# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/81 "2018-12-22T17:48:27Z")
Most weird measurements in recipes don’t give me cause for hesitation, but I inherited a number of recipes from my late Kiwi mother-in-law that called for a “dessert spoonful” of one ingredient or another. Do New Zealanders eat their desserts with the same size spoon as we do here? I have no idea. Finally settled on about a tablespoon, and that seems to work. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2018, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/82 "2018-12-22T18:37:00Z")
Kiwis eat their desserts with _tablespoons_? Man, they must really love their sweets, down there! ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/83 "2018-12-22T18:52:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Kiwis eat their desserts with _tablespoons_? Man, they must really love their sweets, down there! LOL, well, if my husband was representative of Kiwis in any way, yes, they do love their sweets! But I would love to learn a more exact measurement in terms I recognize for what was meant by that recipe notation. I saw it used in Australian recipes, too, though mostly just those offered by the older folks. My reasoning is that a dessert spoon is generally the larger spoon in a set of cutlery, the ones we commonly use for soup. Teaspoons are the ones we usually use to stir our coffee. When serving desserts that require a spoon, I’ve always set out the larger spoon. So… there ya go. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/84 "2018-12-22T18:59:29Z")
Huh, around here, desserts are always eaten using teaspoons. And a tablespoon is much larger yet than even a soup spoon. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/85 "2018-12-22T19:01:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Huh, around here, desserts are always eaten using teaspoons. And a tablespoon is much larger yet than even a soup spoon. But Miss Manners says… never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2018, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/86 "2018-12-22T23:42:37Z")
Okay, this was from a preschooler so it’s not a real recipe, but I still like it: “A cup of degrees.” ---
**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:** [December 23, 2018, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/87 "2018-12-23T01:19:36Z")
What, you prefer to measure your degrees by weight? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/88 "2018-12-23T02:25:41Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > 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/)_. Dunno why you felt the need to be coy about the book. _Too Many Cooks_ by Rex Stout. Well-known Nero Wolfe mystery. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/89 "2018-12-23T03:31:24Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > 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)? They learned from their parents, and probably used the same dishes as their parents. So they used half of the wine glass of this and 1/3 of the earthenware bowl of that. Baking doesn’t need to be all THAT precise, and you do get a feel for what the batter looks and feels like. I do most of my sugar cooking (things like making jelly, or lemon curd, or the hot sugar syrup that’s the base of buttercream frosting) by eye and experience, because it’s a PITA to get a thermometer into the shallow amount of hot sugar, and I haven’t yet found a candy thermometer accurate enough to be worth the effort. So the first couple of times I make the dish I meticulously pour out bits into cold water until it’s the “medium ball” stage (or whatever) and the 5th time, I cook it until it looks right. > [@Aspenglow](#): > > Most weird measurements in recipes don’t give me cause for hesitation, but I inherited a number of recipes from my late Kiwi mother-in-law that called for a “dessert spoonful” of one ingredient or another. > > Do New Zealanders eat their desserts with the same size spoon as we do here? I have no idea. > > Finally settled on about a tablespoon, and that seems to work. I once measured all my volume measurements against each other. That is, I tested that the tablespoon held 3 times, the volume of the teaspoon, and that the right number of tablespoons filled the cup, and the right number of cups filled the larger measuring cups, etc. (I threw out one “tablespoon” as a result, too, because it was only 2 teaspoons. Everything else proved to be accurate, or at least, they all agreed with each other.) While I was doing that, I also measured the teaspoons and dinner spoons that I eat with. The teaspoon proved to be remarkably close to a true teaspoon, and the dinner spoon was about 1.5 teaspoons. My dinner spoon looks similar to the spoons I am often given for dessert. Take that for whatever it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/90 "2018-12-23T04:55:17Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Most weird measurements in recipes don’t give me cause for hesitation, but I inherited a number of recipes from my late Kiwi mother-in-law that called for a “dessert spoonful” of one ingredient or another. > > Do New Zealanders eat their desserts with the same size spoon as we do here? I have no idea. > > Finally settled on about a tablespoon, and that seems to work. The “dessert spoon” measure is 10ml, or two teaspoonfuls (or 2/3 tablespoon). ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/91 "2018-12-23T13:23:18Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > They learned from their parents, and probably used the same dishes as their parents. So they used half of the wine glass of this and 1/3 of the earthenware bowl of that. Baking doesn’t need to be all THAT precise, and you do get a feel for what the batter looks and feels like. [This guy](https://www.youtube.com/user/jastownsendandson) has a YouTube channel celebrating the 18th century life style. There is come crafting but it is mostly cookery and the recipes from the period are awfully vague, even the baking. He generally tries to standardize them, guessing if necessary (It says a handful of fennel; we’ll try two tablespoons.) but like you said, even for something needing some precision like bread making, experience makes up for vagueness. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/92 "2018-12-23T13:44:55Z")
My cooking style does not rely on strict measuring. I tend to add seasonings and ingredients until [Edesia](http://www.thaliatook.com/OGOD/edesia.php) puts her hand on my shoulder and says “Abbastanza, figlio mio…” Adjusting the recipes will often improve the dish. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/93 "2018-12-23T15:09:01Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I think it’s a little weird. One of my recipes call for 1 and 1/2 tablespoons, but I don’t have a half tablespoon measure so I just add a teaspoon instead. 1 tablespoon is three teaspoons. So 1.5 tablespoons is 4.5 teaspoons. Someodd measurements may have originated when there were metric/American conversions. I have directions for a crumble streusel topping that came from a German woman who used metric. 250 grams of butter is about 8.75 ounces. And 300 grams of flour is about 10-1/2 ounces. ---
**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 23, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/94 "2018-12-23T15:33:02Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Dunno why you felt the need to be coy about the book. _Too Many Cooks_ by Rex Stout. > > Well-known Nero Wolfe mystery. Wasn’t being coy, I couldn’t think of which one. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/95 "2018-12-23T16:42:42Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > [This guy](https://www.youtube.com/user/jastownsendandson) has a YouTube channel celebrating the 18th century life style. There is come crafting but it is mostly cookery and the recipes from the period are awfully vague, even the baking. He generally tries to standardize them, guessing if necessary (It says a handful of fennel; we’ll try two tablespoons.) but like you said, even for something needing some precision like bread making, experience makes up for vagueness. And even making a basic loaf of bread doesn’t need anywhere near that much precision. I could do it without any measurements, and I bet I could teach most people who to do it in a couple of tries. Bread can take a wide range of hydration and yeast levels and still come out as good bread, as long as you knead it well to develop the gluten (or give it enough time to develop the gluten itself in no-knead recipes), and are patient to make sure you get good rises. In the five years I lived in Hungary, my stove had only two settings: I and II. I have no idea to this day what temps they were supposed to correspond to, but I’m guessing something like 325 and 450, plus or minus 25 degrees or so. You get used to it and figure it out rather quickly if you have to cook every day. One is a “slow oven”; the other is a “fast oven.” And, yes, you can set it between the two if you want, but there are no temps associated with it, and I never bothered getting a thermometer for it. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/96 "2018-12-23T16:43:49Z")
Not so much a weird measurement as a weird way of expressing it: yesterday, my niece was making “fried” ice cream pie, and the recipe called for half of a 1.5 quart container of vanilla ice cream. That’s 0.75 quarts, or 3 cups, but the recipe author apparently wasn’t up to doing the math. For my part, my recipes tend to involve measures of “enough” and “until it smells right”. I do make an effort to use actual standard measurements when I write recipes for others, but they’re usually just an approximation of what I use. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/97 "2018-12-23T16:57:26Z")
We have a recipe for ginger cookies (lebkuchenherzen) that informs the cook as follow: > [@recipe](#): > > Stir in as much of the remaining flour as needed until you get a soft dough (feels like a baby’s bottom) ---
**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:** [December 23, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/98 "2018-12-23T17:12:19Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > We have a recipe for ginger cookies (lebkuchenherzen) that informs the cook as follow: > > > [@recipe](#): > > > > Stir in as much of the remaining flour as needed until you get a soft dough (feels like a baby’s bottom) Your kitchen doesn’t have a reference baby? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/99 "2018-12-23T17:14:38Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Your kitchen doesn’t have a reference baby? Babysitter, LSD, microwave… ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046/100 "2018-12-23T17:24:48Z")
I have an old french cookbook which calls for a “thumbnail” of butter (une vignette de beurre) in the crepe recipe. Of course, for all I know that could be a perfectly normal measurement in France. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unusual-measurement-youve-seen-in-a-recipe/820046.md?page=6)