Measures and Quantities in Recipes

Herbert Glarner said:

Good afternoon,

when looking at those very precise dosation instructions in some of the
average recipes, it sometimes crosses my mind that said recipes could as
well be recipes for a life-saving medication...

We here, that's my wife and me, oftentimes just take a given list of
ingredients (right from scratch adding or replacing some components),
and without any further looking at quantities we take what we feel
"could be right for us" (after the first time one will have noticed
anyway if it was too much or not enough of this or that).

We both think, that cooking like this is much more fun that following
quantitative indications literally.

That said to the point: yesterday, we asked ourselves, if we are a
minority (seeing that our relatives mostly /do/ follow recipes
literally), or if this is more or less the standard way among the more
appassionate cooks (which I assume can be found in this group).

So: What is your opinion? How do you handle quantities in recipes?

Regards,
//Herbert and Yvonne

It would be safe to say that most of us throw recipes together, using a
handful of this and a dash of that. That can get tricky if you are baking.

Becca

"Becca" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

So: What is your opinion? How do you handle quantities in recipes?

Regards,
//Herbert and Yvonne

It would be safe to say that most of us throw recipes together, using a
handful of this and a dash of that. That can get tricky if you are
baking.

Becca

Formal recipes and measurements become an issue when you are trying to pass
along something you make to somebody else. This very morning I was actually
measuring and writing-down ingredients for my 'garlic-herb' bread recipe for
the first time. Despite the fact that I've been making 'garlic-herb' bread
for quite awhile with whatever the clippings were out of my herb-garden.
And I'm going to the trouble of formalizing a recipe solely because my
Mother (who likes my herb bread toasted for breakfast) asked me to.

<shrug>

In a couple of hours I'll be popping the bread dough in the oven and I'll
see if I got the recipe 'right'. And it's a good day for baking here in the
high country - there is eight inches of snow in my backyard and the
thermometer reads 20 degrees.

MJB

Herbert Glarner said:

That said to the point: yesterday, we asked ourselves, if we are a
minority (seeing that our relatives mostly /do/ follow recipes
literally), or if this is more or less the standard way among the more
appassionate cooks (which I assume can be found in this group).

So: What is your opinion? How do you handle quantities in recipes?

Depends. If I want to know how a particular recipe is intended to
come out, I follow it as exactly as I can. If I just want some
particular dish, I often look at two or three recipes for reference,
and then use as much of the ingredients as feels right. I've been
cooking most of my life, so I have a decent feel for that kind of
thing.

I used to measure exactly for baking, too, because I had no
confidence in my baking skill, but I've gotten better at it, so I
don't always measure unless it's a finicky recipe.

Serene

On Nov 20, 6:05 am, "Herbert Glarner" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

[snips]
That said to the point: yesterday, we asked ourselves, if we are a
minority ....[snips]

No. I think most cooks do as you do. Except for baking, where you
have to create the proper chemical reactions, recipes and their
quantities are just guidelines, subject to your tastes and ingredients
on hand. That said, I tend to stick pretty close to a recipe the
first time I make it. When eating the result I may make (mental or
written) notes about how it might be varied or improved. In this
group you will occasionally see someone complaining that they tried a
recipe, say from a Food Network chef, and hated it. Then it turns out
they made three substitutions and several radical changes in
quantities of seasonings/spices/herbs. .... -aem

Herbert Glarner said:

We here, that's my wife and me, oftentimes just take a given list of
ingredients (right from scratch adding or replacing some components),
and without any further looking at quantities we take what we feel
"could be right for us" (after the first time one will have noticed
anyway if it was too much or not enough of this or that).

We both think, that cooking like this is much more fun that following
quantitative indications literally.

That said to the point: yesterday, we asked ourselves, if we are a
minority (seeing that our relatives mostly /do/ follow recipes
literally), or if this is more or less the standard way among the more
appassionate cooks (which I assume can be found in this group).

So: What is your opinion? How do you handle quantities in recipes?

I ususally do as you do. I use the recipe as a general guide and take
the measurements as suggestions, not rule of law. And there's a
problem-- I end up making the same things in the same ways when I do
that. I go through he cookbooks thinking I'd like to try something new
and different, maybe learn to make an ethnic specialty that I've enjoyed
in a restaurant but never made at home. Then I realize I'm out of one
ingredient so I substitute another. It looks like too much of a spice
so I lessen it. I prefer a greater veg:meat ratio so I correct for
that. I go by what "could be right for us" and end up with what was
always right already, nothing new, nothing special, nothing like what
they served in the restaurant.

To my mind, changing recipes around the first time I make them is a flaw
in my cooking, one I strive to overcome. After I've made the recipe
once or twice, after I've decided that there's something about it I
don't like, THEN it makes sense to stop measuring and start intuiting.

Also, many people say they're not measuring when they're merely not
measuring with marked spoons and cups. For example, when it comes to
adding cinnamon, allspice, and cloves to the pumpkin pie, I don't get
out the measuring spoons, but I'd say I add pretty close to the teaspoon
of cinnamon, half teaspoon of allspice and quarter teaspoon of cloves
that the recipe asks for. I can do this because years of experience
have made me (and most of us on this group) good at hand sprinkle
coordination.

--Lia

On Nov 20, 6:05 am, "Herbert Glarner" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Good afternoon,

when looking at those very precise dosation instructions in some of the
average recipes, it sometimes crosses my mind that said recipes could as
well be recipes for a life-saving medication...

We here, that's my wife and me, oftentimes just take a given list of
ingredients (right from scratch adding or replacing some components), and
without any further looking at quantities we take what we feel "could be
right for us" (after the first time one will have noticed anyway if it was
too much or not enough of this or that).

We both think, that cooking like this is much more fun that following
quantitative indications literally.

That said to the point: yesterday, we asked ourselves, if we are a
minority (seeing that our relatives mostly /do/ follow recipes literally),
or if this is more or less the standard way among the more appassionate
cooks (which I assume can be found in this group).

So: What is your opinion? How do you handle quantities in recipes?

Regards,
//Herbert and Yvonne

--
The make of a Cheese and Onion Piehttp://kitchen.gandraxa.com/kitchen/copie.asp
(beware: contains Fondue cheese oO)

I try to follow the recipe the first time. That gives me the truest
sense of what the recipe writer intended for the dish. However, that
doesn't always turn out to be what I like out of a dish so I'll play
with it in subsequent tries.

Now that I'm on a sodium-restricted diet, I watch what goes into what
I eat very carefully. It actually can be "life-saving medicine".

Susan B.

On Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:51:40 -0800 (PST), aem <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

On Nov 20, 6:05 am, "Herbert Glarner" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

[snips]
That said to the point: yesterday, we asked ourselves, if we are a
minority ....[snips]

No. I think most cooks do as you do. Except for baking, where you
have to create the proper chemical reactions, recipes and their
quantities are just guidelines, subject to your tastes and ingredients
on hand. That said, I tend to stick pretty close to a recipe the
first time I make it. When eating the result I may make (mental or
written) notes about how it might be varied or improved. In this
group you will occasionally see someone complaining that they tried a
recipe, say from a Food Network chef, and hated it. Then it turns out
they made three substitutions and several radical changes in
quantities of seasonings/spices/herbs. .... -aem

i guess i must be a sissy, because i generally follow recipes, except
for maybe increasing some spices, pepper in particular. ('an eighth
teaspoon for 2 quarts of whatnot?'😉 also, a lot of things i don't
make often enough to remember what the hell i did last time.

hmm...maybe that means i don't follow recipes. but i usually write
down my changes.

your pal,
blake

blake wrote on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:22:10 GMT:

??>> On Nov 20, 6:05 am, "Herbert Glarner"
??>> <[email hidden]> wrote:
??>>> [snips]
??>>> That said to the point: yesterday, we asked ourselves, if
we
??>>> are a minority ....[snips]
??>>
??>> No. I think most cooks do as you do. Except for baking,
??>> where you have to create the proper chemical reactions,
??>> recipes and their quantities are just guidelines, subject
??>> to your tastes and ingredients on hand. That said, I tend
??>> to stick pretty close to a recipe the first time I make
??>> it. When eating the result I may make (mental
??>> or written) notes about how it might be varied or
??>> improved. In this group you will occasionally see someone
??>> complaining that they tried a recipe, say from a Food
??>> Network chef, and hated it. Then it turns out they made
??>> three substitutions and several radical changes
??>> in quantities of seasonings/spices/herbs. .... -aem
??>>
bm> i guess i must be a sissy, because i generally follow
bm> recipes, except for maybe increasing some spices, pepper in
bm> particular. ('an eighth teaspoon for 2 quarts of
bm> whatnot?'😉 also, a lot of things i don't make often enough
bm> to remember what the hell i did last time.

bm> hmm...maybe that means i don't follow recipes. but i
bm> usually write down my changes.

That's my philosophy too! Follow the recipe the first time but
note possible and actual changes. I keep recipes I use on the
computer so adding notes is easy.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

"blake murphy" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

i guess i must be a sissy, because i generally follow recipes, except
for maybe increasing some spices, pepper in particular. ('an eighth
teaspoon for 2 quarts of whatnot?'😉

Maybe it's me. Perhaps sublty is lost on me. A pinch of
cayenne for a 9X13 pan of macaroni and cheese? Why
bother? Same with a recipe I have for stuffed peppers ...
rice and a pound of ground beef is supposed to be seasoned
by 1/4 teaspoon each of thyme/basil/oregano?

I would say I usually increase the amount of seasonings a
recipe calls for.

nancy

Herbert Glarner said:

Good afternoon,

when looking at those very precise dosation instructions in some of
the average recipes, it sometimes crosses my mind that said recipes
could as well be recipes for a life-saving medication...

We here, that's my wife and me, oftentimes just take a given list of
ingredients (right from scratch adding or replacing some components),
and without any further looking at quantities we take what we feel
"could be right for us" (after the first time one will have noticed
anyway if it was too much or not enough of this or that).

We both think, that cooking like this is much more fun that following
quantitative indications literally.

That said to the point: yesterday, we asked ourselves, if we are a
minority (seeing that our relatives mostly /do/ follow recipes
literally), or if this is more or less the standard way among the
more appassionate cooks (which I assume can be found in this group).

So: What is your opinion? How do you handle quantities in recipes?

Regards,
//Herbert and Yvonne

If I'm trying a recipe for the first time I follow it with quantities as
directed. After that I can pretty much wing it, substitute different
ingredients, etc. The exception would be for breads, pastries & cakes, but
I don't bake so for me that's a moot point.

Jill

Herbert Glarner said:

Good afternoon,

when looking at those very precise dosation instructions in some of
the average recipes, it sometimes crosses my mind that said recipes
could as well be recipes for a life-saving medication...

We here, that's my wife and me, oftentimes just take a given list of
ingredients (right from scratch adding or replacing some components),
and without any further looking at quantities we take what we feel
"could be right for us" (after the first time one will have noticed
anyway if it was too much or not enough of this or that).

We both think, that cooking like this is much more fun that following
quantitative indications literally.

That said to the point: yesterday, we asked ourselves, if we are a
minority (seeing that our relatives mostly /do/ follow recipes
literally), or if this is more or less the standard way among the
more appassionate cooks (which I assume can be found in this group).

So: What is your opinion? How do you handle quantities in recipes?

Regards,
//Herbert and Yvonne

If I'm trying a recipe for the first time I follow it with quantities as
directed. After that I can pretty much wing it, substitute different
ingredients, etc. The exception would be for breads, pastries & cakes, but
I don't bake so for me that's a moot point.

Jill

MJB said:

"Becca" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

So: What is your opinion? How do you handle quantities in recipes?

Regards,
//Herbert and Yvonne

It would be safe to say that most of us throw recipes together,
using a handful of this and a dash of that. That can get tricky if
you are baking.

Formal recipes and measurements become an issue when you are trying
to pass along something you make to somebody else.

Like my German grandmother's recipe for date-nut coconut candy. Her
(hand-written) recipe called for "butter the size of a walnut". Well gee,
that tells me a lot! I managed to make it successfully by adding a rather
large lump of softened butter (more than 1 Tbs., less than 2). She wrote
all the recipes (at least, the ones she bothered to write down) in that
manner. She knew how to make it; writing it down was problematic.

Jill

On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:27:58 -0500, "Nancy Young" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Maybe it's me. Perhaps sublty is lost on me. A pinch of
cayenne for a 9X13 pan of macaroni and cheese? Why
bother?

One of my old cookbooks -- I think it is the original Fannie Farmer --
is always calling for "a few grains" of cayenne. I just love that
phrase.

Tara

jmcquown said:

MJB said:

"Becca" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> So: What is your opinion? How do you handle quantities in recipes?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> Regards,
> //Herbert and Yvonne

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It would be safe to say that most of us throw recipes together,
using a handful of this and a dash of that. That can get tricky if
you are baking.

Quoted message said:

Formal recipes and measurements become an issue when you are trying
to pass along something you make to somebody else.

Like my German grandmother's recipe for date-nut coconut candy. Her
(hand-written) recipe called for "butter the size of a walnut". Well gee,
that tells me a lot! I managed to make it successfully by adding a rather
large lump of softened butter (more than 1 Tbs., less than 2). She wrote
all the recipes (at least, the ones she bothered to write down) in that
manner. She knew how to make it; writing it down was problematic.

Jill-

I have a pickle recipe from my great-aunt that calls for "alum the
size of an egg".
I only made the pickles once (about 35 years ago), and I recall
measuring an
egg by displacement and using 1/4 cup of alum. The pickles were good,
but
not as crisp as Aunt Francie's.

Cindy Hamilton

"Tara" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:27:58 -0500, "Nancy Young" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Maybe it's me. Perhaps sublty is lost on me. A pinch of
cayenne for a 9X13 pan of macaroni and cheese? Why
bother?

One of my old cookbooks -- I think it is the original Fannie Farmer --
is always calling for "a few grains" of cayenne. I just love that
phrase.

That's funny, a few grains. Maybe cayenne was a whole lot
hotter back then ... or people were just afraid of it. I like my
mac n cheese to be a little spicy, but even if I only add a little,
it's probably almost a teaspoon. It's a lot of macaroni!

nancy

Tara said:

One of my old cookbooks -- I think it is the original Fannie Farmer --
is always calling for "a few grains" of cayenne. I just love that
phrase.

Tara

But there is a measurement called "grains" in the old apothecary system.
You know you've probably seen it but never thought about it since it is
rarely used today except for aspirin (standard 5 grain tablet is aprox
325 mg)
Could old Fannie have been using it??

On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:56:19 -0500, Goomba38 <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Tara said:

One of my old cookbooks -- I think it is the original Fannie Farmer --
is always calling for "a few grains" of cayenne. I just love that
phrase.

Tara

But there is a measurement called "grains" in the old apothecary system.
You know you've probably seen it but never thought about it since it is
rarely used today except for aspirin (standard 5 grain tablet is aprox
325 mg)
Could old Fannie have been using it??

Oh, that's interesting! I had no idea. How is it measured -- a
weight or a volume? I'm not sure whether or not that's what Fannie
Farmer was asking for. Was it a standard of household measurement at
the time? Was cayenne sold by the grain?

I just like the picture of a nineteenth century housewife carefully
sifting out a few grains of spice. So, a few grains measured by the
apothecary would be about half the size of an aspirin tablet.

It's all fascinating to me. I love historical cookbooks.

Tara

Tara said:

On Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:56:19 -0500, Goomba38 <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Tara said:

One of my old cookbooks -- I think it is the original Fannie Farmer --
is always calling for "a few grains" of cayenne. I just love that
phrase.

Tara

But there is a measurement called "grains" in the old apothecary system.
You know you've probably seen it but never thought about it since it is
rarely used today except for aspirin (standard 5 grain tablet is aprox
325 mg)
Could old Fannie have been using it??

Oh, that's interesting! I had no idea. How is it measured -- a
weight or a volume? I'm not sure whether or not that's what Fannie
Farmer was asking for. Was it a standard of household measurement at
the time? Was cayenne sold by the grain?

I just like the picture of a nineteenth century housewife carefully
sifting out a few grains of spice. So, a few grains measured by the
apothecary would be about half the size of an aspirin tablet.

It's all fascinating to me. I love historical cookbooks.

Tara

Weight.
I try a lot of odd hobbies, and for a while I tried hand-loading pistol
cartridges for target shooting. Powder scales still use "grains" as a
measure of weight.
So a mild-but-accurate target load of say, 3.2 grains of Winchester 231
powder would drive a 148 grain hollow-based lead bullet to 800 feet per
second from a 38 special revolver. That'd be the HARD way to get your
Thanksgiving turkey...

jmcquown said:

MJB said:

"Becca" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

>
> So: What is your opinion? How do you handle quantities in recipes?
>
> Regards,
> //Herbert and Yvonne

It would be safe to say that most of us throw recipes together,
using a handful of this and a dash of that. That can get tricky if
you are baking.

Formal recipes and measurements become an issue when you are trying
to pass along something you make to somebody else.

Like my German grandmother's recipe for date-nut coconut candy. Her
(hand-written) recipe called for "butter the size of a walnut". Well
gee, that tells me a lot! I managed to make it successfully by
adding a rather large lump of softened butter (more than 1 Tbs., less
than 2). She wrote all the recipes (at least, the ones she bothered
to write down) in that manner. She knew how to make it; writing it
down was problematic.

But, but, but "butter the size of a walnut". is a scientific measurement
don'tchaknow🙂)

well it was when I was wee🙂)))