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
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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
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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.
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1.1 Alphabetized List - different name, same food
This section has been moved to the ingredient glossary, section 6.
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2 Substitutions and Equivalents
This section contains information on where substitutions can be made,
and what they can be made with.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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2.8 Meats
If a recipe calls for spatchcocks, you can use cornish game hens
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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!
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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
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3.2 Food Equivalences
Sometimes the sources did not agree... I've given both:-
British measure American equivalent
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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3.6 General Conversion Tables
Some general tables for volume and weight conversions
(mostly by Cindy Kandolf)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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3.7 Some Australian Conversions
From a post on rec.food.recipes from Stephanie da Silva
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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
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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
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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.
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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"
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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
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5 Food Newsgroups and mailing lists
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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)
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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
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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/