Pat and Jim: In trying to normalize sizes, remember that recipes are based on taste and other factors. Mass is key in producing proper mixtures.
In our modern day of mechanization with precise manufacturing and production, packaged food producers can very precisely mix ingredients by mass to achieve the same end result consistently. Volume measurements are not necessarily consistent. For example, a cup of flour will have different mass depending on the amount of compaction. Stan Doore ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat Naughtin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 3:21 AM Subject: [USMA:28516] Re: metricated recipe > Dear Jim, > > Is the 'cup (U.S.)' that you refer to below, a traditional U.S. cup of 8 > U.S. fl. oz. or is it a modern U.S. metric cup of 250 mL? > > Thanks, > > Pat Naughtin LCAMS > Geelong, Australia > -- > > on 2004-02-04 15.34, James Frysinger at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > Here are some data from the now out of print "Average Weight of a Meassured > > Cup of Various Foods", Home Economics Research Report No. 41, Agricultural > > Research Service, US Dept. of Agriculture. > > > > For 1 cup (U.S.) in terms of mass (in grams): > > barley flour, unsifted, spooned 102 > > yellow corn flour, unsifted, spooned 117 > > cornmeal, yellow, degerminated 151 > > cornmeal, white, degerminated 140 > > rye, dark, unstirred, spooned 128 > > rye, light, unstirred, spooned 101 > > wheat, all purpose, unsifted, spooned 126 > > wheat, all purpose, sifted, spooned 116 > > wheat, bread, unsifted, spooned 123 > > wheat, bread, sifted, spooned 117 > > wheat, cake, unsifted, spooned 111 > > wheat, cake, sifted, spooned 99 > > sugar, brown, packed 211 > > cornstarch 125 > > sugar, confectioner's, unsifted 113 > > sugar, confectioner's, sifted 95 > > sugar, granulated 196 > > molasses 309 > > margerine 225 > > shortening, hydrogenated 187 > > oil, cooking 209 > > yeast, active, dry 142 > > > > Data is often available for items in this handbook to indicate number of > > samples and standard deviations, but I have obviously not included that here. > > > > I hope that this is helpful to kitchen commandos who do it right --- in > > metric. > > > > Jim > > > > On Tuesday 2004 February 03 22:39, John S. Ward wrote: > >> Hi Pat, > >> > >> I think the problem is that the densities of loose ingredients like flour > >> are not well defined. To calibrate my measurement, I weighed a nominal > >> 236.6 ml cup of water and found it weighed 234 g. Not perfect, but close > >> enough. Since I repeated the measurements and weighed different volumes of > >> flour to check for errors, the measurements should be reliable. They are > >> rounded off to the nearest 10 g. > >> > >> In any case, here's what I got for nominal 236.6 ml cups: > >> > >> 120 g plain wheat flour > >> 200 g granulated cane sugar > >> 190 g uncooked white rice > >> > >> The differences can only partly be explained by the different cup > >> definitions. Pat, you have a standing invitation to stop by my house in Los > >> Angeles County so that we can repeat the experiment together to get to the > >> bottom of this! > >> > >> John > >> > >> On Tuesday 03 February 2004 14:34, Pat Naughtin wrote: > >>> When you refer to 80 grams of flour, you are referring to about 1/2 of a > >>> 250 mL cup -- not 2/3. When my wife and I experimented with common > >>> cooking ingredients we found that a 250 mL cup held about: > >>> > >>> 150 grams of plain white flour > >>> 250 grams of white sugar > >>> 230 grams of brown rice >
