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The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2013-03-11 06:54:20 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO] Cooking / Culinary
English term or phrase:c
1/2 c white wine 1/4 c grated pecorino cheese
I'm lost with this measure. I prepared the dish yesterday, and it tasted good, but I still would like to know how much I really should have added.
...(you pour the water off, Tony.) However, it is very interesting that something so everyday and ordinary as measuring butter could be so problematic from one country to another.
LOL! The problem with Archimedes' principle is that he may not have been a pastrycook, and getting added water on your butter may be highly undesirable for some recipes. It does also mean you have to have a measuring jug much larger than strictly necessary; and also, what happens if you misjudge slightly at your first attempt and need to remove some butter?
As you say, dual-labelling on the butter paper might be a helpful idea; I dont think it would be feasible to mark it on the 'other' flap, but easily enough room to mark both units on the same flap. However, I doubt butter gets exported much across the Pond, and the use of cup measures is so limited in Europe, I doubt the manufacturers would consider it worth bothering.
You don't need to squish it in. That is what I meant by using the Archimedes principle in my earlier post; however, you did get me thinking about another thing: Seeing the butter is a very consistent substance, it would not be hard to have one flap of the wrapping having sections graduated by weight, as they currently do, and then the opposite flap to be by volume, be it cups, fl. oz, ml etc.
That's just the problem: over here in Europe, cups come in all shapes and sizes, but it's not so easy to find a 'standard' one. Luckily, many measuring jugs etc. are international and so do include cups. However, my main real problem is trying to squish butter into a volume measure — and then get it all out again without wastage; and of course, having to then wash and dry said measure before you can measure out the next ingredient!
I'll stick to my Mum's trusty old kitchen scales with a brass pan and cast-iron weights!
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
02:45 Mar 9, 2013
The cup is not just any cup but is also a clearly defined unit, just not used in Europe.
We use dl (decilitre) = 100 ml as a unite of measure for flowing ingrediants. The advantage is, that it is a defined unite unlike the "cup". For butter and other solid ingredients we use the gram of course. In fact it does not matter what you use if you stick to the same pot. The relation is what counts in cooking. Other ingredients vary also quite a lot from one occasion to another: 1 egg, 1 tomato, 1 onion.
The system of measuring in cups is perfectly standard/normal in the US, I think, it's just such a challenge when one is used to measuring by weight or fluid ounces/ml
Yes, but the problem occurs when trying to follow a US recipe in the UK, since over here the butter is NOT marked in cups, but in 25 grams (i.e. close to 1 oz) — so that's when it gets trickier!
Keep in mind that it is not so common to use kitchen scales in American kitchens, thus stating weights in cookbooks is not so useful. Dry measures are certainly available for solid ingredients; however, if you are using non-soluble ingredients like cheese or butter, you can fill a measure to, say 1 cup of water, and then add the cheese until the water level rises to 2 cups and take advantage of the displacement in ascertaining the amounts.
The use of "cup" as a measure in American recipes (it's rare nowadays in British recipes) is quite mad. The standard American cup is half a US pint, and the legal cup is 240 ml, which is almost exactly the same. OK for liquids. But what about solid ingredients? Here's a useful little reference:
"Cheddar 1 cup shredded= 4 oz (113g/3.99oz) 1 cup diced = 4.65 oz (132g) 1 cup melted = 8.6 oz (244g) source: USDA SR21"
And so it goes. A cup of flour is about 120-140 g. And so on.
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Answers
17 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +15
cup
Explanation: 1/2 cup of white wine 1/4 cup grated Pecorino cheese. A cup in the US equals 8 ounces or 16 table spoons
lorenab23 United States Local time: 14:20 Native speaker of: English, Spanish