Actually, this was an advantage, as all my previous vehicles had been metric, and thus all my tools.
Tom
I recall that my '82 Z28 had metric bolt heads, but US thread pitch!
Girl (Euro) in my office asked.... "what's 1/100th of a meter????"
Worked as a Volvo mechanic as a young pup, was surprised that they were all inch up to about '75. Had a Swedish milling machine from the '60s that was all inch too. Wonder when they went officially metric? Surprised that a Japanese car had inch threads, odd. Maybe the pitch corresponded better to the torquing method than the available metric norms for the diameter, and rather than make a new metric pitch they used the inch?
This is pretty much what I do, but as I started before getting a printer, I hand copy the recipes and then look up the conversions and note them on the side.
Which reminds me... I need to get a new notebook to copy everything into, mine has cake batter or bbq sauce splatters and oil drips all over it.
personally I have no issues with using the imperial system--for cooking, it almost seems easier at times as it uses simpler number values. Also most courses in Engineering spend a great deal concreting conversion skills. Do I know the conversions? No--that's what onlineconversions.com is for :P
I don't quite follow how people get so hot about the US sticking to the imperial system. The costs to revamp a new (relatively) industrial powerhouse would have been astronomical, and it's true, there was also no push from the government in fear of economic loss due to the switch (although they didn't make the greatest decisions later with respect to the economy).
I feel a bit of the non-US contempt on this topic. Sure the metric system is logical, but we don't see the world taking on the Swiss logical internet time? The argument should be very similar.
As most manufacturing is done in metric in China and other non-U.S. countries, converting does make a lot of sense.
I wonder how much the mistakes have cost the Chinese in re-making incorrectly converted tooling?
Conversion problems have already proved costly for the U.S:
Well, isn't the simple truth that nobody likes to switch measuring systems because he/she was raised with that particular system, is used to it, has a "feel" for it and the numbers actually tell them something? Shouldn't we be thinking globally enough not to rant or make fun about any other system? None of them are going to change any time any soon so why loose nerves over it?
BTW: if you should own a Mac computer, there's this neat desktop app for all kind of conversions, weigh, volume, temperatures, distances etc. Nowadays it's really no big deal to converse stuff!
Everybody who's used to the metric system is very, very bad in calculating in fractions. Most of us have done that in primary school and not any more since then. So understand that people lack a certain amount of exercise!
I'm used to the metric system but I love to use my cup measurements for all the recipes which call for it. It feels so exotic to me! I think it's great and would never converse it into metric, because then I don't do the "original" thing. So personally, I see it as a plus to work with another system. Keeps your brain flexible!
And when it comes to baking and cooking: sorry, but you REALLY don't need to be correct down to .001g. In order to get that correctly, you'd need a special balance on a special table. Believe me, I work in a lab and we work with these kind of small measurements.
So I'd say, if your dish, cake, whatever doesn't look or taste right it's definitely NOT due to any tiny weighing error but probably to a bigger blunder!
Nonsense.
Tom
That's in liquids. 1 US cup is 8 oz but 1 UK cup is 9 oz. TBH, that's won't make a great deal of difference in most cases. The teaspoon is like 0.01 oz different.
Plus, measuring out flour depending on how you do it can lead to up to 1.5/2 oz more or less of dry ingredients. So, as was said above as long as you used all UK or all US cups/spoon set it should be all good.
Anyway, weight measures are much more accurate. So if you really love your recipe, weigh out your ingredients and make a note of it that way. It will be easier to replicate later on.
And yet I am only so close to finding those measuring spoons...
So true. When I was first confronted with American recipes I did not know that a cup was a defined measuring device. For me a cup was simply something you use to serve tea. So I always happily used a teacup -never had any problems
(Immagine my the expression on my face when I discovered the truth )
No, it's 1/2 pint, i.e. 10oz.
Tom
I used to always get Tupperware measuring cups and spoons back in the day - I have some metric ones I got from Ka Pai when she did a party here in Basel, maybe try going through her for your cooking measurement needs?
My aunt has a recipe that lists "cups". But it's HER cup that she uses. She has a special tea cup that is reserved for baking. I've asked her to weight out her chocolate cake recipes but she never gets around to it! grr!
All the cooking conversion chats I have list a UK culinary measuring cup at 9oz.
Anyway, I can't worry about it. LOL. I use what I have & that's that.
That's probably the "metric" cup .
" Metric cup
In Commonwealth of nations (such as Australia , New Zealand , Indian Subcontinent , South Africa , ...), Latin America and Lebanon one cup is commonly defined as 250 millilitres.
1 metric cup = 250 millilitres
= 162⁄3 international tablespoons (15 mL each)
= 12.5 Australian tablespoons
≈ 8.80 imperial fluid ounces
≈ 8.45 U.S. customary fluid ounces
United States customary cup
United States customary cup is defined as half a U.S. pint .
1 U.S. customary cup = 1⁄16 U.S. customary gallon
= 1⁄4 U.S. customary quart
= 1⁄2 U.S. customary pint
= 8 U.S. customary fluid ounces
= 16 U.S. customary tablespoons [[nb 2]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_%28unit%29#cite_note-1)
≡ 236.5882365 millilitres [[nb 3]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_%28unit%29#cite_note-2)
≈ 152⁄3 international tablespoons
≈ 11.75 Australian tablespoons
≈ 0.833 imperial cups
≈ 8.33 imperial fluid ounces
United States "legal" cup
The cup currently used in the United States for nutrition labeling is defined in United States law as 240 mL. [[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_%28unit%29#cite_note-3) [[2]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_%28unit%29#cite_note-4) [[3]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_%28unit%29#cite_note-5)
1 U.S. "legal" cup = 240 millilitres
= 16 international tablespoons
= 12 Australian tablespoons
≈ 8.12 U.S. customary fluid ounces
≈ 8.45 imperial fluid ounces
Imperial cup
The imperial cup, unofficially defined as half an imperial pint , is rarely found today. It may still appear on older kitchen utensils and in older recipe books.
1 imperial cup = 0.5 imperial pints
= 2 imperial gills
= 10 imperial fluid ounces
= 284 millilitres
≈ 19 international tablespoons [[4]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_%28unit%29#cite_note-6) [[5]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_%28unit%29#cite_note-7)
≈ 14.25 Australian tablespoons [[6]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_%28unit%29#cite_note-8)
≈ 1.20 U.S. customary cups
≈ 9.61 U.S. customary fluid ounces
Japanese cup
The Japanese cup is currently defined as 200 mL.
1 Japanese cup = 200 millilitres
≈ 7.04 imperial fluid ounces
≈ 6.76 U.S. customary fluid ounces "
Tom
Ok, now THAT is way too complicated! It's doing my head in like our UK friend say. But thanks for researching it!
My tips for recipes:
- Stick with the same measuring set even if it's your favorite teacup. Just always use the same one.
- If you have a recipe you like measure out the ingredients and make a note you'll be thankful when your favorite teacup breaks
- You can always add you can't always remove
- Don't worry about it! What's the worse that can happen?
Maybe it's the same as in the UK in the 'sixties, when people said, "This metric thing will be too much of a challenge, especially to older people. Can't we postpone it until all the old people are dead?"
If I want a recipe, I'll just look on the web for one in metric if i only have an imperial one.
Not because I can't convert but because it's faster:
Rather than put the ingredients into cups and then empty these into the mixing bowl, I just use those digital scales and reset to zero after each ingredient.
100g sugar. Reset to zero.
300g flour. Reset to zero.
10g something else. Reset to zero.
One bowl, No mess.
Tipping stuff into a cup first would just be too messy.
We've got balance scales as well but use those when cooking with the kids so they get to appreciate fractions.
I used to do this until I made a mistake...... See point #3 above!