Why do Americans measure everything in cups?
Why do Americans measure everything in cups?
Used a couple of US recipes recently and most of the ingredients are in cups, or spoons, not by weight. This is a nightmare to convert. Do Americans not own scales or something? What's the reason for measuring everything by volume?
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Because it's often easier to measure things by volume, and most cooking dishes do not need precise measurements. It sucks for baking dishes, but for anything that doesn't need to be precise I find it way more convenient to grab a volume measurement than a scale
I would agree with this if components were sold by volume as well. I don't really bake, but the only thing I can recall showing a volume was shredded cheese. And even still, it's always about X cups. Otherwise, I'm buying a premixed box and doing what the label tells me to do. Sure, I'm happy to not get fleeced with shrinkflation putting fluffy shredded cheese in a 2 cup bag, but it's still a bit of a mismatch
If you get into baking bread, you buy a scale. It doesn't change the problem with volume vs weight, because American flour is sold in pounds, and the recipes are all in grams or bakers ratios.
What it does help with (in bread baking) is consistently and speed. It's much faster to dump 500g of flour in a bowl than to measure out that many cups.
For almost everything else, cups are faster and easier.