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| why is the US not Metric |
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| KL27x:
--- Quote ---American cookbooks use the 'stick' as a unit of butter, neglecting the fact that butter is not sold the world over in 1/2 US cup 'sticks'. --- End quote --- Ahhh. Lightbulb goes on, finally. :palm: My bad. We left the toilet seat up, again, didn't we? And you guys put "mL" of butter in your cookbooks, so as to be clear, everywhere? You don't have "half a stick" in your vocabulary, all out of courtesy to us? That is really sweet. >: ^-^ ;; No, Honey. I swear! I'm not doing it on purpose. Yes, I know how mad this makes you. I just forgot this one time. >:D |
| Cerebus:
--- Quote from: SilverSolder on November 26, 2019, 10:20:26 pm ---It is easier to cut smallish chunks from a stick of butter accurately than it is to cut the larger blocks of butter typically used in European countries. For usability, the US wins this one! --- End quote --- Depends. When you're scaling a recipe for, say, six buns up to, say, 72 for a party it's a lot easier to have the whole thing done by weight. In most of Europe, or at least in all the European countries I've opened a pack of butter in, it comes in 250g blocks and they have markings for every 25g. Anyway, what's the point of cooking something that's got a measly 1/2 US cup of butter in it? I guesstimate that as 109g, which isn't even enough to make the pastry for a small pie. You need bigger blockssticks of butter! :) |
| Cerebus:
--- Quote from: KL27x on November 26, 2019, 10:45:49 pm --- --- Quote ---American cookbooks use the 'stick' as a unit of butter, neglecting the fact that butter is not sold the world over in 1/2 US cup 'sticks'. --- End quote --- Ahhh. Lightbulb goes on, finally. :palm: My bad. We left the toilet seat up, again, didn't we? And you guys put "mL" of butter in your cookbooks, so as to be clear, everywhere? You don't have "half a stick" in your vocabulary, all out of courtesy to us? That is really sweet. >: ^-^ --- End quote --- No we weigh it out in grams butter being, for the most part, a solid; we think it's quaint that you measure it by volume. |
| Mr. Scram:
--- Quote from: Cerebus on November 26, 2019, 06:56:12 pm ---I'd suggest that Wikipedia (one source), with results for the US, UK, Canada and Australia, is a bit more "search bubble" than a deliberate search across what's being sold by vendors from "UK, Europe, China and the USA". Anyway (apart from the greedy buggers in Aus - population 25M - with their oversize spoons) your results still come up with 15ml +0-1.3% or +0-200ul, which is about 'one drop'. I strongly suspect that making 0.5 US fl oz measuring spoons just for the US market is something that, in practice, doesn't actually happen, so they end up with 15ml measuring spoons just like the rest of us. Or the situation is standardised in the same way that mains voltage is standardised across the EU - with a wide enough margin of error that a device manufactured to a slightly off-centre spec is acceptable anywhere. --- End quote --- Exactly. It's a recipe so nobody cares about it being a bit more or a bit less. There's no real standardisation. When a recipe calls for grams and tablespoons it's a fair bet the actual object is referred to as that's conveniently present in any kitchen and the exact quantity is irrelevant. |
| Mr. Scram:
--- Quote from: SilverSolder on November 26, 2019, 10:20:26 pm ---It is how the manufacturers (sub) package them. A standard "stick" has 1/2 cup, or 8 tbsp. of butter, with nice lines on the wrapper to cut off the chunk you need. What's not to like? Even a metric user can chop off chunks of 15ml at a time! It is easier to cut smallish chunks from a stick of butter accurately than it is to cut the larger blocks of butter typically used in European countries. For usability, the US wins this one! --- End quote --- There generally are subdivisions on the wrapper that mark out approximate weights. If that presents any kind of challenge you're generally not allowed in a kitchen full stop. ;D |
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