SC - Teacups (was re: An Elderly Cookbook)

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

And it came to pass on 16 Apr 00,, that Stefan li Rous wrote:

> Lady Brighid answered my question with: 
> > The sources I've seen on the web seem to consider a teacupful to be
> > somewhere around 4-6 fluid ounces.
> 
> Thank you, Brighid. I know what a teacup is and there are probably some in
> my mother's china or in the china that was her mothers but I don't have
> any teacups here at my house. Lots of coffee mugs yes, teacups, no. 

You're welcome.  I have some teacups, but only because I inherited a 
lovely set of Royal Doulton from my husband's grandmother.  When I 
drink tea or coffee, I like a mug big enough to swim in.  :-)

>The measurement in ounces or fractions of a cup was indeed what I was curious
> about.

I've been struggling with a similar problem in Spanish cuisine.  There's a 
kind of bowl called an escudilla which is mentioned in darn near every 
recipe.  Most often it's used as a synonym for servings, ie., "and for five 
dishes take a pound of toasted almonds...".  But in some recipes, it's 
actually used as a measurement, "take half an escudilla of 
rosewater...".  As far as I can tell, it's not a defined unit of 
measurement; escudillas were pretty standardized in size and shape, 
and anyone who would be reading a cookbook would have one (or 
many) in their cupboard.

I emailed an archaeologist who is the author of a detailed article on 15th 
and 16th century escudillas and briefly explained my problem.  And I 
used the example of "teacupful" in 19th century cookbooks -- just about 
everyone had a teacup in her cupboard.  Alas, I don't have an escudilla 
in mine.  He was about to leave for a conference, but promised to send 
me a copy of his article, which contains detailed descriptions.  Maybe 
I'll send him a "thank you" package of bizcochos...


Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net