Why do Americans measure in cups instead of weighing, and how do you measure for example a cup of butter?!
Answers:
Butter typically comes in sticks in the U.S. and each stick has a wrapper with measurements by the tablespoon. 8 tablespoons of butter equal 1/2 cup of "1 stick". 16 tablespoons of butter, or 2 sticks equals 1 cup.
If the butter is soft enough it can be measured in a stainless measuring cup that holds 1 U.S. cup.
A proper kitchen has a set of measuring cups, either in metal or plastic, that hold graduated measures typically starting with 1/4 cup and going up to 2 cups (usually). These measures, as well as a graduated set of spoons that start from (usually) 1/4 teaspoons and going up to 1 tablespoon, are used mostly for measuring dry ingredients
Another set of measures are for measuring wet ingredients and usually hold at least 1 cup of liquid. These are typically glass or plastic and have graphics on the side of the piece with lines that show how much to measure for the required amount
Professional bakers in the U.S. (and some home bakers) use scales to measure ingredients which is more accurate than measuring by volume if only because a heavy or light hand can affect volume measurements. With weight, there is no question.
Measuring by volume can create a lot of problems for beginner bakers who may not know how to properly load an ingredient into a measuring cup, it's true.
If kitchen scales were more common for the home baker maybe home bakers would have better luck with their baked goods and enjoy baking a whole lot more.
It is not only in America that people measure by volume.
My mother has a measuring cup that holds half a liter of water, on the side it is divided in smaller parts, but there is also a strip for flower, rice and several other 'solid' products. The numbers with the divisions are in grams rather than in ml, as for water, but that is because you can use the water measures for the ml.
The difference is that the recipes will call for so many grams but people would still use the 'liquid' approach in measuring.
That measuring cup might be 50 years old, but they are still sold.
People who do cook or bake often will do their measuring more freehand than people who just start. Measuring cups are good enough for that. Much faster in use than getting the scales as well as the measuring cups.
Old recipes, European as well as American did mention things like a hand of flower or a pinch of salt, and people did know how much to use, experience told them whether the amount was right.
I am Dutch but I have seen this kind of measuring cups also in English with metric divisions as well as in other European languages.
It's traditional. We're used to it. You measure a cup of butter by cutting off an appropriate amount from the package of butter(it's marked on the wrapper), or you use the displacement method by putting water and butter in the cup until you have a cup total, or you place the butter in the cup all by itself. Or you take a good guess. I can' t think, off the top of my head, of a recipe asking for butter that will be ruined if you don't get the butter measurement exact to the gram. You'd never need to measure a cup of steak. You buy a steak and cook it. It says how much it weighs when you buy it. And what kind of recipe needs an exact amount of brie? North American cookbooks are written with recipes in cups, so weighing ingredients when cooking form one of those cookbooks becomes a major nuisance because you'd have to convert all those cup measurements to weights. The only place where weighing ingredients can make a practical difference is in baking, where weighing flour can give a more accurate measure than measuring it with a cup.
There is a difference in the measuring options you just noted. One measures volume another measures weight so they can't be used to directly interact without applying a mass distribution factor (example: how much does a cup of water weight). So before you get uptight about who measures what with that, get your math right to prevent mistakes. What it amounts to is that when we use cups, we are measuring VOLUME. When you use a scale, you are measuring WEIGHT. These are 2 very different things.
As for measuring a cup of butter, there are issued standard volumetric measuring instruments sold at nearly every market for measuring volume. In the United States it happens to be that Cup is a volumetric standard. So buy a measuring cup and you can measure a cup of butter by filling the cup with butter.
Ya, I know everyone thinks that Americans are extremely strange and we do everything "wrong" because you do it differently, but keep in mind that American culture is a well mixed blend of world-wide culture. In other words, you made us this way now you need to live with it.
We started measuring in cups when we cmae to America. Many people didn't have a thing to their name since everything was sold off for passage to America to escape England and other places.
Moving to a country where there was no scales, you use what you had on hand. A CUP. It is somehting that just stuck having had to do it for so long.
In America our butter comes in a box with 4 sticks. Each stick is a 1/2 cup of butter or 1/4 pound. There are also measure lines on our wrappers to help measure otu butter byt he tbsp.
If we don't go by the measure marks etc...(butter in bulk etc..) we simple put butter in a measuring cup.
A cup is 8 oz, NOT by weight but by volume.
where i come from, our butter doesn't come in american sized "sticks" so i'll give you the low down on measuring (not just) butter by the cup.
1 cup = 250ml
1 cup = 8 oz
1lb (pound) = 16oz
1/2 lb = 8 oz
1/4 lb= 1 american stick of butter
4 oz = 1 american stick of butter
2- 4oz sticks = 1 cup of butter
now grams... that's another issue :)
a good recipe book will have the conversions either to the front near the foreword or to the back near the index
Americans,like everyone else,measure in both volume and weight.So do you. Our system is Called the English system because it was started in England.The UK converted to the metric system when you joined the European Union or whatever it's called.Why don't you ask your mother,she always used cups,pints,and quarts (and probably still does) instead of liters.
I do wish the US would convert to metric but it's the English who are to blame for our weird system.LOL
We use both. We measure liquids in a glass measuring cup and flour in a metal measuring cup and sweep it level. Those who are more serious about baking will measure flour by weight. Butter measurements are usually given in ounces or tablespoons which are marked on the butter wrapper.
They went into shock after re-inventing the wheel? No bloody idea! I once asked what a cup of butter was and the answer was something to do with 'sticks'. Only God knows how much a USA stick of butter weighs.
I can cope with grams and ounces, but not with cups. There are conversion tables avalaible. Good luck!
AMERICA is know - as the New World - - we left the dark arts behind - along with the Old World bigotry behind - - unfortunately we must still put up with the silly alchemist's dark arts and convert your recipes and measures to our practical life - - so what is your point ? ? - - tolerance ?
EVERYWHERE ? ? - - I doubt that - !
EDIT - - sorry no insult intended - - just my opinion
your reading the wrong recipes....... as for butter, 1 stick is 1/4 lb
The recipe writers of the world have entered into a conspiracy to make cooking with butter way more complex than it should be. In one recipe they ask for a half-cup of butter. In the next, they ask for 8 tablespoons. Then they turn around and demand one stick of butter. And the whole time, they're asking for the same thing!
this web site has it all..http://www.ochef.com/837.htm
Yes, scales do work internationally. In the US it's more common to measure in cups. There are British cooking equivalents and American cooking equivalents.
Here is a chart that will show you the differences.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/Briti…
butter comes in sticks, 2 sticks equals 1 cup
we measure in cups because most recipes call for that. If we have a recipe that calls for grams or ounces, we would either convert to volume or weigh it. It's just the American way I guess.
Because that's the way we do it. Our butter is already sectioned into tablespoons, so if you need a cup of butter, you add up the tablespoons until you get a cup.
2 sticks = 1 cup
Both forms of measurements are fine. Also scales cost more than measuring cups. One stick of butter is 1half of a cup.
-connor