When confronted with an American
recipe, a British cook will usually see ingredients given in
cups, teaspoons and tablespoons. There may occasionally be references
to pounds, ounces, pints or fluid ounces, but they’re not that
common. In addition, there will be several ingredients that are
unfamiliar, or simply unobtainable in the UK.
So, what’s a British cook to
do?
When it comes to measuring, the
first point to remember is that if pints and fluid ounces are
given, then they should be converted to British pints and fluid
ounces. Fortunately, the British fluid ounce is only very slightly
adrift and, except for the most critical cooking, they can be
considered the same. However, the pint is markedly different.
So:
- To convert US fluid ounces to
British fluid ounces – multiply by 1.04 - To convert US pints to British
pints – multiply by 0.83 - Some US recipes do give the
measurements in metric ml, in which case no conversion is needed.
Measuring
Cups and Spoons
In America, a cup is 8 US fluid
ounces, a tablespoon is 1/2 US fluid ounce, and a teaspoon is
1/6 US fluid ounce. While you can use a British teaspoon or tablespoon
measure (5ml and 15ml, as used for medicines, are very close
to the US measures of a teaspoon and tablespoon), don’t be tempted
to use a British cup. The standard British cup is half a pint,
or 10 fluid ounces, and it’s about a fifth greater than the US
equivalent.
This table gives
the equivalents with an accuracy slightly greater than is practical
for measuring.
Equivalents:
US Measure US Volume British Metric 1 teaspoon 1/6 fluid oz. 0.17 fluid oz 4.9 ml 1 tablespoon 1/2 fluid oz. .52 fluid oz 14.8 ml 1 cup 8 fluid ozs. 8.3 fluid ozs. 237 ml 1 cup = 16 tablespoons
= 48 teaspoons / 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons
Although these measurements work
just fine for liquids, dry ingredients are also measured in cups
and spoons and this creates a further problem: British cooks
are used to flour, sugar and so on being measured by weight.
It is certainly possible to convert
US cups and spoons to a weight, but it is not always a sensible
thing to do as the equivalent weight will depend on the type
of ingredient used. For instance, a cup of brown sugar may weigh
8 ounces (about 225gm), but a cup of plain flour may weigh only
4 ounces (about 115gm). A rough guide to some key ingredients
is given in the table below, but it’s better to use a measuring
jug or "cup" measures and go by the original recipe.
It’s also important to realise
that when an American recipe calls for "1 cup of flour",
there is an assumption in how this is measured. Scooping out
of a bag will compress the flour, and a cup can easily end up
containing an extra quarter or even half an ounce, and this could
make a big difference to the results. Instead, the "official"
measuring technique is to stir the flour with a spoon to "aerate"
it, then pour it into the measuring cup and level it off with
a straight edge. Don’t pat it down, or tap the cup on the workbench
to level it off.
However, this only applies to
very powdery dry ingredients, like flour. Other ingredients,
like rice, brown sugar or fats, should be packed firmly in the
measuring cup to avoid air gaps.
The exact same principle applies
when using measuring spoons.
But, if you’d really rather not
go through this, the following table gives some approximate weights
(in grams) for the most common dry ingredients. The equivalent
weights should be taken as approximations only, but they should
be within about 5 grams. I should add that these figures are
based on official figures issued by the US Department of Agriculture
in 1996 and assume that ingredients like flour are "stirred"
first, but that sugars etc are "packed".
Approximate
Equivalents:
|
|
|
|
|
| White Flour | 125 gm | 7.8 gm | 2.6 gm |
| Whole Wheat Flour |
120 gm | 7.5 gm | 2.5 gm |
| Strong White Flour |
140 gm | 8.75 gm | 2.9 gm |
| Rye Flour | 100 gm | 6.25 gm | 2.1 gm |
| White Granulated Sugar |
200 gm | 12.5 gm | 4.2 gm |
| Brown Sugar | 220 gm | 13.75 gm | 4.6 gm |
| Icing Sugar | 120 gm | 7.5 gm | 2.5 gm |
| Long-grain Rice |
185 gm | 11.5 gm | 3.9 gm |
| Short-grain Rice |
200 gm | 12.5 gm | 4.2 gm |
| Wild Rice | 160 gm | 10 gm | 3.3 gm |
| Egg Noodles; dried |
38 gm | 2.4 gm | 0.8gm |
| Peas; Frozen & Fresh |
144 gm | 9 gm | 3 gm |
| Table Salt | 290 gm | 18 gm | 6 gm |
For more information, check out
the USDA’s Food & Nutrition Information Center Web site at
www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/index.html.
In many cases, the database (which can be downloaded) gives the
weights of a cup or spoonful of each of many different food items.
Oven temperatures
US recipes always give oven temperatures
in degrees Fahrenheit. The table below gives the approximate
Centigrade and Gas Mark equivalents (for fan ovens, check the
manufacturer’s instructions) – there are considerable variations
in different references when it comes to the "gas mark"
equivalents!
|
|
|
|
| 80 | 30 | – |
| 100 | 40 | – |
| 240 | 115 | 1/4 |
| 265 | 130 | 1/2 |
| 290 | 140 | 1 |
| 300 | 150 | – |
| 310 | 155 | 2 |
| 325 | 160 | – |
| 335 | 170 | 3 |
| 350 | 175 | – |
| 355 | 180 | 4 |
| 375 | 190 | – |
| 380 | 195 | 5 |
| 400 | 200 | 6 |
| 425 | 220 | 7 |
| 450 | 230 | 8 |
| 470 | 245 | 9 |
A Note on
Butter and Margarine
When a US recipe calls for "half
a stick of butter", it is referring to the fact that butter
and other fats are sold in "sticks". You normally buy
butter in packs of a pound, consisting of four sticks, and they’re
usually marked in quarters (sometimes also in eighths), making
it easy to measure off, say, 2 ounces of butter, or "half
a stick".