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Equipment & Gear: Kitchen Scales
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fL¡nkyfL¡p
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:04 pm    Post subject: Measurement Conversion Tool Reply with quote

>>On Jan 4, 2006 at 2:10 PM, Codeword (guest) said...
Nice article. I have a question though; How do you translate recipies using cup, Tbsp, qt, etc... into measurments in weight? is there some chart of quantities for known goods that one uses?<<

I found this gem a few years ago stumbling around as usual (kind of like how I found this site Teasing ) -

http://joshmadison.net/software/convert/

Since the program runs straight from the exe, I suggest getting the zip file (153kB) instead of the setup pkg (780kB). Shock ¿wtHUH? 5x the file size just for adding a start menu shortcut??

It may not be all inclusive or quite what you're looking for, but it's handy to have for quick, on-the-fly converting...it's getting harder to memorize and retain info as the years go on Huh?

Now you can finally answer those asinine/irrelevant-in-modern-day-life aptitude test questions you loved to hate "back in the day" Teasing such as -

"How many pecks are in a bushel" or "Jack has only 782 fortnights left in mortgage payments until his house is completely paid off. How many years of slaving does Jack have left?"

...BTW, Tbsp/Tsp is located under the "Volume" tab. Wink
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm sure you are completely inundated with praise for your site, but I just wanted to say thank you. I'm not an overly analytical person per se, but every time I have a question about a cooking technique or hardware, you've got the answer. My world is a less burnt, better tasting place because of you. Thanks.
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Gernman
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 12:28 am    Post subject: i5000 scale Reply with quote

I bought one of these and am really thrilled with it
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 1:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Michael -- Fantastic site! I was just wondering where you got your "1 C All Purpose Flour = 125 g. calculation. I'd never thought about cooking with mass instead of volume (not being much of a baker), but I like the idea and I'm definitely getting an i5000 Bowl Scale. Anyway, my searches only turned up one conversion program that deals with weights of different substances as compared to their volume
[http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking#subs], which keeps telling me that the weight of 1 C All Purpose Flour is 100 g. Know of any great sites for this kind of info?

Keep up the great work!
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Follow up to the last post -- To make matters more confusing, I conducted my own test on my old postal scale and it indicated that my measuring cup plus one cup of all purpose flour weighed 12 oz. I dumped out the flour and then weighed the measuring cup and it came in at 6 oz. So, the result is that my measurements indicate that a cup of all-purpose flour weighs 6 ozs. or 170.01 grams (!). What's the deal, I wonder? Maybe I packed the flour too much. All I did was tap the bottom of the measuring cup on the countertop and kept adding flour until I got to the one-cup line. Any ideas out there?
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

OK, never mind. I finally figured out that with flour, you're supposed to sift it before measuring and not tap or tamp it in any way. That explains a lot. Sorry for being an idiot.
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 03, 2006 12:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great article thanks.
One feature I find very useful is the ability to read negative values. If I need to add a small amount, say 30g of ginger, I weigh the frozen lump, zero the scale then grate off some and re-weigh the now lighter lump until the scale reads -30g. This is a feature of my old Philips HR2385 I do not know if it is a feature of other scales.
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Michael Chu



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1654
Location: Austin, TX (USA)

PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 7:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anonymous wrote:
One feature I find very useful is the ability to read negative values. If I need to add a small amount, say 30g of ginger, I weigh the frozen lump, zero the scale then grate off some and re-weigh the now lighter lump until the scale reads -30g. This is a feature of my old Philips HR2385 I do not know if it is a feature of other scales.

Both the MyWeigh scales that I own provide negative readings.
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guest
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:02 pm    Post subject: i5000 price Reply with quote

I was about to buy a secn kitechen scale when I read your article. And I thought, for $50 in 2004, maybe 75 in 2006, why not. But The cheapest I found is $188, even at the recommended site!
Was that a misprint for $150? Or do you have a secret source?

(nice work though!)
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Michael Chu



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1654
Location: Austin, TX (USA)

PostPosted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:42 am    Post subject: Re: i5000 price Reply with quote

guest wrote:
And I thought, for $50 in 2004, maybe 75 in 2006, why not. But The cheapest I found is $188, even at the recommended site!
Was that a misprint for $150? Or do you have a secret source?

Old Will Knott is currently selling the MyWeigh i5000 for $47 plus shipping and handling.
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chocolate_artist



Joined: 04 Nov 2006
Posts: 1
Location: Utah

PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:24 pm    Post subject: re: moisture content of ingredients Reply with quote

Does anyone have thoughts about measuring ingredients such as brown sugar with scales? It seems that the amount of moisture in brown sugar could vary quite a bit.

How would one go about measuring brown sugar using a scale?
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:26 pm    Post subject: A lot of people know that you should use a scale when baking Reply with quote

"A lot of people know that you should use a scale when baking."

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article.php?id=41 says:
"Set aside 2 cups all-purpose flour in a large mixing bowl. Prepare 6 tablespoons cold butter, 3/4 cup milk, 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt"

cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons. A scale helps with this how?

Can you point me to (for example) a recipe for a whole wheat pie crust that gives ingredients by weight?
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GaryProtein



Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 535

PostPosted: Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A scale isn't helpful with things like liquids or solids like butter, which can easily and effectively be accurately measured volumetrically because they are incompressible, as can the teaspoon of baking soda or quarter teaspoon of salt, which because you are using a spoon for a small measure, and it repeatably packs in the same mass of material each time. A scale also isn't helpful with unsophisicated and mediocrely written recipes with things like flour that have different densities depending on how it is sifted or the variety of flour itself. But, for a well written, tested recipe, use of a scale is a primary factor in precision, especially for baking, when you want the same result time after time.

A pet peeve of mine are volumetric recipes with ingredients and measurements like "one cup plus two tablespoons flour." Geeze, how stupid a measurement is that! The first time I saw that, I had no idea what they were talking about, let alone what to do with the two tablespoons. Is nine ounces too hard for the typical American cook to measure? I would have been impressed if they asked for a specific weight, in grams of course.

Improper measuring is probably the number one reason recipes fail. Flour is crucial to the structure of baked goods; too much flour and your product will be tough and dry. Too little flour, and your product will collapse when it comes out of the oven, and have wet spots and dense layers. To correctly measure flour, use a spoon to lightly scoop flour out of its container into a measuring cup. Continue until the cup is overflowing. Then use the back side of a knife to level off the flour even with the top edge of the measuring cup. Repeat as necessary, with 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, and 1/4 cup measures.

For the most accurate flour measuring, you should weigh the flour. This is what home economists do when they are testing recipes before publication. One cup of white flour weighs 120 grams. One cup of whole wheat flour weighs 140 grams. One cup of bread flour weighs 130 grams. One cup of cake flour weighs 114 grams.

The most common mistake made in measuring flour is to dip the measuring cup into the flour instead of lightly spooning flour into the measuring cup. This can result in up to 25% more flour than the recipe calls for. To see this for yourself, measure 3 cups of flour into a bowl by scooping the flour with the measuring cup. Then stir the measured flour, and re-measure by lightly scooping with a spoon. When you have measured 3 cups this way, how much flour is left in the bowl? This extra flour will make your baked products heavy and tough. The best way to measure flour and powders is to weigh them.
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jim2100
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:52 am    Post subject: Weights And Measurements Reply with quote

In response to a post here regarding a list of useful list.

http://www.nigella.com/news/detail.asp?article=1814&area=2

Conversions

TEMPERATURES

Gas Mark 1 = 140C = 275F = Very cool
Gas Mark 2 = 150C = 300F = Cool
Gas Mark 3 = 160C = 325F = Warm
Gas Mark 4 = 180C = 350F = Moderate
Gas Mark 5 = 190C = 375F = Fairly Hot
Gas Mark 6 = 200C = 400F = Fairly Hot
Gas Mark 7 = 210C = 425F = Hot
Gas Mark 8 = 220C = 450F = Very Hot
Gas Mark 9 = 240C = 475F = Very Hot


VOLUME AND LIQUID MEASUREMENTS

5 ml = one-sixth fl oz = 1 teaspoon
15ml = half fl oz = 1 tablespoon (NOTE: Australian tablespoon = 20ml)
30ml = 1 fl oz = 2 tablespoons
45ml = 1 and half fl oz = 3 tablespoons
60ml = 2 fl oz = quarter cup
75ml = 2 and half fl oz = one-third cup
125ml = 4 fl oz = half cup
150ml = 5 fl oz = two-thirds cup
175ml = 6 fl oz = three-quarters cup
250ml = 8 fl oz = 1 cup
600ml = 1 pint = 2 and half cups
900ml = 1 and half pints = 3 and three-quarter cups
1 litre = 1 and three-quarter pints = 4 cups


SOME USEFUL CUP CONVERSIONS

Please note that these are approximations

1 cup sugar = 200g
1 cup icing sugar = 125g
1 cup flour = 140g
1 cup rice = 200g
1 cup frozen peas = 125g
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs = 70g
1 cup grated cheese - 100g
1 cup chocolate chips = 175g
1 cup sultanas = 150g
1 cup honey/syrup = 300g
1 stick of butter = 110g = 4oz


WEIGHT CONVERSIONS

15g = half oz
30g = 1 oz
45g = 1 and half oz
60g = 2 oz
75g = 2 and half oz
90g = 3 oz
100g = 3 and half oz
125g = 4 oz
150g = 5 oz
175g = 6 oz
200g = 7 oz
250g = 8 oz
275g = 9 oz
300g = 10 oz
325g = 11 oz
350g = 12 oz
375g = 13 oz
400g = 14 oz
450g = 15 oz
500g = 1 lb


CAKE TINS SIZES

20cm = 8 inch
23cm = 9 inch
25cm = 10
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GaryProtein



Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 535

PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My mother would be very appreciative of these unfortunately useful conversions. I just say "GO METRIC--IT'S TEN TIMES BETTER!"

It is an extremely sad state of affairs when only two countries other than the United States have not adopted the Metric System, actually the SI, and they are Myanmar and Liberia. We're keeping BAD company on this list.

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/
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