# Most unusual measurement you've seen in a recipe **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2018, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046 "2018-08-22T12:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/61 "2018-08-27T05:21:04Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > What was the rest of the reciple? I hope it wasn’t > " … **mayonnaise** cup and 2 tsp of sugar … " > with the key word faded from frequent folding or such. :smack: Seriously. A cup of sugar seems like an awful lot unless you’re making a huge amount of coleslaw. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/62 "2018-08-27T14:30:05Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > What was the rest of the reciple? I hope it wasn’t > " … **mayonnaise** ⅞ cup and 2 tsp of sugar … " > with the key word faded from frequent folding or such. :smack: See post #30. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/63 "2018-08-27T22:39:19Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > . . . And I hope “half the size of a tab of acid” will now be a contender for most unusual measurement seen in a recipe. It’s got my vote. How does a tab of acid compare to a tictac? ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/64 "2018-08-28T14:54:51Z")
I have a very old mincemeat recipe where everything is measured in “bowls” 1 bowl of this, 2 bowls of that, 4 bowls of the other. How much mincemeat you end up with is entirely dependent on what size bowl you use. ---
**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:** [August 28, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/65 "2018-08-28T15:04:26Z")
> [@Pabitel](#): > > I have a very old mincemeat recipe where everything is measured in “bowls” > 1 bowl of this, 2 bowls of that, 4 bowls of the other. > > How much mincemeat you end up with is entirely dependent on what size bowl you use. That’s actually quite convenient, IMHO. I have a number of recipes that I use myself that are simply based on ratios, and not fixed amounts (which is what this type of recipe is.) Easy to scale up and down. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/66 "2018-08-28T16:19:12Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > For the record, in Japanese “skosh” (the more formal version of which is “skoshi”) means “a little” of anything. It can be a little salt, a little bigger, a little further, a little skill with language, pretty much anything. There is always some context to show what kind of measurement is being addressed. Heh. And there was me thinking it was a Native American term, coming from near O -just a - skosh. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/67 "2018-08-28T16:53:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Thank you! I find this cooking=art, baking=science analogy too strong and scares people off. There is some truth in it, but baking does usually tolerate a reasonable amount of slop, and there certainly is “art” to it, as our ancestors were not using precise kitchen scales and measuring cups to bake their goods. You do develop a feel for it, and the amount of liquid you need to add to a dough may change depending on the humidity of the day you are baking it, so going by “exact numbers” isn’t even that exact, unless you’re factoring in for that. People who think cooking is all art are doomed to fail at it, or at best to produce mostly mediocre dishes. Alton Brown and Kenji Lopez-Alt (among others) have debunked all that ‘cooking is art’ nonsense. While you have more latitude, you still need to pay attention to the basic science behind food prep. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/68 "2018-08-28T18:28:21Z")
My old bread machine has the recipe for its standard loaf on a sticker right on the front. The first ingredient is “1 1/8 cups of water”. The machine even came with a clear plastic measuring cup divided into eighths so that you can measure out that last eighth. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/69 "2018-09-07T11:44:07Z")
Reputedly someone somewhere put in print a recipe that called for a lump of butter “the size of a large golf ball”. Yup, really. BTW, it’s generally easier using metric measures if it involves small quantities. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/70 "2018-09-09T05:02:40Z")
I’d like to see a reference to “cubic millifurlongs”. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/71 "2018-09-09T17:09:31Z")
One of my professors used to measure the sugar for his tea in “barn-attoparsecs”. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/72 "2018-09-10T21:57:44Z")
My wife has a recipe for eggplant chutney that calls for “one bottle of oil and two bottles of vinegar”. She asked her Indian friend what size is a jar in India and friend had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/73 "2018-09-11T03:19:39Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > At 06:10, he adds cayenne pepper sauce: “1 teaspoon, and a little more”. Aw. That reminds me of my grandmother on my dad’s side. Nana was a school cook for a long time, and she took it very seriously, like any chef. She loved showing me that trick with measuring salt. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/74 "2018-09-11T04:26:52Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > I’d like to see a reference to “cubic millifurlongs”. My personal favorite measurement is the femtoliter. That’s a cubic micron, but really, I like “femtoliter” better. A human red corpuscle is about 60 fl in volume. ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/75 "2018-09-11T12:45:47Z")
> [@wanderer2575](#): > > My grandmother had handwritten recipes calling for “one glass” of this or “two glasses” of that. When my mother and aunt were clearing out her apartment after she died, they _think_ they determined the actual glass in question. Are you, by any chance, of Jewish descent? ‘Glasses’ seem to have been a common unit of measure in some Jewish recipes, as the glass in question was the glass that had contained a memorial candle. By the same, mass-produced candle, and there was the measuring glass. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/76 "2018-09-11T13:54:50Z")
I recall a folk recipe that instructed you to add “a mouthful” of some ingredient. I was never sure if you had to actually measure it with your mouth, or it was just a quantity suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/77 "2018-12-22T13:23:02Z")
This one wasn’t unusual, but I did have to read it twice before it made sense. My wife had an old recipe card out that she had written years ago for chili. And one of the ingredients was 1 no 2 can tomatoes The way I read it the first time was as if she couldn’t decide how many cans she needed. One. No, two! ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/78 "2018-12-22T14:57:13Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Fannie Farmer standardized this as a quarter pound of butter. As matter of fact, Farmer standardized just about every measurement used in the US today: cup, half cup, teaspoon, etc. I just read Fannie Farmer’s Wiki entry, and I’m confused. Prior to her, did cooks all across America (nay, the world) just wing it? How did anyone ever bake (where precise measurements are necessary to create chemical reactions)? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/79 "2018-12-22T15:39:49Z")
This discussion reminds me of a book I once read. The protagonist is a gourmand who had, in his youth, spent some time in a Spanish boarding house, and he’d developed a fondness for the landlady’s sausage. Cut to an unknown number of decades later, and the gourmand is a man of means with connections. He’s spent much of his life trying to track down the recipe, to no avail, until fate puts him into contact with the landlady’s son, who _will **not** _ give up the recipe, despite offers of outrageous sums of money. After a plot point which indebts the son to the gourmand, the recipe is exchanged, with solemn vows of secrecy. At the end of the book, in an appendix, the author reveals that the son died from a fascist bomb and so the gourmand is no longer bound by the debt of secrecy. The author reveals the recipe, and it involves “some” goose, “some” pheasant, “some” onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme, red wine, etc. All dependent on the weather, the eater’s tastes, etc. If I ever have a lot of money, I’m going to pay a professional chef to whip me up some _[saucisse minuit](https://inspiredbywolfe.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/saucisse-minuit/)_. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/80 "2018-12-22T17:12:41Z")
When I was cooking for a retirement home, the corporate offices had gotten the brilliant idea of selecting home-cooking recipes from online recipe sites for us to cook for the residents. It was a pain in the ass because these recipes were designed to feed 4-6 people and we had to multiply them to feed however many people we needed to feed (around 80 in my location). My fellow cooks and I ended up scratching our heads over how to properly multiply “3/4 of a pinch” of something in one recipe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046.md?page=5)