yed with American recipes and the stupid really get annoyed volume measures .

Sorry about the missing letters in the head line.

I was following a recipe this morning which asked for 'a mugful' of grated cheese

It did clarify in grams too thank goodness because I have mugs of varying sizes and didn't know whether to press the grated cheese down, put it in lightly or just scatter it randomly around the kitchen.

In fact, I did the latter with quite a bit of it

last, not latter!!

I spend a lot of time that I’ll never get back converting units of weight and volume - it’s the price we pay for having all those tempting international recipes at the click of a key. My baking tins never seem to be the right size either, so more mathematical exercises needed. DH sticks with home grown recipes, which is probably very wise.

I do have a handy conversion chart stuck to the fridge (for oven temperatures as well) and one of those Tala cook’s measures, but I’m not convinced it’s very accurate.

Oh, and I still prefer ounces to grams, as my most accurate scales are the old iron ones inherited from my mother, and possibly her mother before her.

And (bear with me here, I’m on a roll) what do others see as a tablespoon? To me it’s two of the big dessertspoons, but I know others who use just the one.

I agree with you about cup measurements* Nellie* and Maggie. They should either convert to grammes or ounces or make sure these 'cups' are available onsale here.
As for tablespoons - I tried to buy some online recently, (lost my old ones) and nearest I could find were basic serving spoons from Lakeland. But they're a bit bigger than tbsps.

ps I sometimes watch Anna Ollsen's baking series, in the morning, and am impressed with how organised her kitchen is. She uses cups though - I think she's Canadian.

I agree Re the cups!

1 tbsp is 3 tips!! Of course that depends on the size of your teaspoon. We have 2 versions in our drawer and I like my tea best with the (bigger) new ones and can kid myself I only have 1 sugar in my tea.

I have those dinky spoon measures - doesn't everyone? I panic if one goes missing.

Oh I have them somewhere in the cutlery drawer, kitty, under a mountain of teaspoons and dessertspoons of various sizes.

A tablespoon measure is 15ml. Dessertspoon is 10ml. Teaspoon is 5ml. These are all flat measures. Once you start piling the contents of any spoon up you're talking a different language . That said, a piled tablespoon of flour is about one ounce and a rounded tablespoon of sugar is about one ounce. Those are the measures my grandma always used and she made the best Empire Biscuits ever!

I agree about cups of butter! Some US recipes talk in sticks of butter too, which is fine if you buy your butter in sticks as my US SiL does. I pressed butter into a measuring cup once and weighed it. I can't remember what the result was because guessing doesn't seem to matter.

In most recipes the exact amount of flour or oats or whatever in your cup doesn't matter all that much either.

American measuring cups are on sale here.

I bought American cups and spoon measures, no worries.

At school I was taught that 2 teaspoons equal one dessertspoon, and two dessertspoons equals one tablespoon.
I have a set of American cup measures, but I hardly ever use them. I also still prefer ounces to grams.

A cup is 250ml? I use a measuring jug or cups from IKEA where the big one is usually 100ml. Many countries use volume measures - Scandinavian countries often use decilitres (100ml) for baking.

The one you really have to watch out for is that US pint is smaller than a UK pint!
US 1 pint = 16 fl oz
UK (Imperial) pint = 20 fl oz

The sticks of butter used in America are great. Each stick weighs 4 ozs. No need for scales. Sometimes the butter paper is marked into 1oz lots - so easy. I also have a set of American cups. I prefer them to scales, which I find can be dodgy. Tablespoons are just as reliable as cups.

But as the article says it depends on how small you cut up your onion. (or whatever) the difference between something finely chopped or not finally chopped. Half a cup of butter which meant melting it. I work in metric now the sums are easier.
The USA have "been weighed in the balance and found wanting."

2 teaspoons equal one dessertspoon, and two dessertspoons equals one tablespoon

That's how I remember it too, hildajenniJ. Perhaps the standard size of our teaspoons has changed.

Three teaspoons equals one tablespoon because a tabelspoon is 15ml and a teaspoon is 5ml. Two dessertspoons equals 20ml which is more than a tablespoon.

Use proper measuring spoons (if it matters!) then it doesn't matter how offbeat one's cutlery is [mine]

I'm cooking some recipes from an American book at the moment. It does tell you if your sugar is supposed to be tightly packed in the spoon or cup, and it does give a conversion table for oven temperatures so I don't have to do the maths. For things like sticks of butter I just ask my American SiL to translate.

When I follow American recipes I half the quantity of sugar. The recipes still work, it's just that they are not so sickly sweet.

They do love their sugar don't they varian !

I am always very approximate with my cooking. I find reasonable approximations do not affect the quality of the finished product, even with baking.

I have a Tala measurement cone and a set of plastic spoons. The cone includes US cup measurements. I put products in the cone, give it a tap to settle it and use that