United States Measures
The US uses pounds and ounces (avoirdupois) for weight, and US customary units for volume. For measures used in cookbooks published in other nations navigate to the apropos regional section in Traditional measurement systems.
Measures are classified as either dry measures or fluid measures. Some of the fluid and dry measures have similar names, but the actual measured volume is quite different. A recipe will generally specify which measurement is required. U.S. recipes are commonly in terms of fluid measures.
| Fluid Measures | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit | Abbrev. | Defined | fl oz | mL |
| drop | – | 1⁄96 tsp. | 1⁄576 | 0.05 |
| teaspoon | tsp. or t. | 1⁄3 tbsp. | 1⁄6 | 4.93 |
| tablespoon | tbsp. or T. | 1⁄2 fl.oz. | 1⁄2 | 14.79 |
| fluid ounce | fl.oz. or oz. | 1⁄128 gal. | 1 | 29.57 |
| jigger | — | 11⁄2 fl.oz. | 1.5 | 44.36 |
| gill | gi. | 1⁄2 cup | 4 | 118.29 |
| cup | C | 1⁄2 pint | 8 | 236.59 |
| pint | pt. | 1⁄2 quart | 16 | 473.18 |
| fifth | — | 1⁄5 gal. | 25.36 | 750 |
| quart | qt. | 1⁄4 gal. | 32 | 946.35 |
| gallon | gal. | 231 in3 | 128 | 3,785.41 |
| Dry Measures | ||||
| Unit | Abbrev. | Defined | cu.in. | mL |
| pint, dry | pt. | 1⁄2 dry qt | 33.60 | 550.61 |
| quart, dry | qt. | 1⁄8 peck | 67.20 | 1,101.22 |
| peck | pk. | 1⁄4 bushel | 537.61 | 8,809.77 |
| bushel | bu | 684.5π in3 | 2,150.42 | 35,239.07 |
Dashes, pinches, and smidgens are all traditionally very small amounts well under a teaspoon, but not more uniformly defined. In the early 2000s some companies began selling measuring spoons that defined a dash as 1⁄8 teaspoon, a pinch as 1⁄16 teaspoon, and a smidgen as 1⁄32 teaspoon. Based on these spoons, there are two smidgens in a pinch and two pinches in a dash.
In domestic cooking, bulk solids, notably flour and sugar, are measured by volume, often cups, though they are sold by weight at retail. Weight measures are used for meat. Butter may be measured by either weight (1⁄4 lb) or volume (3 tbsp) or a combination of weight and volume (1⁄4 lb plus 3 tbsp); it is sold by weight but in packages marked to facilitate common divisions by eye. (As a sub-packaged unit, a stick of butter, at 1⁄4 lb, is a de facto measure in the US)
Cookbooks in Canada use the same system, although pints and gallons would be taken as their Imperial quantities unless specified otherwise. Following the adoption of the metric system, recipes in Canada are frequently published with metric conversions.
Read more about this topic: Cooking Weights And Measures
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states and/or measures:
“The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“The recognition of Russia on November 16, 1933, started forces which were to have considerable influence in the attempt to collectivize the United States.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“During the first World War women in the United States had a chance to try their capacities in wider fields of executive leadership in industry. Must we always wait for war to give us opportunity? And must the pendulum always swing back in the busy world of work and workers during times of peace?”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and
strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off
work,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)