Oz, the Great and Terrible

[prillalar]

I haven't been a frequent cook in my life, because it's a big hassle and takes a lot of time. ("A lot of time" meaning "more than five minutes".) Now that I have more time and I'm trying to eat less junk, I'm actually cooking stuff that combines more than three ingredients.

I'm having some metric/imperial issues though. If I get a recipe off a US website and it says, "2 oz cheddar cheese, shredded" how the hell do I measure that? I assumed weight, but now I hear that may not be so. My little scale has both ounces and grams, so it's no problem to weigh ingredients, but is that really weight or is it volume? (And what kind of a system uses the same word for both?) If it's volume, how do you tell when you've got 2 oz? The cheese is rectangular; my measuring cups are round. Or do you shred it first and then measure it? I'm assuming there's some order of operations in play here, where because "shredded" comes at the end, you shred it after measuring, not before.

This is probably why I spend so much time getting Sims to make grilled cheese sandwiches. Then they have to measure the bloody cheese, not me.

Mmm, cheese.

ETA: I feel better about being confused seeing the lack of consensus in the comments. But I'm still confused. *g*

Comments

[marinarusalka.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that when an ingredient is solid (cheese, flour, etc.) ounces always means weight. At least, that's what I always do with my recipes and no disasters have befallen me.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

LOL...the American system is beyond ridiculous...yes, it measures in turn by volume and weight...and uses the same terms...

i mean, how fucking hard could it be to say 75 mg...but no, we get teaspoons and tablespoons...

i'd shred it and then measure by volume (or, alternately, you can just guestimate 2 oz, b/c a regular cheese bar like Kraft is around 8oz?)

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

It's, uh, fluid ounces, which is another way of saying, yes, volume measurement. 8 fl. oz. to the cup, so you should be putting in a 1/4 cup of cheese. Somewhere between 50 and 75 ml, I guess?

[florahart]

Generally speaking, for something solid (like cheese) you can reckon it means weight, though personally I never weigh anything at all--I figure if I buy a 2-pound block of cheese, an ounce is 1/32 of that size. The other is "fluid ounce" which is a measure of liquid volume, which is 1/32 of a quart (so, like, 1/30 of a liter I suppose, so ~35 ml?

The other funny thing, course, is that so many non-US recipes call for weights of solid things. Heh. I don't even have a scale for that sort of thing. I just measure volume and adjust if it feels wrong.

[akatonbo.livejournal.com]

Recipes with US measurements rarely use weight unless it's meat. They mean ounces by volume, and damned if I know why they didn't just say 1/4 cup, since that's what 2oz is.

[lapislaz.livejournal.com]

cheese is measured by weight, 16 oz-1 pound. 8 oz of shredded cheese makes approximately 2 cups.

If it has to be precise, weigh first, then shred.

[mousapelli.livejournal.com]

am at Kamen Rider Kabuto 20.

GON!!! :( :( :(

I say no. (omg Tendou gets hotter every freaking episode)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Dry ingredients are measured by weight, liquid by volume.

[prillalar]

I bet Tendou never has cheese-measuring problems.

I need more episodes! One per week is not enough.

[prillalar]

That seems the most logical to me, in so far as logic seems to apply.

[prillalar]

Seriously! It also just occurred to me that not only do *I* have to know the right answer to this question, so does the person writing the recipe.

I get cheddar in giant huge blocks (we like it) so it's hard to work out how to measure it once the wrapper has been thrown away.

[venivincere]

Solids are measured in ounces of weight, liquids in ounces of volume. So your cheese you would put on the scale and come out right. But if your recipe called for two ounces of melted cheese, you would have to pour it in the cup measure until you hit the quarter cup mark (because there are 8 fluid oz per cup). Ridiculous, isn't it? You can get volume measuring cups that have both ounces and millilitres on them, which will complement nicely your scale that measures ounces and grams.

[mousapelli.livejournal.com]

he totally shows up at the restaurant and looms over Hyori and demands to know the secret of her cheese-measuring.

my dorklove for Kagame also grows exponentially. And I love that Tendou and the new guy are having a pretentious name-kanji contest. and i nned KRK icons. maybe one with Tendou transforming that says "CHANGE PANTIES" or something.

[prillalar]

So if I see ounces of flour, that should be weighed? What about ounces of chopped vegetables?

Maybe I should just stick to non-US recipes and save my brain cells for fanfic. *g*

[prillalar]

How would you go about measuring 1/4 cup of cheese? It's in this huge block. Just guess?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Theoretically, yes. In practice, it doesn't really matter that much as most recipes are flexible enough to work with slightly more or slihgtly less of any of the ingredients. :) Baking is more exacting, but as I am an indifferent baker who does not care about minute differences in the texture and grain of the cake as long as it tastes good, I've found that there's really not too much to worry about.

I tend to view recipes as guidelines more than rules, anyway. XD

[prillalar]

The comments seem to be leaning more to weight than volume in this case, though it's far from conclusive. I'm feeling a bit better about my ignorance. :)

[prillalar]

I see you are in the volume camp. I'm going to have to actually tally the results when this is over.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

* And vegetables would be weighed - if you can pour it, it's liquid, if you can chop it, it's solid. Butter is iffy, since it can be solid or melted, but most US butter sticks come with the tablespoons printed on the wrapper, so I usually just go by that.

[prillalar]

Weighing is what I did, with the cheese and the vegetables. It's not the like recipe (for tuna loaf) was going to be ruined by a bit more cheese or a bit less green pepper. But for things like calorie and carb counts, I'd like to be more precise if I can.

[prillalar]

Maybe I should check for new measuring cups. Mine have cups and millilitres on them, but no ounces. Though I can easily do the cup/ounce conversion, so probably there's no need.

The scale makes so much more sense for things that are going to be shredded or minced or chopped. Because how else will you know how much to prepare?

[prillalar]

And Hiyori is all, "I don't measure."

The next few episodes are going to kill you. In a good way. :)

Kagami is so much love, I can hardly talk about it. My beloved future step-son! I only have the one KRK icon -- more are definitely needed.

I love this show so much I'm even half thinking about a vid (well, actually two). Only I haven't downloaded any raws.

[iamrosalita.livejournal.com]

You can either shred it and measure it in a measuring cup or convert it to ounces and weigh it.

[reposoir.livejournal.com]

Yep, that would be measured by shredding. Easiest way.

[prillalar]

So then the question it: how tightly do you pack the shredded cheese in the measuring cup? Not like brown sugar, I assume.

Maybe I'm overthinking this. *g*

(And your icon is so cute!)