I see more and more complaints regarding recipes that use volumetric measurements instead of weight. This is especially expressed as a US vs Europe debate since the volume is often in quarts, cups and tablespoons, instead of liters and milliliters. (An argument I recently countered with this quintessentially Irish video.)
But what I wonder is, what percentage of households actually have a kitchen scale? We only have one because one of the homies developed the habit of weighing his food as a portion control method. And while I of course knew how to use one, I’d never habitually cooked by weight before.
So even assuming that the Dope at large will trend high on the scale average, and Cafe Society readers even more so, will even this group break 50% ownership? Let’s find out.
For baking particularly, I like to weigh ingredients instead of volume-measure. There can be so much variance in the weight of flour, e.g., depending on water content, that recipes are affected if you trust volume measurements.
For most other cooking, I’m fine with volume measurements. No need to be as exact as with baking.
I’m American and I have one, though I don’t cook very much. One idea is that you can, for example, put a mixing bowl on the scale, zero it and then add the weight of flour the recipe calls for, zero again, add the amount of the next ingredient the recipe calls for and so forth. The idea is to mix everything in the one container.
Also, the volumetric amounts of powdered stuff like flour varies depending on how sifted it is.
Agree. This is the primary advantage in my book. Fewer dishes; less mess.
I live in an area where Summer humidity ranges between about 65 and 75%. So the weight of flour varies from December to August almost as much as the volumetric measurement does depending upon how much the bag has been moved around lately.
Neither method is perfect, and my overall preference is for ratios. Ratios are much easier to memorize and free you to then play with flavor and texture.
I have 4. 2 digital I use all the time, and two inherited old spring ones that are more decoration. Oh, and my workshop fine-scale one I occasionally use for spice mixtures makes 5, I guess.
American, have one, use it frequently for bread / baked goods making and sometimes for other food prep work.
And of course, answering those random weird questions, like exactly how much does my cellphone weigh with it’s case, or checking the weight of a piece of mail we want to send via USPS.
We have two kitchen scales. One is a small plastic one, max capacity is 1 lb. My wife uses it mostly every time she starts on Weight Watchers and needs to be more careful about measuring her portions.
The other is a larger metal scale, probably 5 lb capacity, that I used for weighing my guinea pigs back when I had guinea pigs. It’s on a shelf in the basement. I’ve never really needed it in the kitchen, but I know where it is if I do need it.
