Sunday 12 January 2014

Measures, Weights, Conversions....

I had been wanting to do a post on measures for a long time, love reading recipes, but find it very difficult if the measures are not in the same .....as the country in which I am at the  moment...when I was in US it was very easy to use pounds, ounce, quart or whatever...whereas after I moved back to India - it is back to grams, kilograms, or litres etc...

Love it if the recipe is in cup measure  - or tsp or Tblspn... then it is universal - some of the recipe do give both grams and ounces, some cups and grams...and some recipes have conversion inbuilt...this does help a lot...I have a couple of sites I go to for conversions...though by now I have a little bit of an idea of the approximate measures - I would rather have an accurate conversion - esp. in baking....does not matter as much in curries etc...( anyways I find that for curry etc...I tend to have a general idea of the ingredients, quantities and method - and then do it my own way ) ....one of the reasons I do not always have the expected output...but then I feel cooking is all about innovation and creativity - if you have to copy page to page and dot to dot...then ?!?

Well having said all that let me get down to the conversions as I have it...


1 cup       =   16 Tablespoons ( Tblspn )
1/2 cup    =     8 Tblspns
1/4 cup    =     4 Tblspns
1 Tblspn  =      3 Teaspoon ( Tspn )

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Volume Conversions : Normally used for liquids

1 Tspn      =   5 ml
1 Tblspn   =  15 ml  =   1/2 fluid ounce
2 Tblspn   =   30 ml  =     1 fluid ounce = 1/8 cup
4 Tblspn   =   60 ml  =     2 fluid ounces = 1/4 cup
1 cup        =   240 ml  =   8 fluid ounces  =  1/2 a pint
2 cups       =   475 ml  =  16 ounces         =  1 pint
4 cups       =    950 ml  = 32 ounces         =  2 pints = 1 quart

4 quarts = 1 gallon = 3.8 L

Note : In case a higher precision is not required these approximations work

1 cup = 250 ml 
1 pint = 500 ml
1 quart = 1 litre
1 gallon = 4 litres

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Weight Conversions : ( Ounce here is different from fluid ounce )

1 ounce   =  28 grams
4 ounces  =  113 grams  = 1/4 pound
8 ounces  =  230 grams  = 1/2 pound
16 ounces = 450 grams  =    1 pound

2 pounds =   900 grams 

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Some common items in cups & grams as follows :
( i.e. given in volume & it's weight )

Flour             :  1 cup = 130 grams
Flour sifted    :  1 cup = 110 grams
Sugar             :  1 cup = 195 grams
Brown sugar   :  1 cup = 180 grams ( not firmly packed )
Butter            :  1  cup = 226 grams
Oats              :  1  cup =   90 grams


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The other very important conversion is of course of temperatures
esp. with re. to the oven for baking purposes...

I generally stick to the approximations given below :

320 F          = 160 C
340 F          = 170 C
360 - 375 F =  180 C
400 F          =  200 C

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Here's hoping the above will be of some help to you in deciphering the recipes given in various sites ....and am hoping to update the same in case I encounter any problems myself and am able to resolve the issue....

Would love to hear from you too...so please feel free to give your feedback ...thanks !!!









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