I think you are making more out of this then there is. Isn't it obvious that when recipes round off amounts to the nearest quarter cup, a lot of the precision is lost anyway? Do you think that if a recipe, which is like a formula were calculated, that the amounts would come out in nice rounded numbers? They wouldn't.
Unless one is the actual author of a recipe, one can only guess as to why the author chose to round up or down. Also keep in mind that many recipes evolved over time from less precise formulations. A pinch of this, a dash of that. Many recipes were passed down mouth to ear and of course varied as memory failed. Eventually the recipe as someone remembered it was written down and that became the gospel. The very fact that some recipes, call for a can of this or a package of that shows they are not meant to be exact. Can and package sizes can vary. The use of volume cups instead of mass also makes the recipe less exact. Before the measuring cup came along, I'm sure the any cup was used to measure and may still be in some households. And not just cups, but spoon measures to. Spoon sizes are now standardised in rounded millilitres. The teaspoon is 5 mL and the tablespoon is 15 mL, except in Australia where it is 20 mL. But over time even spoon sizes varied. What I am trying to say is that over-filling a cup a little isn't going to make that much of a difference. I highly doubt that the difference in a 236 mL amount and a 250 mL even in pancakes will result in a noticeable difference in the batter. If you mix 250 mL of flour to 250 mL of water, I would expect the consistency to be the same if you used 200 mL of each. I would expect a difference if you used 200 ml of one and 250 mL of the other. Euric ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gavin Young" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, 2004-02-20 21:42 Subject: Re: [USMA:28824] Re: Kitchen measureing cups > I try to follow recipes precisely (just like I followed the instrictions > precisely in chemistry class), unless I'm in the mood to experiment at changing > the recipe. Using more liquid or less flour than specified in recipe for > pancakes sometimes results in thinner pancakes that might turnout undercooked > inside, while crispy on the outside. At least that has been my experience. > > Quoting Chimpsarecute <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > >From Rowlett: http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/ > > .... > > > > > Is there anyone on this list who when measuring with cups is particular to > > filling it to the exact 1 cup mark. If you do, why? > > > > Euric > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: john mercer > > To: U.S. Metric Association > > Sent: Friday, 2004-02-20 13:20 > > Subject: [USMA:28815] Kitchen measureing cups > > > > > > HelloI phoned 7 different stores this morning that sell kitchen measureing > > cups. I asked them on the 1 cup measure did they have 250 ml's they all said > > yes. I don't know how many ml's a U K 1 cup measure is. I think it would be > > a good idea to have measureing cups a standard size around the world. Using > > the 250 ml for the 1 cup measure. Especially now with so many recipies on > > the internet where they can be viewed around the world. > > > Gavin Young > http://www.xprt.net/~hightech , http://www.renewableelectricity.com, > http://www.electric-automobile.com >
