Cooking ? - Measuring liquids and dry ingredients

[Liz]

Do you use different measuring cups for your liquids and dry ingredients? I do and thought everyone did. You know, those nesting type cups for dry and usually a taller measuring cup for liquids. I was helping make a big group dinner for the youth at our church and one of the ladies said she used the nesting type cups to measure everything and had never heard of the two different ways. She's 35 yrs. old and I was really surprised. Am I just weird or what?

 

[RNMOM]

Yes, I do as you do. There are dry measuring cups and liquid measuring cups. They are not the same.

 

[Jiminy102]

There are different measuing cups for liquid and for dry ingredients. IF you use them interchangable you may not get accurate measurements!! There are different ones for a reason. So it is definatley not you!! I use 2 different ones as well.

 

[CindyKansas]

I use the stacking ones for dry ingredients and I have 3 different liquid measuring cups. That's what I learned in Home-Ec many years ago.

 

[bsnyder]

Just another reason I don't like to cook....it's all so confusing!

 

[piratesmate]

I think it depends on who taught you to cook - or IF anyone taught you. My grandmother rarely measured anything. Most of her recipes were simply lists of ingredients - often with the remark "until it looks right."

Logically, I know that cooking is chemistry & the amounts do matter. But years of just tossing things in & "eyeballing" amounts is hard to overcome.

In home ec, we were taught to use 2 different types of measuring cups. I'll admit, though, that the only time I do is with the bread machine.

I also don't sift my flour into the dry measuring cups & never pack brown sugar.

Deb

BTW - I hate to admit it, but I'm 50.

 

[helenabear]

If I have to measure, I use two different types as well. I guess I thought everyone did too

 

[BethR]

I use stacking type for dry and the other kind ( ) for wet.

And I ALWAYS pack my brown sugar.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Don't know why I looked at this one, but glad I did. I am the pancake/waffle guy in the house and use dry and liquid measures, but use them interchangably. After reading this thread I was confused so I went the kitchen to check it out. According to our measures, they are the same. I took a one cup stackable and filled with water, then poured it into a tall 2 cup plus measuring cup. It came up exactly to the one cup line. I think they are the same.

 

[BethR]

You know Dan, I think that you are right. Don't know why were were taught differently in Home Ec.

But old habits die hard.

 

[#1 Disney Fan]

Logically I'm pretty sure 1 cup has to equal 1 cup. I think that the liquid measuring cups might make it easier to take liquid measurements since you're not filling it right to the *very* top of the cup since there are graduated lines on the liquid measurers, and it would be easier to take measurements of dry ingredients in the other cups since you can measure right to the top and scrape it perfectly flat, but if you want to compare technicalities, the actual measurements should be the same. 1 cup of liquid = 1 cup of dry ingredients. Just because they are dry or wet doesn't change the volume.

 

[olena]

Me, too. I use the appropriate measuring cup, when I cook or bake. I've been called anal over it.

 

[nativetxn]

It surprises me that a grown woman didn't know there was a difference in liquid and dry measures.

I use different measuring cups for dry and liquid.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Originally posted by #1 Disney Fan
Logically I'm pretty sure 1 cup has to equal 1 cup. I think that the liquid measuring cups might make it easier to take liquid measurements since you're not filling it right to the *very* top of the cup since there are graduated lines on the liquid measurers, and it would be easier to take measurements of dry ingredients in the other cups since you can measure right to the top and scrape it perfectly flat, but if you want to compare technicalities, the actual measurements should be the same. 1 cup of liquid = 1 cup of dry ingredients. Just because they are dry or wet doesn't change the volume.

You an engineer or sometin'???

 

[#1 Disney Fan]

Dan... yeah, something like that.

This one has been bothering me more still, so I've been thinking about it much too much!

There *is* a difference between fluid and dry measurements... I will agree to that. For instance, a fluid ounce is NOT the same as a dry ounce. One is a volume and one is a weight. One dry pint is 1.1636 liquid pints. However according to some science sites on the web, many recipies normally are measured by the fluid measurement of a cup regardless of whether the ingredient is wet or dry, since measuring by weight simply isn't practical. So 1 cup of flour fills the same space as 1 cup of water in those recipes. 8 fluid ounces = 1 cup. However 8 dry ounces = 240 grams. Most people don't want to have to weigh their ingredients as they are measuring them... so recipes rely on the approximation of the fluid measurement of a cup for dry ingredients for this reason. Even our so called "dry measuring cups" have the liquid equivalent of millileters on them.

So I think that yes, dry and wet ounces and measurements are different, but for most practical cooking purposes, measurements are usually in the fluid system.

Also, as a side note, irrelated...

Not all tablespoons are the same. The Australian tablespoon is 20 ml; the British tablespoon is 17.7 ml. In most Canadian recipes, the tablespoon is 15 ml., while the American tablespoon is 14.2 ml.
In British, Australian and sometimes Canadian recipes, the "imperial pint" is used which is 20 fluid ounces. American and sometimes Canadian recipes use the American pint of 16 fluid ounces.

 

[Meriweather]

Well,.............I hate to admit it but sometimes I use the "right" cups, but more than often I don't.
And I don't sift flour, do pack brown sugar and don't measure things like salt, vanilla, etc.

so far no one has complained!

 

[Dan Murphy]

I was just about to say the same thing, Lynne.

 

[Nikole]

Yep Disneyfan I agree.

I think it's more of an issue with dry ingredients than liquid. Which is why many baking recipe books use weights vs volume measurements. There can be HUGE variations in the weight of one cup of flour or one cup of packed brown sugar which is why many people who do a lot of intensive baking weigh their dry ingredients rather than "measure" them. Not sifting, scooping flour, etc etc all changes the weight of the flour.

 

[RUDisney]

You are all weirdos.

I use one measuring cup for both (if I choose to measure.) The only difference that I can see is that I measure all of my dry ingredients first and then measure my wet ingredients. I hate when flour sticks to the sides of the cup if I put a liquid in it first. I don't think that I even own a liquid measuring cup.

But, then again, maybe I'm the weirdo because I also add eggs directly to the mix and not into a separate bowl first. In 36 years, I haven't cracked a bad egg yet.

 

[Dodie]

Of course. There are measuring cups for dry ingredients and measuring cups for wet ingredients. I was taught (a LONG time ago, LOL) that your amounts may not be accurate if you interchange these.