in Russia, "cup" was used mostly for home culinary recipes. when I started to explore culinary arts back when I was a teenager in Russia, it was very confusing too, because there were two sizes of cups (called not cup, but glass (and the expression there is "to drink vodka by glasses" ;-) )) - 200 mL and 250 mL. so, a liter would have either 4 or 5 glasses.
I think nowadays, mL are used for recipes, and it is up to the cook how to measure them, using glass or measuring cup or anything else. since Russia followed France a lot in many things, i wanted to check what is the cup in France. but found only short article, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasse_(unit%C3%A9) , translated: Cup (unit) For other uses, see Coffee (disambiguation) . The cup is a measure of volume sometimes used in cooking , especially in English-language publications. Its symbol is the c (English "cup") in English (in Canadian books in French, c is reserved for the spoons). The cup can take four values: * In the imperial system of measurement , the cup (which is usitée than Canada ) is defined as 1/5 quart imperial, or 8 fluid ounces Imperial, which is exactly 227.3045 ml , but is often rounded to 225 ml (0.9 metric cup); * In the American system of measurement , the cup is defined as 1/2 pint U.S., or 8 fluid ounces U.S., which is exactly 236.5882365 ml ; * The metric cup, finally, is exactly 250 ml (4 metric cups per liter). It is used in Australia , in Canada , and New Zealand ; * Japanese cup is metric origin but is exactly 200 ml (0.8 metric cup, 5 Japanese cups per liter). this article aslo mentions Japanese cup of 180 mL, which is used in all the Japanese rise maker machines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit) so, i think that "cup" is very confusing and should only be used for very non-formal (oral) recipes. for anything written, mL should be used. (the same for spoons, table and tea). thanks, Natalie ________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 2:20 PM Subject: [USMA:53137] Re: Measuring Cup Jim makes a good point. I think Mark was probably thinking that NIST should redefine a cup as an eighth of a liter. David Pearl MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917 ----- Message from [email protected] --------- Date: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 13:01:18 -0500 From: James Frysinger <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:53135] Re: Measuring Cup To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > The liter is defined by the CGPM, not by NIST. > > Jim > > On 2013-08-05 12:34, Henschel Mark wrote: >> I think we should ask NIST to redefine a litre as eight cups. Each one >> would be slightly bigger than 30 mL, but the math to increase recipe >> sizes would be a lot easier. >> >> Mark >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Natalia Permiakova <[email protected]> >> Date: Sunday, August 4, 2013 12:01 am >> Subject: [USMA:53131] Re: Measuring Cup >> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> >> >> >> Eight 240 mL cups should not be equal to two liters. >> >> >> Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android >> >> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> > * >> > From: >> > * >> > Kilopascal <[email protected]>; >> > >> > * >> > To: >> > * >> > U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]>; >> > >> > * >> > Subject: >> > * >> > Measuring Cup >> > >> > * >> > Sent: >> > * >> > Sun, Aug 4, 2013 4:36:16 AM >> > >> >> > Everyone needs to know, especially if you prepare >> > food with measuring cups, that if you use the USC side, that each USC >> ounce is >> > precisely 30 mL and the 8 ounce marking on the cup means 240 mL and >> not 236 and >> > some decimal dust millilitres. >> >> >> > If you do conversions from ounces to millilitres >> > in recipes, do not use 28 g or 29.5 mL. Use both 30 g and 30 mL as >> the cup >> > manufacturers are using the FDA and not the NIST definitions for cup >> > dimensions. >> >> > http://lynnescountrykitchen.net/glossary/utensils/measurecup.html >> >> >> > A cup-shaped kitchen utensil, >> > varying in size from 1/4 to 5 cup measures that are used to hold >> specific >> > amounts of both dry and liquid ingredients. Traditional small dry >> measuring cup >> > sizes are used for dry measures of 1/8, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 1, and 2-cup >> sizes in >> > U.S. measures or 30 ml, 60 ml, 80 ml, 120 ml, and 240 ml in metric. >> The liquid >> > measuring cups can range in sizes that measure from 1 teaspoon or 5 >> milliliters >> > to 8 cups or 2 liters. The smallest cup measures 1 to 6 teaspoons in >> U.S. >> > measures or 5 to 30 milliliters (ml) in metric. >> >> >> > Other links with the same 240 mL = 8 ounce >> > relationship: >> >> http://www.etsy.com/listing/57178175/25-mixing-measuring-cups-for-epoxy-resin >> >> >> http://www.lighthouseproductionsinc.com/disposable-measuring-cup-graduated-8-ounce-240-cc/ >> ----- End message from [email protected] -----
