Excellent post. Thanks.

It clarified lots and lots of stuff that I had been wondering about for a
long time.




In rec.food.cooking, -- > wrote:

> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> > Hiya, would like to try some of these recipes, but I'm british and use
> > ounces in cooking. Does anyone know the conversion? Thanx
> >

> There are fluid ounces (volume) and there are dry (avoirdupois weight)
> ounces.

> Fresh water converts easily between volume and weight -

> Other things do not convert easily - and unless you like having a
> food-covered calculator in your recipe stores:

> since you are British, it is probably a lot easier long run to pop over
> to Harrads (sic) and get a set of US-measure measuring cups and spoons for
> less than the cost of the ride there.
> Or check a local cooking shoppe.
> Or order a set on the internet.

> mo

> 1) Replicating cooking recipes is supposedly most reliable when done by
> weight. Use of the common cup and spoon measures indirectly delivers the
> proper weight of the ingredient.

> 2) Fresh water, used as the standard so the old labs and merchants could set
> up their measures at a common point, converts easily between volume and
> weight -

> 1 measured cup water = 8 fluid ounces = avoir. 8 ounces.
> ( similar to using water in old metric common point: 1cc=1ml=1g )

> Note: I do not think the Imperial gallon at 10 lbs a gallon was originally
> part of the system and follows these rules, however. I believe it is akin to
> the bakers dozen, devised so the provider of goods could not be hanged for
> shorting a customer by mistake, back when brit leaders were on a death
> penalty craze.

> 3) You may have heard the memory tool "pint's a pound the world around" .
> For water:
> 1 measured cup water = 8 fluid ounces = avoir. 8 ounces =16 tablespoons.
> And there are 16 cups and 8 pints and about 8 lbs of water per gallon.
> It is octal-based ( i.e., "on multiples of just fingers, because the
> thumbs are busy holding the food" someone said)

> 4) Most other things do not convert easily , because their volume per weight
> varies. A cup of flour or a cup of shortening does not weigh 8 ounces.
> Some people's baked goods and souffles, however, well exceed 8 ounces a
> cup.


> and BTW, don't eat baked goods that exceed 1 kg per cup.





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