Weights & Measures - USA vs the World

[backstept]

http://www.nettam.com/convert.html

because I've never heard of anyone going the extra kilometer
or someone describing something as all inclusive by saying 'the whole nine meters'
or someone being beaten to within a centimeter of their life
give someone a centimeter and he'll take a kilometer
he talks a kilometer a minute!

 

[RobertoRoss]

Im in the UK
Using anything but feet and inches for someones hight seems crazy to me.
Also I use stones for peoples weight.
When I walk I understand miles but I can also use feet yards and meters but not kilometers.
I can work in both temperatures mentioned, but not Kelvin...

 

[TGTheodore]

I remember as a kid the first time I heard the term "cubit" was in a very early Bill Cosby routine about Noah and God, and how to build an ark.

Same here. Fortunately, it didn't diminish the funny.

And I DID go look it up and learned something. Interesting unit of measure -- and not a very consistent one person to person.

--Ted

 

[cultcross]

I'm one of the UK's hybrid children when it comes to measurements. Extra specially confused by my science background, where its all SI or SI derived units.
But in 'normal life' I'd measure long distances in miles, short ones in metres, the weight of a person in stone but food in grams, small areas in square metres, larger ones in 'sizes of Wales'.

 

[Rincewiend]

Your way:
Buy a scale
Weigh a bowl
Calculate total weight of flour needed + weight of the bowl
Add flour until that weight is reached
Add flour to the recipe

Ehm, no...


Buy a scale
Put bowl on scale
Set tarra to 0
Add flour until correct weight is reached
Set tarra to 0
Add next ingredient until correct weight is reached
Set tarra to 0 etc...

But it is only for solid ingredients, liquids still get added by volume(centiliters)...

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I've never even known anyone who owned a kitchen scale. Weighing things seems like adding unnecessary time and effort, not to mention the cost of purchasing a scale.

Most people I know have a kitchen scale. It's simple and exact.
American measure systems, on the other hand, caused me a lot of grieve when I tried to bake an apple pie from an American recipe. Your spoons are bigger than our spoons and I ended up using way too little water and flour. I still have pictures somewhere of me collapsing on the dough.

I don't know anyone who owns a kitchen scale, either. I sure don't - I've been cooking since I was a little kid, measuring everything by volume, and it never even occurred to me that there might be problems or any difficulty with it.

 

[cultcross]

I've never even known anyone who owned a kitchen scale. Weighing things seems like adding unnecessary time and effort, not to mention the cost of purchasing a scale.

Most people I know have a kitchen scale. It's simple and exact.
American measure systems, on the other hand, caused me a lot of grieve when I tried to bake an apple pie from an American recipe. Your spoons are bigger than our spoons and I ended up using way too little water and flour. I still have pictures somewhere of me collapsing on the dough.

I don't know anyone who owns a kitchen scale, either. I sure don't - I've been cooking since I was a little kid, measuring everything by volume, and it never even occurred to me that there might be problems or any difficulty with it.

Perhaps its an American thing, you do like your 'cups' of this and your 'spoons' of that. It's a nightmare converting American recipes for use elsewhere because of this system - we don't have a measure that is similar to your 'cup' and our spoons are different sizes. For the most part, our cookery is done by weight - and obviously because the same volume of different stuff weighs different amounts, conversion is not easy.

Like Me-Ike, nearly everyone I know has a set of kitchen scales.

 

[Goliath]

^When you think about it, that is actually quite an interesting cultural difference. I wonder how and when the continents diverged.

 

[RobertoRoss]

I dont use scales or cups, my mother was an Italian Head Chef, I just create masterpieces

 

[Holdfast]

^When you think about it, that is actually quite an interesting cultural difference. I wonder how and when the continents diverged.

Pre 1860s at least. I think first edition Mrs Beeton recipes (which would be from around that time) already use weights for solid ingredients.

 

[cultcross]

^When you think about it, that is actually quite an interesting cultural difference. I wonder how and when the continents diverged.

Pre 1860s at least. I think first edition Mrs Beeton recipes (which would be from around that time) already use weights for solid ingredients.

Oh they do, yes - my mother has a cherished first edition

In fact, there is a book from the 16th Century (well, the pages are anyway, its been rebound) written in Latin in the Bristol central library describing the recipes of upper class feasts, and that uses weights (strangely, no gram conversion! ). The date inside the cover is 1587, so it reaches back to Colonial Times at least that we were using weight rather than volume - it certainly suggests that the use of volume as a standard emerged in the United States. Perhaps it was simply a lack of equipment which led to the change?

 

[Me-Ike]

^When you think about it, that is actually quite an interesting cultural difference. I wonder how and when the continents diverged.

Pre 1860s at least. I think first edition Mrs Beeton recipes (which would be from around that time) already use weights for solid ingredients.

Maybe it's the other way round and the Americans gave up the weight system?

The Mayflower's loaded, sir, but we have no more space for any of the scales. We could get rid of some of the booze ... let's use spoons!

 

[RoJoHen]

^When you think about it, that is actually quite an interesting cultural difference. I wonder how and when the continents diverged.

Pre 1860s at least. I think first edition Mrs Beeton recipes (which would be from around that time) already use weights for solid ingredients.

Maybe it's the other way round and the Americans gave up the weight system?

The Mayflower's loaded, sir, but we have no more space for any of the scales. We could get rid of some of the booze ... let's use spoons!

I think they made the right call.

 

[Neeka Keet]

Booze is always more important than efficient measurement equipment.

 

[RoJoHen]

Booze is always more important than efficient measurement equipment.

We seem to be doing okay.

 

[Me-Ike]

Booze is always more important than efficient measurement equipment.

And now look at their beer. Maybe if they had kept the scales, it would actually taste good.

 

[RoJoHen]

Booze is always more important than efficient measurement equipment.

And now look at their beer. Maybe if they had kept the scales, it would actually taste good.

It's only the mass-produced stuff that tastes bad.

Microbrews are delicious.

 

[Miss Chicken]

In Australia we cook using both methods. Some recipes call for cups and spoons etc, other give measurements by weight. Some recipes give some ingredients in cups, while giving another ingredient by weight.

When I am cooking I get both my measureing cups and scales out.

 

[Goliath]

Booze is always more important than efficient measurement equipment.

And now look at their beer. Maybe if they had kept the scales, it would actually taste good.

It's only the mass-produced stuff that tastes bad.

Microbrews are delicious.

I think that's true everywhere.

On the one hand, I've heard Americans talk about premium imports from Canada, and thought "ugh--they market that swill as a premium import?"

And on the other hand, I've seen Europeans react in a similar fashion to stuff that's sold as a premium European import here.

The grass is always greener, etc.

 

[Me-Ike]

Booze is always more important than efficient measurement equipment.

And now look at their beer. Maybe if they had kept the scales, it would actually taste good.

It's only the mass-produced stuff that tastes bad.

Microbrews are delicious.

I must admit, until now I have never heard of microbrews before.