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From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122000295.html
: Solid (and Liquid)
Measuring Tips By Robert L. Wolke
I've been baking for years and I
know that there is supposed to be a difference between liquid and solid
measures. But what is the difference? It seems to be only in the larger
measures, as I haven't seen liquid vs. solid measuring spoons. And what about
wet stuff like sour cream and yogurt? Do I measure it as liquid or solid
? There are two separate issues here: accuracy and
convenience. First of all, your observation that size matters is a
sound one. For a tablespoon or less, neither accuracy nor convenience is
compromised by using measuring spoons, whether of a solid or a liquid. If your
half-teaspoon of salt is slightly rounded rather than level, it won't ruin your
recipe. And if your tablespoon of olive oil dribbles over a bit, using the
spoon is still easier than trying to hit the 1 tablespoon mark in a Tom Thumb
measuring cup. So stick to your spoon measures. They dole out mere drops in a
bucket anyway. But when we get into the realm of cups, issues of
convenience become important. A cup is a definite amount of volume: 8 fluid
ounces or 14.44 cubic inches or 236.6 milliliters. A cup of stuff is a cup of
stuff, then, no matter what the stuff is -- fluid or solid. The only reason I
had to specify "fluid" ounces in my definition above is that our
crazy American measurement system has three kinds of ounces: fluid,
avoirdupois, and troy or apothecary. And they're all different. The first is an
amount of volume, and the other two are amounts of weight, if you can imagine
anything so perverse. (An avoirdupois ounce of a food is 28.35 grams, but gold
and silver are measured in troy ounces at 31.10 grams each.) It's true that
accuracy won't suffer very much if you measure a cup of flour in a glass
measuring cup (a so-called "liquid" measuring cup). But it's easier
to overfill an aluminum measuring cup (a so-called "solid" measuring
cup) with the flour and then scrape off the excess by using a straight-edged
tool such as a spatula or the back of a large knife. Similarly, you can measure out a cup of olive oil in
that aluminum "solid" measuring cup if you want to, but I bet you'll
spill some, whereas if you overshoot the mark in the glass cup, you can always
pour some out. The "liquid" measuring cup is simply more convenient
for liquids. That said, there are some minor issues of accuracy
related to the use of cup measures. If you do try to measure out that cup of
flour in a glass "liquid" measuring cup, you'll find it hard to get
the flour's surface absolutely level at the 1-cup line (don't even try it with
peanut butter), whereas a liquid's surface automatically levels itself.
Scraping off the flour at the rim of an aluminum "solid" measuring
cup is more reproducible, and hence more accurate. What about those problematic semi-solids (or
semi-liquids), such as sour cream and yogurt? They're liquid enough to form a
flat surface in a glass measuring cup, yet solid enough to be scraped off at
the rim of an aluminum measuring cup. So it's a draw, in both convenience and
accuracy. The ultimate solution? Don't measure your solid
ingredients by volume. Throw away both your spoon measures and your aluminum
cup measures, and measure all your solid ingredients by weight. That's what
they do everywhere in the world, except for one country. Guess which one. LABELINGO:
Perspicacious reader Paul Rasmussen of The FDA limits the amount of sodium benzoate
preservative in foods to 0.1 percent. The amount of spinach in the spinach dip
must therefore be less than that. Robert L. Wolke (http://www.robertwolke.com) is professor
emeritus of chemistry at the © 2005 The Washington Post Company |
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