic cooks could tell you how many
milliliters there are in a tablespoon, or a teaspoon. For small amounts, we
use tablespoons and teaspoons, just as you Americans (not neccessarily
standard measuring spoons, though).

I know how hard it is, when you have only ever used one system, to visualize
ingredients measured in a completely different way. I still have that
problem with some ingredients you measure in cups (like, if a recipe says "6
cups chopped cabbage" or something like that, how on earth do you know how
much cabbage to buy?) but I can live with that. Of course unfamiliar
measurements will make people reluctant to try out recipes but this is an
obstacle that can be overcome - it isn´t that difficult once you really try.

But I really appreciate it when American cookbook authors and magazine
editors include metric - or at least weight - measurements in their recipes,
along with the American ones. It does make life so much easier.

Nanna


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