Like I said, Bill. I played a bit dumb.
Yes, I have the USDA specs on egg sizes (the mass of which they specify
by the dozen in ounces). Large eggs average to 56.70 g and extra large
average to 63.79 g.
Decades ago the standard egg in a recipe was a medium egg. Now it's a
large egg.
One recipe book I have is a delight. It's Jeffrey Hamelman's _Bread: A
Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes_ . In there, he specifies that he
means eggs of 60 g each. So, his eggs are midway between large and extra
large. He provides recipes in four formats:
format wet units dry units typical yield
U.S. lb lb 22 loaves at 1.5 lb
Metric kg kg 24 loaves at 0.68 kg
Home lb, oz cup, oz, Tbsp 2 large loaves
Baker's % % not applicable
I wish the Home format were also metric....
His directions are non-metric, notably in temperature specifications,
but he provides a Celsius-to-Fahrenheit conversion table (why that
direction?) in the back.
I've also got a nice Mennonite recipe book that provides metric
equivalents in its lists of ingredients and also a temperature
conversion chart. Then of course, I have a few non-American books that
provide metric recipes.
Jim
Bill Potts wrote:
Jim:
For the majority of us who buy eggs in the store, "large egg" is in fact an
appropriate designation, as the mass range of the customary names is based
on a standard. People don't generally weigh eggs before they buy them, but
go by the small, medium, large, extra large, and jumbo labeling. Thus, the
recipe does, indeed, tell them what to buy. Gentleman farmers like you need
to put a little chart on the side of your fridge. :)
Metric countries also go by size names and don't agree with one another as
to what each name means.
Here's the rundown from the Wikipedia article on eggs (food). You can see
all of this neatly formatted at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_(food).
Chicken egg sizes
Chicken eggs are graded by size, for the purpose of sales. The United States
Department of Agriculture grades them by weight per dozen. The most common
US size of chicken egg is 'Large' and is the egg size commonly referred to
for recipes. The following egg masses have been calculated on the basis of
the USDA grades:
Modern Sizes (USA) Size Mass per egg Cooking Yield (Volume)[1]
Jumbo Greater than 2.5 oz. or 71g
Very Large or Extra Large (XL) Greater than 2.25 oz. or 64g 56 mL (4
tbsp)
Large (L) Greater than 2 oz. or 57g 46 mL (3.25 tbsp)
Medium (M) Greater than 1.75 oz. or 50g 43 mL (3 tbsp)
Small (S) Greater than 1.5 oz. or 43g
Peewee Greater than 1.25 oz. or 35g
In Europe, modern egg sizes are defined as follows:
Modern Sizes (Europe) Size Mass per egg
Very Large 73g and over
Large 63-73g
Medium 53-63g
Small 53g and under
In Australia, the Australian Egg Corporation defines the following sizes in
its labelling guide.[26]
Modern Sizes (Australia) Size Mass per egg
Jumbo 68g
Extra Large 60g
Large 52g
In Western Australia, two additional sizes are also standardized by the
Golden Eggs Corporation[27]
Additional Sizes (Western Australia) Mega or XXXL 72g
Medium 43g
In New Zealand sizes are based on the minimum mass per egg: [28]
Modern Sizes (New Zealand) Size Minimum mass per egg
8 (Jumbo) 68g
7 (Large) 62g
6 (Standard) 53g
5 (Medium) 44g
4 (Pullet) 35g
Traditional Sizes Size Mass
Size 0 Greater than 75g
Size 1 70g-75g
Size 2 65g-70g
Size 3 60g-65g
Size 4 55g-60g
Size 5 50g-55g
Size 6 45g-50g
Size 7 less than 45g
Bill
__________________________________________________
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of James Frysinger
Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2008 13:58
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:40833] KitchenAid pasta attachment
A few minutes ago I sent in the following inquiry to KitchenAid using their
"fill in the box" form. OK, so maybe I played it dumb just a little bit. I
**was** pleased to see that they gave the extrusion lengths only in
centimeters; not a hint of an inch (or foot or yard or statute mile) was to
be seen.
Jim
I was full of hope when I read your instructions for use of the pasta
maker attachment for the K5M5; you gave extrusion lengths in
centimeters. But when I got to your basic pasta dough recipe I was lost.
I cook in terms of metric units and weigh my dry ingredients on a scale
that weighs to the nearest gram. I harvest my own farm-fresh eggs and
weigh them (in grams) after washing and before refrigerating. When you
call for "large eggs", how many grams do you reckon a "large egg" is?
How many grams of flour is "2-3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour"? I
assume 15 mL for each tablespoon of water.
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(H) 931.657.3107
(C) 931.212.0267
