Cooking Measurements

What Are Cooking Measurements?

Exactly what it says on the label. How to measure ingredients for cooking. Why is this important? Not everyone was taught this growing up, and sometimes people are engaging in different forms of cooking that they don't readily know. So, to help with this, here is a very simple guide that anyone can expand upon. For awareness, there are two major systems of measurement.

Imperial System: The United States
Metric System: Almost everyone else

Common Measurements (U.S.)

C or c: Cup. Capitalization does not matter for cups.
T or tbsp: Tablespoon. Big T only.
t or tsp: Teaspoon. Little t only.
Oz: Ounce
lb: Pound
ml: Milliliter
gal: Gallon
qt: Quart
pt: Pint

Important Notes

1. Dry vs Liquid. They sell liquid measuring cups with pour spouts. Use them for liquids only. You can see the lip of liquid better and get more accurate results.
2. Powdered herbs are usually stronger than fresh and not everything converts equally. If you need to convert fresh garlic and onion to dry because you only have powders, look up both separately.
3. If you don't have a certain ingredient, be sure to google "substitute for _____." Many ingredients have substitutes you can use or will even tell you how to make something (like buttermilk).
4. Cooking is an art, baking is a science. You can modify cooking recipes easily, but if a baking recipe calls for a certain amount of something you need to have it as precise as possible.
5. European recipes often cook by weight of ingredients, a small kitchen scale is helpful and often leads to better results because you can't over or under season something then.
6. Ingredients, even dry ones, can go bad or stale. This will impact the amount you might need or why the provided amount doesn't taste as good as it should.