ms_peacock wrote:

> You definitely don't have to weigh ingredients and measurements don't have
> to be precise either. Recipes for baked goods didn't start having exact
> measurements until cookbooks started becoming common around the beginning of
> the 1900s. Before then people used what ever was handy to measure with. If
> you'll read really old cookbooks the measurements will be things like a
> "teacup" or a "knob of butter."


On the other hand, we don't know how those early recipes came out. It
is possible that a number of those cakes were runny on the inside or too
dry. Maybe a sauce came out perfectly one time and a disaster the next.


I'd like to draw a distinction between measuring precisely with a
kitchen scale or measuring cups and measuring by eye and feel. Those
can be precise too. Someone who is experienced at making a particular
recipe might not bother getting out a scale to weigh a pound of flour or
might not bother dirtying a measuring spoon for a teaspoon of cinnamon,
but they might be using exactly a pound or a teaspoon because the amount
"just looked right." In other words, there's not necessarily a
distinction at all. Using scales, cups and "what looks right" can all
amount to the same thing.


--Lia