Living without kitchen scales

Recipes, Cooking tips and maybe some 'Home Made' secrets !
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fabindia
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Living without kitchen scales

Post by fabindia »

We just can't find anywhere that sells kitchen out here in India. We are a rarity in that we have a very basic oven that we bought. Most people just cook on a stove so ingredients can be a bit approximate for a curry.

I can't get away with American recipes that list ingredients in cups. It's the most illogical way of measuring to me. I'll have to get someone being cheap set out when they visit from UK.
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lancashire lass
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Re: Living without kitchen scales

Post by lancashire lass »

fabindia wrote:I can't get away with American recipes that list ingredients in cups


... maybe I'm being too simple but surely measuring in cups mean you don't need kitchen scales especially if you are using American recipes? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the post.

Re:

fabindia wrote:Most people just cook on a stove so ingredients can be a bit approximate for a curry


I can remember when watching my mother bake and cook - she didn't use kitchen scales and seemed to know how much flour or liquid was about the right amount.
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Mo
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Re: Living without kitchen scales

Post by Mo »

My mother did too - until she tried to cook something (scones?) in my kitchen, where the spoons, bowls etc. were a different size.
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Meanqueen
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Re: Living without kitchen scales

Post by Meanqueen »

I have never owned kitchen scales. My cooking is a bit slap dash, chuck in a few ingredients and see what happens, never follow recipes. I suppose if your hobby is cooking and baking you would need the scales, but my kitchen is not my favourite place to be.
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saint-spoon
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Re: Living without kitchen scales

Post by saint-spoon »

cooking most stuff doesn't really need scales in my humble opinion but baking does have to be at least in the ball park with measurements
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HedgeHugger
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Re: Living without kitchen scales

Post by HedgeHugger »

Doesn't India have Amazon?
cups are a pain in the backside type measurement if you can't get your head around them.
It is to do with ratios rather than actual measurements, if that makes sense.
So for a recipe that would call for 4oz flour, 2oz sugar, 2oz fat (basic cake) it is a half fat and sugar to flour.
The measurement is consistent, so long as you use the same cup (or bowl) for measuring.
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Meanqueen
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Re: Living without kitchen scales

Post by Meanqueen »

Yes, need scales for baking, or you might end up with a soggy bottom. )eat(
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fabindia
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Re: Living without kitchen scales

Post by fabindia »

HedgeHugger wrote:Doesn't India have Amazon?

Yes it does but it won't accept none Indian issued cards.

HedgeHugger wrote:So for a recipe that would call for 4oz flour, 2oz sugar, 2oz fat (basic cake) it is a half fat and sugar to flour. The measurement is consistent, so long as you use the same cup (or bowl) for measuring.


Agree with the ratio thing. However, fat is much heaver than flour so volume wise the ratios won't work.

Our cooking is fine it is the baking bit that really needs the accuracy. Also, our baking isn't helped by the very basic and somewhat dodgy oven we bought.

Actually, I have a colleague coming out in January, so I will order a few bits from Amazon UK and have them delivered to the office. The list is growing:

kitchen scales
cooking thermometer
oven thermometer
knife sharpening stone
new set of strings for my guitar
couple of kites (for the kite flying festival in January)
chocolate
alcohol

He'll have no room left in his luggage for clothes the rate we are going at. :?
Michael
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Re: Living without kitchen scales

Post by Freeranger »

I think you've misunderstood the US system, so it might be worth a google.
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Mo
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Re: Living without kitchen scales

Post by Mo »

I think the cups recipes need to be volumes, not weights. So it wouldn't work to convert an English recipe asking for twice as much flour as fat (weight) into cups, but an American recipe would give the correct (different) ratio for volumes.

I'd rather weigh though.
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Re: Living without kitchen scales

Post by albertajune »

I use both scales and measuring cups. Lots of recipe books, including baking, give ingredients needed in both and the results with cups are just as good.
Don't try and convert yourself and use the proper measuring cups, not tea cups. )t'
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manda
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Re: Living without kitchen scales

Post by manda »

Dr Google....what you can't weigh google to see how many grams of it are equal to a cup ...then divide the cup to what you need.

I do use scales for baking (for speed but I have a lot of recipes that I've written out and ut cup measurements on as well...I think maybe I'm always subconsciously preparing for Armageddon for that day when I won't have things to hand {rofwl} ...I'm the same with cooking things I have most things in manual so if the electricity goes out (which to be fair in winter does happen here) then I can still carry on as normal.

I have this on my desktop so I can look up things quickly....it has pretty much most thigs in all methods of weighing..
https://chefindisguise.com/conversion-tables/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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(¸.✰´¨(¸.✰ Manda

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