# Do the English all have scales in their kitchens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558 "2013-04-13T01:13:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chipacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Chipacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chipacabra)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/41 "2013-04-13T19:57:02Z")
As an american, I hate baking without a scale. Measuring flour by weight is just so much faster and more reliable than by volume. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/42 "2013-04-13T20:18:49Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > How does the cups method cope with things like butter? Do you have squish it down then scrape it all out again? What is the volume of an American cup anyway? One of the best, undersung American inventions is the stick of butter with measurements on the wrapper. In other countries I’ve visited, butter seems to come in a huge block. I assume cooks there have kitchen scales and whack off pieces until they get the desired amount. Here it comes in half-cup sticks (long-thin ones in certain parts of the country. Short-fat ones in others) and on the wrapper are markings dividing it into tablespoons (with additional markings at 1/4 cup and 1/3 cup line.) If you need 5 tablespoons, you cut at the 5T line and you’re fine. Plus, the smaller sticks are just generally more wieldy than those huge blocks I’ve had to get in other places. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/43 "2013-04-13T21:03:45Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > Looking at this [egg guide](http://www.egginfo.co.uk/basic/egg-sizes) I would say that our small is your medium, our medium your large etc. I shall refrain from drawing any conclusions from this 😉 We have the giants of the chicken world, towering over your puny excuses for hens! Bow before the uber-chickens! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/44 "2013-04-13T22:04:05Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > We have the giants of the chicken world, towering over your puny excuses for hens! Bow before the uber-chickens! 😃 I was thinking more along the lines of “Call that a giant? Here that would just be a mere medium.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/45 "2013-04-13T22:07:59Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > One of the best, undersung American inventions is the stick of butter with measurements on the wrapper. > > In other countries I’ve visited, butter seems to come in a huge block. Australian butter has measurements on the wrapper - usually 50g increments. It’s typically sold in 250g blocks, though you can get bigger sizes too. I’ll wager it’s similar in the UK. Aussie recipes often use a mix of volume and weight measures. Kitchen scales are commonplace. The biggest advantage of weight measurements is that they’re unambiguous. When I get a recipe from a random source, I can never be sure what size cups, pints and tablespoons it refers to. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/46 "2013-04-13T22:27:21Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > I was thinking more along the lines of “Call that a giant? Here that would just be a mere medium.” 😉 Bah, of course - strike that, reverse it… ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/47 "2013-04-13T22:28:33Z")
> [@emacknight](#): > > The issue isn’t really that you need to be as precise as a chemistry lab with +/0.01gm margins of error. The problem with baking is that a pound of flour can be compressed and packed into 2 cups, or it can be sifted/aerated to fill nearly 5cups. yes, this. volumetric measurments is fine for liquid ingredients, but for things like flour which can be compacted volumetric is too unpredictable. > [@kittenblue](#): > > I know all the “by weight” people are really insistent that their method is just so much better, and I understand the method of it, but every time I try to do it, I end up having to weigh each ingredient separately…I can not get the hang of the “zero and add, zero and add” thing…I always dump a bit too much of something in, and then it is impossible to get the extra back out! For me, teaspoons, tablespoons, cups and ounces work just fine. add slowly. if you’re adding the amount you _think_ should be close to the target weight all at once, it’s probably too much. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/48 "2013-04-14T02:44:25Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > My Home Ec teacher said … (snip, to save length.) That’s how I learned it too but since then I have learned to only go that route if I have plenty of time and really want perfection. For most things, I don’t sift flour, though I would if I were making a wedding cake or for gravies. I don’t use shortening any more, only butter, so I go with just measuring the stick of butter. However, I do set the pyrex measuring cup down on the shelf and squat down so I can eyeball the level of the liquid. And I hard pack my brown sugar. I used to bake Christmas treats to sell as trays of mixed treats. It was pretty successful but it was also getting to the size that I would need a commercial kitchen. I still have two sets of all my measuring gear for both dry and wet foods. It takes up room in the cupboard, but I find it often comes in handy to already have extra measuring gear on hand when making complicated dishes. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/49 "2013-04-14T03:14:15Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > American butter comes in quarter pound sticks wrapped in waxed paper. The paper is marked with lines dividing each stick into eight tablespoons. Sixteen tablespoons = two sticks = one cup. You may (or may not) want to keep in mind that a stick of butter is actually 9 tablespoons rather than the 8 marked on the wrapper. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/50 "2013-04-14T03:27:51Z")
Everyone I know (in whose kitchen I’ve spend time) has a scale, measuring cups (pyrex and metal) and measuring spoons. I would be more surprised if someone didn’t have a scale in their kitchen than if they did. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/51 "2013-04-14T04:59:37Z")
I’m reading _Modernist Cuisine_ right now, and despite being produced by an American team, and published in the US, all recipes in it are metric. The most interesting ones are what they call _parametric recipes_, where all ingredients are given as percentages by weight of the largest ingredient. Sauerkraut, for instance, is given as 2 kg of cabbage (100%) and 30 g of salt (1.5%), making it very easy to scale them up. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/52 "2013-04-14T05:40:54Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > The most interesting ones are what they call _parametric recipes_, where all ingredients are given as percentages by weight of the largest ingredient. Sauerkraut, for instance, is given as 2 kg of cabbage (100%) and 30 g of salt (1.5%), making it very easy to scale them up. I never knew they were called “parametric recipes” but they are indeed great for doing anything that requires quick and easy scaling. I’ve always just called them “baker’s percentages” as they are used in baking, but the way I write down my sausage recipes is the same. Plus there’s a lot of recipes where certain ratios are particularly important, whereas other ones have more fudge room, so I remember what percent by weight certain ingredients should be in relation to the heaviest item and play the rest by ear. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/53 "2013-04-14T06:25:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I never knew they were called “parametric recipes” but they are indeed great for doing anything that requires quick and easy scaling. I’ve always just called them “baker’s percentages” as they are used in baking, but the way I write down my sausage recipes is the same. Plus there’s a lot of recipes where certain ratios are particularly important, whereas other ones have more fudge room, so I remember what percent by weight certain ingredients should be in relation to the heaviest item and play the rest by ear. Sadly, _Modernist Cuisine_ doesn’t cover baking. I’m nearing the end of Volume 3, _Plants and Animals_. Really fascinating stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/54 "2013-04-14T08:30:00Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > That’s how I learned it too but since then I have learned to only go that route if I have plenty of time and really want perfection. For most things, I don’t sift flour, though I would if I were making a wedding cake or for gravies. I don’t use shortening any more, only butter, so I go with just measuring the stick of butter. > > However, I do set the pyrex measuring cup down on the shelf and squat down so I can eyeball the level of the liquid. And I hard pack my brown sugar. > > I used to bake Christmas treats to sell as trays of mixed treats. It was pretty successful but it was also getting to the size that I would need a commercial kitchen. I still have two sets of all my measuring gear for both dry and wet foods. It takes up room in the cupboard, but I find it often comes in handy to already have extra measuring gear on hand when making complicated dishes. I don’t remember when I last sifted some flour. When I make gravy, I just sprinkle some in slowly with one hand, and whisk with the other hand. I don’t really measure the fat and flour when I make gravy, I just eyeball it, usually. If I were making a cake from scratch, I’d sift the flour. But we all learn which little shortcuts we can get away with in the kitchen, when we’ve been cooking for years. ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/55 "2013-04-14T16:50:17Z")
I’m surprised - though reading this thread I now understand why- that Americans apparently _don’t_ have kitchen scales! I’m not much of a baker, but I cook a lot, and find them very useful if not always essential. I’ll even use the scales if I’m just boiling some pasta for a simple dinner as I’m not great at guessing how much 100g is. However, it must have been a pain doing the maths when we were using imperial measures. The cups approach would have been good back then… ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/56 "2013-04-14T18:36:55Z")
My ex has a couple of very old, English cookbooks. They use measures, not weights. But I will never, ever have the urge to make the stargazy pie recipe. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/57 "2013-04-15T11:19:51Z")
Probably the majority (as in over 50%) of households do have a set of scales in England, yeah. Not in student halls, maybe, and definitely not in every home, and in some homes those scales would be on top of a cupboard and never used. Any household where someone likes to cook would have scales though. OK, almost any, because there are exceptions to anything. They’re not hard to use in the slightest. WRT butter, I often just guesstimate the amount. A quarter of a 200g block is very easy to apportion without markings. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/58 "2013-04-15T12:16:07Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > You may (or may not) want to keep in mind that a stick of butter is actually 9 tablespoons rather than the 8 marked on the wrapper. In America? A standard US stick of butter is 8 tablespoons. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/59 "2013-04-15T14:11:12Z")
> [@alexandra](#): > > I’m surprised - though reading this thread I now understand why- that Americans apparently _don’t_ have kitchen scales! I’m not much of a baker, but I cook a lot, and find them very useful if not always essential. I’ll even use the scales if I’m just boiling some pasta for a simple dinner as I’m not great at guessing how much 100g is. > > However, it must have been a pain doing the maths when we were using imperial measures. The cups approach would have been good back then… I was coming in to say just this. I have a mini scale and a larger one ([like this](http://www.shinyshack.com/product.php?prid=215219)), and use one or the other several times a week, for measuring portions of rice or pasta. And I’m a terrible baker. Have given up on it, in fact, but you’re not taking my scales, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558/60 "2013-04-15T14:21:12Z")
> [@Clark\_Cello](#): > > In America? A standard US stick of butter is 8 tablespoons. Yeah, I’m curious to hear the explanation here. I looked, and one stick of butter says 1/2 cup on it, and a 1/2 cup is 8 tablespoons, which are also marked. The stick weighs at 113g, and the serving size is listed as “one tablespoon (14 g)”, which also works out to 8 tablespoons per stick. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-english-all-have-scales-in-their-kitchens/655558.md?page=2)