Dear John, Joe, Jim, and All, I am writing in defence of the Australian tablespoon.
John and Joe both reported the sizes of tablespoons accurately in recent postings to this list. However your information does not paint the full picture of metrication of cooking practice in Australia. The committee of the Australian Metrication Board who were charged with units for cooking realised that a change from pounds to kilograms meant that the pound would generally be replaced by a mass of 500 grams (an increase of about 10.1�%). They also realised that the most commonly used volume (say of milk) was to increase from a pint to 600�mL (an increase of about 5.6�%). In short, the general trend, during metrication was to slightly increase the 'bought' amounts of regular ingredients by a few percent. When the committee came to teaspoons, tablespoons, and cups, they soon realised that, in Australia as in many other places, there were few standards; manufacturers designed by looks rather than by size. The committee conducted a survey and then recommended that 5�mL become an Australian standard teaspoon, that 20�mL become an Australian standard tablespoon, and that 250�mL become an Australian standard cup. In all three cases this slightly increased the sizes of these measures by between 5�% and 15�%. This meant that the committee could then recommend that recipes be converted as follows: If mass is in pounds replace them with 500�grams (+10.1�%) If volume is is in pints replace them with 600�mL (+5.6�%) If volume is is in any old cups replace them with cups of 250�mL (+10.4�%) If volume is in any old teaspoons replace them with 5�mL teaspoons (various from +2�% to +40�%) If volume is in any old tablespoons replace them with 20�mL tablespoons (generally around +12.4�%) As you can see, this procedure keeps the recipe ingredients in proportion, more or less � but well within the bounds required for most cooking, without the need for complex calculations. Generally, this is the procedure we use in our kitchen when we cook from old recipes. The more precise and admittedly more accurate alternative is to choose the exact conversion route: Now let's see, I need a pound of flour � that's 454 grams � and a pint of milk � that's 568 millilitres � so how many 17.2 mL tablespoons do I need? And this is only for the Australian recipe; if the recipe come from the USA almost all of the factors change. NIMK = not in my kitchen! Cheers, Pat Naughtin LCAMS Geelong, Australia on 2003-02-10 13.02, kilopascal at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > 2003-02-09 > > I've always seen 1 teaspoon as equal to 5 mL and a tablespoon equal to 15 mL. > Thus 6 teaspoons equals 2 tablespoons which equals 30 mL. A fluid ounce is > 29.5 mL. The 0.5 mL difference between 30 mL and 29.5 mL is most likely not > noticeable to the naked eye, especially on a cooking cup. 50 teaspoons equals > a cup of 250 mL. > > As you see below, there are the old definitions based on FFU, and the modern, > practical definition that everyone now uses based on an exact 5 mL for the > teaspoon and 15 mL or 20 mL for the tablespoon. > > teaspoon or teaspoonful (tsp) [1] > a unit of volume used in food recipes. The U.S. teaspoon is equal to 1/3 > tablespoon or 1/48 cup; this is equivalent to 1/6 fluid ounce, about 0.30 > cubic inches, or approximately 4.9 milliliters. In Britain, a traditional > teaspoonful in the kitchen was equal to 1/8 Imperial fluid ounce or > approximately 3.55 milliliters, but the medical teaspoonful was usually 5 > milliliters. In metric kitchens in Britain, Canada, Australia, and New > Zealand, a teaspoonful is exactly 5 milliliters. > > tablespoon or tablespoonful (tbsp, tblsp, or Tsp) [1] > a unit of volume used in food recipes. In the U.S., the tablespoon is equal to > 1/2 fluid ounce; this is about 14.8 milliliters. In Britain, traditional > tablespoons varied somewhat in size, and various older references give sizes > in the range from 1/2 to 5/8 Imperial fluid ounce (14.2-17.6 milliliters). > Under the metric system the tablespoon has become more or less standardized at > 15 milliliters in Britain, Canada, and New Zealand, 20 milliliters in > Australia. The U.S. tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons or 1/16 cup; the traditional > British tablespoonful was often equal to 4 teaspoonfuls or 1/10 teacupful. The > metric tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons (4 in Australia). > > John > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Joseph B. Reid" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Sunday, 2003-02-09 20:14 > Subject: [USMA:24792] Re: Kitchen "multi measure" > > >> Jim Elwell wrote in USMA 24791: >> >>> My wife bought a kitchen "multi measure," which is just a shot glass with >>> numerous graduations on the side. I checked its accuracy as best I could >>> with a 100 mL graduated cylinder. The metric scale (mislabeled "ML") was >>> pretty accurate, certainly enough so for cooking purposes. >>> It has three colloquial scales: teaspoons, tablespoons and ounces. >>> Interestingly, the teaspoons and ounces were accurate, and 6 tsp = 1 oz, >>> but the tablespoon scale was significantly offset. It was made in China, >>> so maybe (hopefully!) they don't have a clue that all three could use the >>> scale. >>> Jim Elwell >> >> >> >> The (Canadian) Metric Pratice Guide lists: >> 1 tablespoon (1/2 fluid ounce) = 14.21 mL >> 1 tablespoon (UK, 5/8 fluid ounce) = 17,8 mL >> 1 tablespoon (US, 1/2 US fluid ounce) = 14.8 mL >> >> No wonder the Chinese got confused! >> -- >>
