Welcome to the rec.food.cooking FAQ list and conversion helper!
The primary purpose of this document is to help cooks from different
countries communicate with one another. The problem is that
measurements and terms for food vary from country to country,
even if both countries speak English.
However, some confusion cannot be avoided simply by making this
list. You can help avoid the confusion by being as specific as
possible. Try not to use brand names unless you also mention
the generic name of the product. If you use terms like "a can"
or "a box", give some indication of how much the package
contains, either in weight or volume.
A few handy hints: a kiwi is a bird, the little thing in your grocery
store is called a kiwi fruit. Whoever said "A pint's a pound the
world around" must have believed the US was on another planet. And
cast iron pans and bread machines can evoke some interesting
discussion!
If you haven't already done so, now is as good a time as any to read
the guide to Net etiquette which is posted to news.announce.newusers
regularly. You should be familiar with acronyms like FAQ, FTP and
IMHO, as well as know about smileys, followups and when to reply by
email to postings.
This FAQ is currently posted to rec.food.cooking, news.answers,
rec.answers and rec.food.recipes. All posts to news.answers are
archived, and it is possible to retrieve the last posted copy via
anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu as /pub/usenet/rec.food.cooking.
Those without FTP access should send e-mail to
mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with "send
usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the body to find out how to
get archived news.answers posts by e-mail.
This FAQ was initially written by Cindy Kandolf, and has been extended
and maintained by Amy Gale, with contributions by readers of
rec.food.cooking. Credits appear at the end. Each section begins
with forty dashes ("-") on a line of their own, then the section
number. This should make searching for a specific section easy.
Any questions you have that are not addressed here will surely have
many people on rec.food.cooking who are able to answer them - try it,
and see.
cooking-faq@vuw.ac.nz
---------------------------------------- List of Answers 1 Food Terms 1.1 Alphabetized List - different name, same food 2 Substitutions and Equivalents 2.1 Flours 2.2 Leavening Agents 2.3 Dairy Products 2.4 Starches 2.5 Sugar and other sweeteners 2.6 Fats 2.7 Chocolates 2.8 Buttermilk/Cultured Milk 3 US/UK/metric conversions 3.1 Oven temperatures 3.2 Food equivalences 3.2. Flours 3.2.2 Cereals 3.2.3 Sugars 3.2.4 Fats and Cheeses 3.2.5 Vegetables and Fruit 3.2.6 Dried Fruit and Nuts 3.2.7 Preserves 3.3 American liquid measures 3.4 British liquid measures 3.5 British short cuts 3.6 General Conversion Tables 3.6.1 International Liquid Measurements 3.6.2 Weight 3.6.3 US Liquid Measurements 3.6.4 Miscellaneous 3.7 Some Australian Conversions 3.7.1 Metric Cups 3.7.2 Metric Spoons 3.8 Catties 3.9 Authorities 4 Cooking Methods 5 Food newsgroups and mailing lists 5.1 rec.food.cooking 5.2 rec.food.recipes 5.3 rec.food.drink, rec.food.restaurants 5.4 rec.food.veg 5.5 rec.food.preservation 5.6 also... 5.7 mailing lists 6 This has come up once too often 6.1 The $250 cookie recipe 6.2 Requests for "authentic" recipes 7 Ingredient Glossary 8 Distilled Wisdom on Equipment 8.1 Woks 9 The rec.food.cooking Food Exchange 10 Archives 10.1 Archives from rec.food.recipes 10.2 Other cooking/food sites 11 The rec.food.cooking album 12 Sources 12.1 Contributors 12.2 Bibliography ---------------------------------------- 1 Food Terms A consistent list isn't much good if it's not helpful. This list was compiled with the goal of being helpful, so American, British, etc. terms are alphabetized all together. I have received very little input from folks in other English-speaking countries; more is very much welcome. I have received some comments that "That's not right!" for some of these equivalents. If i get several comments for the same item, i will change it. In any case, if in doubt, ask the person who originally posted to recipe what he or she means. ---------------------------------------- 1.1 Alphabetized List - different name, same food This section has been moved to the ingredient glossary, section 6. ---------------------------------------- 2 Substitutions and Equivalents This section contains information on where substitutions can be made, and what they can be made with. ---------------------------------------- 2.1 Flours US all-purpose flour and UK plain-flour can be substituted for one another without adjustment. US cake flour is lighter than these. It is not used much anymore, but if it does come up, you can substitute all-pupose/plain flour by removing three tablespoons per cup of flour and replacing it with corn starch or potato flour. Self-raising flour contains 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt for each cup of flour. US whole wheat flour is interchangeable with UK wholemeal flour. ---------------------------------------- 2.2 Leavening agents Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. It must be mixed with acidic ingredients to work. Baking powder contains baking soda and a powdered acid, so it can work without other acidic ingredients. ---------------------------------------- 2.3 Dairy Products Evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk both come in cans, both are thick and a weird color... but are not, as i thought when i was small, the same thing. Sweetened condensed milk is, as the name implies, mixed with sugar or another sweetener already. It isn't found everywhere, but this recipe makes a good, quick substitute: Mix 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons dry (powdered) milk and 1/2 cup warm water. When mixed, add 3/4 cup granulated sugar. If a recipe calls for buttermilk or cultured milk, you can make sour milk as a substitute. For each cup you need, take one tablespoon of vinegar or lemonjuice , then add enough milk to make one cup. Don't stir. Let it stand for five minutes before using. The minimum milk fat content by weight for various types of cream: (UK) (US) Clotted Cream 55% Double Cream 48% Heavy Cream 36% Whipping Cream 35% 30% Whipped Cream 35% Single Cream 18% (=Light Cream) Half Cream 12% (=Half and Half) For the definition of a specific dairy product, see section 6. Quark (aka quarg) Will all be added when I can find or determine some good definitions. If you have one/some, I will be grateful. ---------------------------------------- 2.4 Starches UK cornflour is the same as US cornstarch. Potato flour, despite its name, is a starch, and cannot be substituted for regular flour. It often can be substituted for corn starch and vice versa. In the US, corn flour means finely ground cornmeal. If in doubt about which type of cornflour is meant in a recipe, ask the person who gave it to you! A couple of rules of thumb: - in cakes, especially sponge cakes, it's likely to mean cornstarch - as a coating for fried okra, it's likely to mean finely ground cornmeal Cornmeal or polenta is not the same thing as cornstarch or cornflour! What one can buy labelled `polenta' really looks no different to cornmeal though, so hey, lets not panic too much. Polenta is commonly used to describe cornmeal porridge but may also be used to mean plain cornmeal. Beware. If you don't have cornstarch/corn flour, you can use twice the amount of all-purpose/plain flour. However, unless whatever you're adding it to is allowed to boil, the result will taste starchy. ---------------------------------------- 2.5 Sugar and other sweeteners UK castor/caster sugar is somewhat finer than US granulated sugar. There is a product in the US called superfine sugar, which is about the same as UK castor/caster sugar. Usually, you can use granulated sugar in recipes calling for castor/caster sugar and vice versa, but i've gotten reports of times this didn't work so well! As usual, give the recipe a trial run with the substitute some time when it doesn't need to be perfect. Corn syrup is common in the US but not always elsewhere. Sugar (golden) syrup can be substituted. Corn syrup comes in two flavours - dark and light. Light corn syrup is just sweet, dark has a mild molasses flavour. Some people have substituted dark corn syrup for golden syrup in ANZAC biscuits and found it sucessful. A common US brand is Karo Golden syrup is a thick, golden brown (fancy that) byproduct of cane sugar refining. The taste is mostly sweet, although there is a slight acidic, metallic component. Lyle's is a common brand spoken about in rec.food.cooking, the New Zealand brandname is Chelsea. If desperate, a plain sugar syrup may be a possible substitute, boil 2 parts sugar, 1 part water. This could be messy. You may want to thin it out with water. Again, you may want to try this out on your own before making something for a special occassion. Black treacle and blackstrap molasses are similar but not identical. ---------------------------------------- 2.6 Fats Shortening is solid, white fat made from hydrogenated vegetable oil. (A popular brand name is Crisco, and many people call all shortening Crisco.) It is common in the US, tougher to find in some other parts of the globe. In my experience, you can usually but not always substitute butter or margarine for shortening. The result will have a slightly different texture and a more buttery taste (which in the case of, say, chocolate chip cookies seems to be an advantage!). Sometimes this doesn't work too well. Not to sound like a broken record but - try it out before an important occasion. Copha is a solid fat derived from coconuts, it is fairly saturated and used in recipes where it is melted, combined with other ingredients and left to set. Lard can be successfully substituted in some recipes, for example it makes very flaky pastry. Deep frying requires fats/oils with heat-tolerant properties. Butter and margarine, for example, are right out, as are lard and olive oil. Corn and peanut oils are both good. ---------------------------------------- 2.7 Chocolates If you don't have unsweetened baking chocolate, substitute three tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder plus one tablespoon of fat (preferably oil) for each one ounce square. US dark chocolate is the same as UK plain chocolate, that is, the darkest and least sweet of the chocolates intended for eating (also called bittersweet). What is called milk chocolate in the UK is called milk chocolate in the US, too, but many people simply refer to it as "chocolate". The stuff called "semi-sweet chocolate" by some folks is the US dark or UK plain. "Bitter chocolate" is, apparently, the UK term for high quality plain chocolate. Some manufacturers apparently distinguish between "sweet dark," "semi-sweet" and "bittersweet" (Sarotti is one), but they seem to be minor variations on a theme. Chocolate chips are not necessarily a substitute for bar chocolates, because the chips have something added to them to slow down melting. ---------------------------------------- 2.8 Meats If a recipe calls for spatchcocks, you can use cornish game hens ---------------------------------------- 3 US/UK/metric conversions My sources give credit to Caroline Knight (cdfk@otter.hpl.hp.com) as the original source of these tables. Where needed, the conversion used is 1kg = 2.2lb Here are some tables I've tried to compile using a variety of sources. Corrections and additions welcomed! ---------------------------------------- 3.1 Oven Temperatures An approximate conversion chart(P):- Electric Gas mark Description Farenheit Centigrade 225 F 110 C 1/4 Very cool 250 F 130 C 1/2 275 F 140 C 1 cool 300 F 150 C 2 325 F 170 C 3 very moderate 350 F 180 C 4 moderate 375 F 190 C 5 400 F 200 C 6 moderately hot 425 F 220 C 7 hot 450 F 230 C 8 475 F 240 C 9 very hot ---------------------------------------- 3.2 Food Equivalences Sometimes the sources did not agree... I've given both:- British measure American equivalent ---------------------------------------- 3.2.1 Flours flour - white plain/strong/ sifted flour - all-purpose/ self-raising/unbleached unbleached white 4oz(P) 1 cup 5oz(K) wholemeal/stoneground whole wheat 6oz(K) 1 cup cornflour cornstarch 4 1/2 oz (P) 1 cup 5.3 oz (K) yellow corn meal/polenta coarse corn meal/polenta 6 oz(P) 1 cup rye flour rye flour 6 oz(P) 1 cup ---------------------------------------- 3.2.2 Cereals pearl barley pearl barley 7 oz(P) 1 cup rice/bulgar wheat/millet/wheat rice/bulgar wheat/millet/wheat berries 7 oz(K) 1 cup semolina/ground rice/tapioca semolina/ground rice/tapioca 6 oz(P) 1 cup fresh soft breadcrumbs/ fresh soft breadcrumbs/ cake crumbs cake crumbs 2 oz(P) 1 cup dried breadcrumbs dried breadcrumbs 4 oz(P) 1 cup porridge oats rolled oats 3 1/2 oz(P) 1 cup ---------------------------------------- 3.2.3 Sugars light/dark soft brown sugar light/dark brown sugar 8 oz(P) 1 cup (firmly packed) castor/caster/granulated sugar granulated sugar 7 1/2 oz(P) 1 cup icing sugar sifted confectioners' sugar 4 1/2 oz(P) 1 cup ---------------------------------------- 3.2.4 Fats and cheeses butter, margarine, cooking butter, shortening, lard, fat, lard, dripping drippings - solid or melted 1 oz(P) 2 tablespoons 8 oz(P) 1 cup grated cheese - cheddar type grated cheese - cheddar type 4 oz(P) 1 cup 1 lb(K) 4 - 5 cups (packed) ---------------------------------------- 3.2.5 Vegetables and fruit onion onion 1 small to med 1 cup chopped shelled peas shelled peas 4 oz(P) 3/4 cup cooked sweet corn cooked sweet corn 4 oz(P) 1 cup celery celery 4 sticks 1 cup (chopped) chopped tomatoes chopped tomatoes 7 oz(P) 1 cup button mushrooms button mushrooms 3-4 oz(P) 1 cup chopped pickled beetroot chopped pickled beetroot 2 oz(P) 1/3 cup black/redcurrants/bilberries black/redcurrants/bilberries 4 oz(P) 1 cup raspberries/strawberries raspberries/strawberries 5 oz(P) 1 cup Dried beans: black/lentils/chick peas/pinto/ black/lentils/chick peas/pinto/ white white 3 1/2 oz(K) 1/2 cup ---------------------------------------- 3.2.6 Dried fruit and nuts, etc currants/sultanas/raisins/ currants/sultanas/raisins/ chopped candied peel chopped candied peel 5-6 oz(P) 1 cup 2 oz(K - raisins) 1/3 cup glace cherries candied cherries 8 oz(P) 1 cup sesame seeds sesame seeds 3 1/2 oz 3/4 cup whole shelled almonds whole shelled almonds 5 oz(P) 1 cup ground almonds ground almonds 4 oz(P) 1 cup chopped nuts chopped nuts 2 oz(K) 1/3 to 1/2 cup Nut butters: peanut/almond/cashew etc peanut/almond/cashew etc 8 oz(K) 1 cup ---------------------------------------- 3.2.7 Preserves clear honey/golden syrup/ clear honey/golden syrup/ molasses/black treacle molasses/black treacle 12 oz(P) 1 cup maple/corn syrup maple/corn syrup 11 oz(P) 1 cup jam/marmalade/jelly jam/marmalade/jelly 5-6 oz(P) 1/2 cup ---------------------------------------- 3.3 American Liquid Measures 1 pint 450 ml ( 16 fl oz) (RD) 1 cup 225 ml ( 8 fl oz) (RD & K) 1 tablespoon 16 ml (1/2 fl oz) (K) ---------------------------------------- 3.4 British Liquid Measures 1 pint 570 ml ( 20 fl oz) 1 breakfast cup ( 10 fl oz) 1/2 pint 1 tea cup 1/3 pint 1 tablespoon 15 ml (RD) 1 dessertspoon 10 ml (RD) 1 teaspoon 5 ml (RD) 1/3 tablespoon And from "Mastering the art of French cooking". Penguin UK, issue 1961 UK UK oz Metric ml US oz 1 quart 40 1140 38.5 1 pint 20 570 1 cup 10 1 gill 5 1 fluid oz 1 28.4 0.96 1 tbl 5/8 (1/16 cup) 17.8? 1 dsp 1/3 10 1 tsp 1/6 5 ---------------------------------------- 3.5 British Short Cuts (S) Cheese (grated) 1 oz = 4 level tablespoons Cocoa or chocolate powder 1 oz = 3 level tablespoons Coconut (desicated) 1 oz = 4 level tablespoons Flour (unsifted) 1 oz = 3 level tablespoons Sugar (castor/caster) 1 oz = 2 level tablespoons (granulated) 1 oz = 2 level tablespoons (icing) 1 oz = 2 1/2 level tablespoons Syrup (golden) 1 oz = 1 level tablespoons ---------------------------------------- 3.6 General Conversion Tables Some general tables for volume and weight conversions (mostly by Cindy Kandolf) ---------------------------------------- 3.6.1 International Liquid Measurements standard cup tablespoon teaspoon Canada 250ml 15ml 5ml Australia 250ml ** 20ml ** 5ml New Zealand 250ml 15ml 5ml UK 250ml 15ml 5ml ---------------------------------------- 3.6.2 Weight 1 ounce = 28.4 g (can usually be rounded to 25 or 30) 1 pound = 454 g 1 kg = 2.2 pounds ---------------------------------------- 3.6.3 US Liquid Measurements 1 liter = 1.057 quarts 2.1 pints 1 quart = 0.95 liter 1 gallon= 3.8 liters 1/8 cup = 2 tablespoons 1/4 cup = 4 tablespoons 1/3 " = 0.8 dl 1/2 " = 1.2 dl 2/3 " = 1.6 dl 3/4 " = 1.75 dl 7/8 " = 2.1 dl 1 cup = 2.4 dl 1 dl = 2/5 cup = 6 to 7 tablespoons ---------------------------------------- 3.6.4 Miscellaneous 1 UK pint is about 6 dl 1 UK liquid oz is 0.96 US liquid oz. a "stick" of butter or margarine weighs 4 oz and is 1/2 cup US. each 1/4 cup or half stick butter or margarine in US recipes weighs about 50 g. there are 8 tablespoons in 1/4 pound butter ---------------------------------------- 3.7 Some Australian Conversions From a post on rec.food.recipes from Stephanie da Silva ---------------------------------------- 3.7.1 Metric Cups Metric Cups Grams Ounces (approx) (approx) 1 cup butter 250 8 3/4 1 cup biscuit (cookie) crumbs 110 3 3/4 1 cup breadcrumbs, soft 60 2 1 cup breadcrumbs, dry 125 4 1/2 1 cup cheese, grated 125 4 1/2 1 cup cocoa 110 3 3/4 1 cup cornflour (cornstarch) 125 4 1/2 1 cup cornflakes 30 1 1 cup rice bubbles (rice crispies) 30 1 1 cup coconut, desiccated (flaked) 95 3 1/4 1 cup dried split peas, lentils 200 7 1 cup dried fruit 160 5 3/4 1 cup dates, chopped 150 5 1/4 1 cup flour, plain, self-rising 125 4 1/2 1 cup flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) 135 4 3/4 1 cup golden syrup, honey, glucose 360 12 3/4 1 cup jam 330 11 1/2 1 cup nuts, chopped 125 4 1/2 1 cup oats, rolled 90 3 1/4 1 cup rice, short grain 210 7 1/2 1 cup rice, long grain 200 7 1 cup salt, or crystal sugar 250 8 3/4 1 cup castor sugar (superfine) 220 7 3/4 1 cup soft brown sugar, firmly packed 170 6 1 cup icing sugar (confectioners') 150 5 1 cup = 250 mls ---------------------------------------- 3.7.2 Metric Spoons Metric spoons Grams Ounces 1 level tablespoon peanut butter 20 2/3 1 level tablespoon baking powder, bicarb soda, cream of tartar, gelatine, rice, sago 15 1/2 1 level tablespoon cocoa, cornflour, custard powder, nuts 10 1/2 1 level tablelspoon golden syrup, treacle, honey, glucose 30 1 1 level tablespoon sugar, salt 20 2/3 1 level tablespoon yeast, compressed 20 2/3 1 tablespoon = 20 mls 1 teaspoon = 5 mls ---------------------------------------- 3.8 Catties In ancient China, 1 catty = 1.33 pound = 600 grams. In Modern China, this went with kilograms and stuff. To make the transition easier for the average people. They invented a new kind of catty. 1 catty = 0.5 kilo ( = 1.1 pound ) However, old books from Hong Kong and Taiwan still uses the old catty = 600 grams. ---------------------------------------- 3.9 Authorities K = Mollie Katzen from "Still Life with Menu" P = Marguerite Patten from "Cookery in Colour" RD = Forward to British edition of "The Rotation Diet" S = Ursula Sedgwick from "My Fun-to-cook-book" ---------------------------------------- 4 Cooking Methods This is a new section added on 20 August 1997. If you would like to contribute a paragraph for one of these methods, or add another method, please send it to me. baking boiling broiling broasting frying grilling poaching roasting sauteeing simmering spit-roasting ---------------------------------------- 5 Food Newsgroups and mailing lists ---------------------------------------- 5.1 rec.food.cooking a.k.a. us: A group for the discussion of cooking in general. Recipes and requests for recipes are welcome here, as are discussions of cooking techniques, equipment, etc. In short, if it has to do with cooking, it probably belongs here - though that doesn't mean it doesn't belong somewhere else, too! ---------------------------------------- 5.2 rec.food.recipes A moderated newsgroup for recipes and requests for recipes. Each week an article called "Posting Guidelines" explains how to post recipes or requests. The lead moderator is Patricia D. Hill, recipes@rt66.com. ---------------------------------------- 5.3 rec.food.drink, rec.food.restaurants, rec.food.sourdough, rec.food.historic Pretty self-explanatory. ---------------------------------------- 5.4 rec.food.veg About vegetarianism. It also has its own FAQ list, with questions about the myths and truths of the vegetarian diet, information on where to get "cruelty-free" products, etc. Is probably going to be splitting RSN. ---------------------------------------- 5.5 rec.food.preservation ``Rec.food.preserving is a newsgroup devoted to the discussion of recipes, equipment, and techniques of food preservation. Current food preservation techniques that rightly should be discussed in this forum include canning, freezing, dehydration, pickling, smoking, salting, distilling, and potting. Foodstuffs are defined as produce (both fruits and vegetables), meat, fish, dairy products, culinary and medicinal herbs. Discussions should be limited to home-grown or home-preserved foods.'' (From the rec.food.preservation FAQ) ---------------------------------------- 5.6 also... rec.crafts.winemaking rec.crafts.brewing alt.food alt.food.fat-free alt.bacchus alt.food.mcdonalds (an oxymoron if ever I heard one) alt.food.coca-cola (mmmm....coca cola...) alt.food.chocolate alt.food.taco.bell alt.creative-cook alt.creative-cooking ---------------------------------------- 5.7 mailing lists Please help me here. There is a bread machine list, and EAT-L, and others, all contributions gratefully welcomed. See Stephanie da Silva's list of Publically Accessible Mailing Lists, posted regularly to news.answers and news.lists as well as being available on the WWW at http://www.neosoft.com/internet/paml/