Recipe Talk

Help!!! Most of the Recipes are in Cup/Cups! Could anyone tell me the conversion into Oz's/Grams

Simple Volume measures
These conversions should only be used when converting non-compressible ingredients, or ingredients where the amount is not critical. Do not use for flour, see later notes.
US Measure
European measure

1/5 teaspoon
1 ml

1/2 teaspoon
2.5 ml

1 teaspoon
5 ml

1 desert spoon (2 teaspoons)
10 ml

1 tablespoon
15 ml

1 fluid oz.
30 ml

1/5 cup
50 ml

1/2 cup
120 ml

1 cup (1/2 pint)
240 ml

2 cups (1 pint)
470 ml

4 cups (1 quart, 2 pints)
0.95 liter

4 quarts (1 gal.)
3.8 liter

Why measure ingredients by weight?
Cooking involves bringing together various ingredients, and all ingredients are made of chemicals. When certain chemicals are brought together in the right circumstances, then chemical change happens.
You can see a chemical reaction when you watch an egg frying. The high temperature causes the albumen of the egg to denature and change from a clear jelly to a white solid.

Take bicarbonate of soda as an example. Get a normal drinking glass and put half a teaspoon on bicarbonate of soda in it. Add two tablespoons of warm water and stir. The bicarbonate dissolves and the water becomes clear. If you place the glass in a warm place and leave it the water will eventually evaporate and the bicarbonate will be left as a deposit in the glass. No change has happened.

Now take a lemon, halve it and squeeze it. Add a couple of drops of the juice to the glass and the mixture of water and bicarbonate begins to fizz. This is a chemical reaction. The acid in the lemon (which is why it tastes sharp on your tongue) is reacting with the bicarbonate of soda (which is an alkali when dissolved in the water) to produce a salt and carbon dioxide. This is the basic reaction in cookie baking that lifts the cookies and makes them lighter.

If you keep adding the lemon juice each time the reaction dies down, then eventually you will get no more bubbles even though you add more lemon juice. This is because all the bicarbonate has been used up.

[As a matter of interest see how using cold or very hot water affects the speed of bubble generation.]

From a chemical point of view a reaction works with exact numbers of molecules. I'll simplify this reaction a bit by using a nasty acid, hydrochloric, in the chemical equation. Citric acid is more complex, but essentially the same.

Bicarbonate of soda has the formula Na2CO3. That's two atoms of Sodium, one of Carbon and three of Oxygen.

Hydrochloric acid has the formula HCl, that's one atom each of Hydrogen and that very reactive Chlorine.

Bring two molecules of acid together with one of the alkali and you get:-

The resulting molecules are salt, water and carbon dioxide.

Note how the count of atoms is the same on each side of the equation. So reactions are based on the number of atoms. Atoms have mass. Mass equates directly to weight in the real world. So measurement by weight is the key to consistent success and tasty cookies.

Lecture over!

To ensure a reaction has just the right amount of each ingredient, chemists weigh the various ingredients, as this is the most predictable way to ensure that each has the right number of molecules for the reaction. This is not an issue for liquids. At a constant temperature, and within an acceptable range a normal kitchen can be considered ‘constant', a specified volume of a given liquid will have effectively the same weight.

For powders though, the situation is different. You can get a lot more flour into a measure if you press it into your cup measure than if you sift it lightly over the measure. This can be the crucial difference between a good result and a poor one.

Most American style recipes specify many ingredients by cup, i.e. by volume. Some do it by ounce, and many do not specify whether that is a ‘volume' ounce (fluid ounce) or a ‘weight' ounce (ounce avoirdupois). Most European recipes specify ingredients by weight. The unambiguous way to most consistent results is to work by weight for solids and powders, volume for liquids.

Converting dry ingredients
As we have just seen you need a different conversion for the different types of dry ingredients.
Flour

American measures in cups are for poured, sifted flour and the top leveled off with a knife. Do not press the flour down into the measure or dip the measure into the flour bag and scoop it up. Both will give you too much flour.

All purpose Flour, sifted
Cake Flour, sifted

US Ozs
Grams
US Ozs
Grams

1/2 cup
2
56
1 3/4
50

1 cup
4
112
3 1/2
100

2 cups
8
250
7
200

3 cups
12
362
10 1/2
300

4 cups
16
500
14
400

In all these tables US Ozs are weight ounces (avoirdupois) not volume (Fluid ounces) unless otherwise stated.

Butter, Margarine, cooking oils

Butter
US Ozs
Grams

1/2 cup
4
225

1 cup
8
450

2 cups
16
900

3 cups
24
1,350

4 cups
32
1.8 kg

In all these tables US Ozs are weight ounces (avoirdupois) not volume (Fluid ounces) unless otherwise stated.

Butter, Margarine, cooking oils
Butter
US Ozs
Grams
Stick

1/2 cup
4
225
1

1 cup
8
450
2

2 cups
16
900
4

3 cups
24
1,350
6

4 cups
32
1.8 kg
8

Shortening (Cresco, Cookeen)
These are lighter than butter per unit volume, they also contain trans fats.
Shortening
US Ozs
Grams

1/2 cup
3 1/2
100

1 cup
7
200

2 cups
14
400

3 cups
21
600

4 cups
28
800

Milk
Milk
US Ozs
Grams

1/2 cup
4 1/4
120

1 cup
8 1/2
240

2 cups
17
480

3 cups
25 1/2
720

4 cups
34
960

Sugar (Granulated, white or brown)
Because of its coarser texture that either caster sugar or brown sugar, granulated sugar is a little lighter by volume.
Granulated sugar
US Ozs
Grams

1/2 cup
3 1/2
198

1 cup
7
396

2 cups
14
792

3 cups
21
1188

4 cups
28
1584

Sugar (Caster and brown moist)
Moist brown sugar packs a little more densely that granulated brown sugar.
Caster and brown moist sugar
US Ozs
Grams

1/2 cup
3 3/4
107

1 cup
7 1/2
213

2 cups
15
426

3 cups
22 1/2
640

4 cups
30
852

Raisins
Raisins
US Ozs
Grams

1/2 cup
2 1/2
70

1 cup
5
142

2 cups
10
284

3 cups
15
426

4 cups
20
568

Clear Honey/Golden syrup/Molasses/Black treacle
Honey/ Molasses
US Ozs
Grams

1/2 cup
6
175

1 cup
12
350

2 cups
24
700

3 cups
36
1050

4 cups
48
1400