Chapter 5 · Measuring, recipes and mise en place
5.1 Measuring by weight and by volume
▶ Lecture
Accurate measuring has a clear purpose. It keeps the proportions of ingredients right, and it lets a food product turn out the same way every time it is made.
The recipe mixes small and large amounts:
- Topping: tablespoons and teaspoons of brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and butter.
- Batter: cups of sifted flour, sugar and milk, teaspoons of baking powder and salt, plus one beaten egg and a little vegetable oil.
Cutting each of these to a third is good practice in choosing the right spoon or cup.
Weighing needs scales; in a kitchen lab they are part of the shared equipment.
When you study measuring, be ready to answer these questions about technique:
- Why is flour sifted before it is measured by volume?
- Why is it better to use the smallest possible number of measurements?
- Why do liquid ingredients and dry ingredients need different kinds of measuring cups?
- How should brown sugar be measured, and why?
You should also know the basic equivalents by heart:
- cups in a pint
- pints in a quart
- quarts in a gallon
- cups in a gallon
- teaspoons in a tablespoon
- tablespoons in a cup
- grams in a pound
Sources
This chapter is written from these open textbooks:
- Culinary Foundations — Cheramie & Thibodeaux, Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, Nicholls StateCC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Basic Scientific Food Preparation Lab Manual — Dept. of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State UniversityCC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Introduction to Baking and Pastries — Rink & Thibodeaux, Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, Nicholls StateCC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Fruits, Vegetables and Farinaceous Products — Thibodeaux & Bienvenu, Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, Nicholls StateCC BY-NC-SA 4.0