Why do Americans use volumes instead of mass for baking/cooking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back to the UK and your hybrid systems of weights and measures. You guys need to pick one or the other and until then quit complaining about the choices others make.

Yeah why do you say "stone" for losing or gaining weight? That's pretty stupid in my opinion!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might get a more insightful response if you weren’t so hostile about it. I’m sure there is a historical reason for this if you really want to know.

Bring ignorant to science is why America uses stupid volumes for measurements rather than mass.

sure. If you think of countries that have contributed nothing to science, America certainly comes to mind

US science uses the metric system, lol.

But the general public in the US is ignorant of science. It's not even questionable. That's why they do stupid things like using volumes to measure out solids for cooking.

Are you the op? Why are you here if you hold us in such contempt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might get a more insightful response if you weren’t so hostile about it. I’m sure there is a historical reason for this if you really want to know.

Here you go. Despite the hostile OP I will share this because I love it so much:
https://imgur.com/gallery/imperial-system-S9nYOfZ

Thanks for sharing. I'm a physicist, but I've often argued that for day-to-day use English units are more intuitive. A foot is on order of the length of a person's foot. Hot outside in Fahrenheit is ~100 degrees, and cold outside is ~0 degrees...way more intuitive than 40 and -18.

Yes, thank you for reading it. I agree- it's the intuition, the divisibility and the calculating in your head (medieval peasants didn't have iphones or home scales!) that are key. And also, KICKER, for baking when humidity and other things are factors, the exact grams matters diddly squat. Anyone ever make pate a choux and you have to add eggs until "it's right". Those are the real bakers. People who need their grams of flour can bow right out and stop accusing us of "crappy cakes".

I'm not one of those PPs and I'm not mad about this either way, but if you ever feel more calm about this situation, it really is much easier to just weigh out your ingredients. Fewer dishes, less stress. It's not like I'm freaking out if I'm adding flour and I go over by 10 grams. I'm just happy to not have a cup to wash. And sure, I can eyeball 1/2 cup of molasses and it will be fine, but I can also just tare the scale and not worry about it. Having weights is really handy. Okay that's all. I'm sorry this is so upsetting. I really didn't mean to add to your stress here.

[Anonymous]

I just got back from England and yes I think there are some things the British cook are very good. I could do without the mushy peas but, otherwise enjoyed their Victorian Sponge cakes and scones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the ingredients are sold by volume also. Tomato paste comes in 6-ounce cans and guess what.. the recipe calls for 6 ounces.

1 teaspoon of salt is 6 grams. Who's going to remember that?

Everyone has a teaspoon and a cup at home. Not everyone has a scale.

I don't want to be a betch here but I think you're wrong. 6oz is the mass of the can of tomato paste.

Yes. Lololol. Just shows how stupid US measurements are. Users on this site can’t even discern between oz mass vs oz volume. So nonsensical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All recipe creators (including American ones) use weighed out ingredients when developing recipes bc it's so much more precise. For the US market they then convert back to volume based measurements.

Weighing and baking is a way better system and even Americans are speaking out in favor of it, eg. Alison Roman on one of her videos.

But it doesn’t make sense to convert back to volumes. Just leave it as mass. Yes, it is way more precise. It makes zero sense to ever use volumes to measure out solids. I worked as a chemist for years.

NP. It does if you're writing for an audience that doesn't have scales. Your experience as a chemist is totally beside the point. Most Americans don't have kitchen scales, and volume measurements are fine for the vast majority of home cooking projects, even baking. Mass is more precise, but does a cake recipe written in cups work? Of course it does, you can tell because Americans successfully make cakes every day.

They make crappier cakes.

Because when people think of quality home cooking, England springs to mind?

Clearly you’ve never been to England. English pastries and baking are exponentially better, on average, than what you typically find in the U.S.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We aren't talking about liquids, of course.

But it makes absolutely zero sense to use volumes for measurements when cooking or baking. Tsp of salt? Cup of flour? Tsp of baking powder, etc? What in the bloody hell? I'll never understand why Americans love to cook ass backwards and don't use MASS while cooking or baking. It makes infinitely more sense to use GRAMS of flour, salt, etc. while baking/cooking like the rest of the world does. Why is it so ingrained to use asinine measurements in US kitchens?

Your scale is measuring newtons and dividing by g to get mass. Unless, of course, you are using a balance when you cook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the ingredients are sold by volume also. Tomato paste comes in 6-ounce cans and guess what.. the recipe calls for 6 ounces.

1 teaspoon of salt is 6 grams. Who's going to remember that?

Everyone has a teaspoon and a cup at home. Not everyone has a scale.

I don't want to be a betch here but I think you're wrong. 6oz is the mass of the can of tomato paste.

Yes. Lololol. Just shows how stupid US measurements are. Users on this site can’t even discern between oz mass vs oz volume. So nonsensical.

Fluid ounces versus dry ounces. US customary measurements, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All recipe creators (including American ones) use weighed out ingredients when developing recipes bc it's so much more precise. For the US market they then convert back to volume based measurements.

Weighing and baking is a way better system and even Americans are speaking out in favor of it, eg. Alison Roman on one of her videos.

But it doesn’t make sense to convert back to volumes. Just leave it as mass. Yes, it is way more precise. It makes zero sense to ever use volumes to measure out solids. I worked as a chemist for years.

NP. It does if you're writing for an audience that doesn't have scales. Your experience as a chemist is totally beside the point. Most Americans don't have kitchen scales, and volume measurements are fine for the vast majority of home cooking projects, even baking. Mass is more precise, but does a cake recipe written in cups work? Of course it does, you can tell because Americans successfully make cakes every day.

They make crappier cakes.

Because when people think of quality home cooking, England springs to mind?

Clearly you’ve never been to England. English pastries and baking are exponentially better, on average, than what you typically find in the U.S.

Pastries in London are great, just like pastries in Paris or New York or any other cosmopolitan city. What does have to do with home cooks using a scale? I love British Indian food, but regular English food was just bland.

[Anonymous]

I bake and use grams, it’s easier and results in consistent results. But many (most?) of the recipes I follow switch to tsp or Tbl spoons for things like salt, baking powder, soda, vanilla. I always wondered why.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s a chicken and egg kind of thing - most recipes are in cups, tsp, etc, so we all learn to cook using those. I did not even realize weighing ingredients was a thing until I was well into adulthood.

I do now weigh flour (I translate the cups into ounces) and find it so much easier. I would weigh more if recipes had things in grams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All recipe creators (including American ones) use weighed out ingredients when developing recipes bc it's so much more precise. For the US market they then convert back to volume based measurements.

Weighing and baking is a way better system and even Americans are speaking out in favor of it, eg. Alison Roman on one of her videos.

But it doesn’t make sense to convert back to volumes. Just leave it as mass. Yes, it is way more precise. It makes zero sense to ever use volumes to measure out solids. I worked as a chemist for years.

A scale is 1 more thing to buy and you can still cook with volume. As much as bakers love to talk about how precise measurements need to be, they're full of it. Close enough works in 99% of cooking situation

Omg, owning a scale is a world ending endeavor. How will you ever live if you have to use a scale!!?? Lol, meanwhile, 4 billion other people on the planet use scales and make better food because their recipes are more precise.

I genuinely laughed at this. I don’t disagree that many other cuisines are better, but it’s not because they use food scales. 😆😆

[Anonymous]

Because I’m lazy. I have a food scale but rarely use it for baking.

I make it work just fine with the backwards US system. Not a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All recipe creators (including American ones) use weighed out ingredients when developing recipes bc it's so much more precise. For the US market they then convert back to volume based measurements.

Weighing and baking is a way better system and even Americans are speaking out in favor of it, eg. Alison Roman on one of her videos.

But it doesn’t make sense to convert back to volumes. Just leave it as mass. Yes, it is way more precise. It makes zero sense to ever use volumes to measure out solids. I worked as a chemist for years.

NP. It does if you're writing for an audience that doesn't have scales. Your experience as a chemist is totally beside the point. Most Americans don't have kitchen scales, and volume measurements are fine for the vast majority of home cooking projects, even baking. Mass is more precise, but does a cake recipe written in cups work? Of course it does, you can tell because Americans successfully make cakes every day.

DP. If you want consistent results you use a scale. People are always mystified why sometime their chocolate chip cookies are runny, cake like or somewhere in between or their cake is not baked well. It’s because you use volume and not mass for measuring. A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from around four ounces (113 grams) to six ounces (170 grams), a difference of 50%. A stick of butter does not weight four oz. Most weight about 3 7/8 oz or less. This does not matter in cooking but baking it does because of the chemical reactions.

If you are a serious baker you have a scale and your recipes are all in weight not volume. If a baking book or recipe does not list ingredients by weight it is not serious. Scale cost like $20 on Amazon.

The other thing is cooking to an internal temperature not cooking at x temp for x long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because I’m lazy. I have a food scale but rarely use it for baking.

I make it work just fine with the backwards US system. Not a problem.

Once you use a scale for a little bit it is faster vs volume. Just scoop and dump.