How do they/you measure ingredients for a recipe in the U.K.?!
I'm in the process of converting a few of my favorite recipes for European use while I'm over there for a few months and I want to make them as accurate and simple as possible (I want the people who live there to be able to understand them)!. I know the metric system is used and that ingredients are often measured by weight and not volume, but in exactly what way!? Are all solids and liquids in grams, or are some things measured in fl!. oz!. or kilograms or litres or what!?! I'd like to know if there's one basic unit used or if it varies from ingredient to ingredient (such as from flour to meat to white wine etc!.)!. also, are teaspoons and tablespoons still used!? Thank you SO MUCH for any help you can provide!!Www@FoodAQ@Com
Answers:
Most British recipes measure liquids in millilitres - for instance, 1 cup is 227 ml and 1 teaspoon is 5 ml!. (Generally, though, you'd round a cup to 225 or 230 ml!.) Older British recipes do call for cups and teaspoons and tablespoons, but they're different sizes than American cups and teaspoons and tablespoons and may even differ from county to county or even family to family - so use metric!. Everyone recognizes metric and it's the same everywhere!.
Butter is usually measured by weight - 1 pound is 454 grams!. Butter is generally not sold in sticks outside the US, by the way; it's sold in tubs or in pound blocks, so specifying that a recipe calls for one stick of butter would make the recipe difficult to follow!. (It would likely confuse even a Canadian, let alone a European!.) Melted butter would be measured by volume!.
Spices are normally measured by volume - one teaspoon is 5 ml, and so on!. Some recipes call for whole spices, though, where in America they'd call for ground spices!. One caution: English cinnamon is not the same as American cinnamon!. American cinnamon comes from the cassia plant, and is hotter, more bitter, and less cinnamony than English cinnamon, which comes from the true cinnamon plant!.
And here's where the problem I mentioned in the first paragraph arises: almost all dry solids like flour, sugar, and the like are measured by weight, not by volume, and always in grams!. You can use measuring cups yourself, but if you want anyone else to follow the recipes you do have to convert the amounts to weight!.
Many basic ingredients have different names in the UK!. Superfine sugar is called castor sugar, and may be more commonly used than what an American would consider "regular" sugar: confectioner's sugar is called icing sugar, but may not contain cornstarch: cookies are called biscuits: dessert is called pudding: cilantro is called coriander: zucchini are called courgettes: eggplant is aubergine: and so on and so on ad nauseam!.
Dairy products may be startlingly different: milk and cream may contain different percentages of fat than American products and may taste different, since the English and Scots get their milk from different breeds of cattle than most Americans do!. Depending on where you go, "farmer's cheese" as you know it may or may not be available; in some areas, "farmer's cheese" is a hard white cheese something like Colby, not a soft cheese at all!.
You won't find much if any Latin American or Mexican ingredients unless you go to a store for American expatriates!. Twenty years ago sweet corn was not seen in the stores: I've heard that it now is seen at times on pizza, but nowhere else!. I couldn't get sour cream when I was there, but I could get something called creme fraiche!. You can't substitute it, though: sour cream is 14% fat, creme fraiche is about 40% fat!.
Italian food, including pasta!, may be difficult to find in smaller communities, but not in larger cities!. There may also be less East Asian food such as rice wrappers, egg rolls, and the like available anywhere!. Incidentally, in England "Asian" means "South Asian" - Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan - and "oriental" means East Asian!. "Oriental" is not generally considered a racial slur, and most people would look at you strangely if you thought it was!.
Many American vegetables are only available as expensive imports, while others that are expensive in the US (watercress, arugula, etc!.) are cheap there!. Real coffee is drunk but not nearly as often as instant coffee, which is far more popular and less expensive than the regular stuff!. You can find cornmeal labelled polenta in Italian markets, but regular American cornmeal might be difficult to find, as will most American processed foods like Jello puddings and Hamburger Helper!.
Many people, even those who eat red meat, will not eat beef of any kind because of the mad cow scare!. You might want to try substituting lamb for beef if you have any main course dishes you want to pass on!.
Boy this isn't long enough, is it!?Www@FoodAQ@Com
Butter is usually measured by weight - 1 pound is 454 grams!. Butter is generally not sold in sticks outside the US, by the way; it's sold in tubs or in pound blocks, so specifying that a recipe calls for one stick of butter would make the recipe difficult to follow!. (It would likely confuse even a Canadian, let alone a European!.) Melted butter would be measured by volume!.
Spices are normally measured by volume - one teaspoon is 5 ml, and so on!. Some recipes call for whole spices, though, where in America they'd call for ground spices!. One caution: English cinnamon is not the same as American cinnamon!. American cinnamon comes from the cassia plant, and is hotter, more bitter, and less cinnamony than English cinnamon, which comes from the true cinnamon plant!.
And here's where the problem I mentioned in the first paragraph arises: almost all dry solids like flour, sugar, and the like are measured by weight, not by volume, and always in grams!. You can use measuring cups yourself, but if you want anyone else to follow the recipes you do have to convert the amounts to weight!.
Many basic ingredients have different names in the UK!. Superfine sugar is called castor sugar, and may be more commonly used than what an American would consider "regular" sugar: confectioner's sugar is called icing sugar, but may not contain cornstarch: cookies are called biscuits: dessert is called pudding: cilantro is called coriander: zucchini are called courgettes: eggplant is aubergine: and so on and so on ad nauseam!.
Dairy products may be startlingly different: milk and cream may contain different percentages of fat than American products and may taste different, since the English and Scots get their milk from different breeds of cattle than most Americans do!. Depending on where you go, "farmer's cheese" as you know it may or may not be available; in some areas, "farmer's cheese" is a hard white cheese something like Colby, not a soft cheese at all!.
You won't find much if any Latin American or Mexican ingredients unless you go to a store for American expatriates!. Twenty years ago sweet corn was not seen in the stores: I've heard that it now is seen at times on pizza, but nowhere else!. I couldn't get sour cream when I was there, but I could get something called creme fraiche!. You can't substitute it, though: sour cream is 14% fat, creme fraiche is about 40% fat!.
Italian food, including pasta!, may be difficult to find in smaller communities, but not in larger cities!. There may also be less East Asian food such as rice wrappers, egg rolls, and the like available anywhere!. Incidentally, in England "Asian" means "South Asian" - Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan - and "oriental" means East Asian!. "Oriental" is not generally considered a racial slur, and most people would look at you strangely if you thought it was!.
Many American vegetables are only available as expensive imports, while others that are expensive in the US (watercress, arugula, etc!.) are cheap there!. Real coffee is drunk but not nearly as often as instant coffee, which is far more popular and less expensive than the regular stuff!. You can find cornmeal labelled polenta in Italian markets, but regular American cornmeal might be difficult to find, as will most American processed foods like Jello puddings and Hamburger Helper!.
Many people, even those who eat red meat, will not eat beef of any kind because of the mad cow scare!. You might want to try substituting lamb for beef if you have any main course dishes you want to pass on!.
Boy this isn't long enough, is it!?Www@FoodAQ@Com
metric is the best ie weight in grammes!.
this site may be helpful for your conversion as different ingredients has diff weight per cup!.
http://www!.traditionaloven!.com/conversio!.!.!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
this site may be helpful for your conversion as different ingredients has diff weight per cup!.
http://www!.traditionaloven!.com/conversio!.!.!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
your best bet is grahms kilos etc!. everyone uses this except the USWww@FoodAQ@Com