Proper Measuring of Ingredients
The Importance of Accurately Measuring Ingredients
Sally/Sam Student
Kaplan University
NS415-01 Food Science with Lab
Professor North
March 1, 2020
The Importance of Accurately Measuring Ingredients
Do you remember watching your mother cook and getting to help in the kitchen. I know my favorite part was licking the beaters after making chocolate chip cookies. Every time Mom cooked, the results were great. So why is it that sometimes my cookies come out fine, and other times not so good? Then there are my cakes. Let’s say frosting is my friend as it can cover up my uneven or lopsided cake. I might not have Mom’s knack in the kitchen, but I took this class hoping I could learn some tips and tricks in this class that will improve my rate of success and end up with fewer failures sometimes even my dog isn’t so excited to eat.
This first unit has already shown me what some of my mistakes have been. I never thought Mom measured, so neither did I. When I measured a cup of flour I just stuck a 1 cup measuring scoop into the flour canister, shook it so it was leveled off, and added that as a 1 cup measure into my cookie dough. Now I find out that isn’t the right way. Bennion and Scheule (2010, p. 83) say that most recipes are actually based on using sifted flour, even if they don’t say to sift the flour. This is because at home we tend to use volume measures like cups and teaspoons, but other countries and pretty much the entire foodservice industry relies on weight (Bennion & Scheule, 2010, p. 78). It turns out that weighing is much safer in terms of getting the right amount. As Bennion and Scheule (2010, p. 83) state, “one pound of flour will weigh one pound, regardless of whether it is sifted.” But, if you rely on a measuring cup, it turns out that a cup isn’t always a cup. In fact, as reported in Conforti (2008, p. 4), it not only depends on whether the flour was sifted, but also what kind of flour it is.
While Conforti doesn’t give the weight of my
Sally/Sam Student
Kaplan University
NS415-01 Food Science with Lab
Professor North
March 1, 2020
The Importance of Accurately Measuring Ingredients
Do you remember watching your mother cook and getting to help in the kitchen. I know my favorite part was licking the beaters after making chocolate chip cookies. Every time Mom cooked, the results were great. So why is it that sometimes my cookies come out fine, and other times not so good? Then there are my cakes. Let’s say frosting is my friend as it can cover up my uneven or lopsided cake. I might not have Mom’s knack in the kitchen, but I took this class hoping I could learn some tips and tricks in this class that will improve my rate of success and end up with fewer failures sometimes even my dog isn’t so excited to eat.
This first unit has already shown me what some of my mistakes have been. I never thought Mom measured, so neither did I. When I measured a cup of flour I just stuck a 1 cup measuring scoop into the flour canister, shook it so it was leveled off, and added that as a 1 cup measure into my cookie dough. Now I find out that isn’t the right way. Bennion and Scheule (2010, p. 83) say that most recipes are actually based on using sifted flour, even if they don’t say to sift the flour. This is because at home we tend to use volume measures like cups and teaspoons, but other countries and pretty much the entire foodservice industry relies on weight (Bennion & Scheule, 2010, p. 78). It turns out that weighing is much safer in terms of getting the right amount. As Bennion and Scheule (2010, p. 83) state, “one pound of flour will weigh one pound, regardless of whether it is sifted.” But, if you rely on a measuring cup, it turns out that a cup isn’t always a cup. In fact, as reported in Conforti (2008, p. 4), it not only depends on whether the flour was sifted, but also what kind of flour it is.
While Conforti doesn’t give the weight of my
References: Bennion, M., & Schedule, B. (2010). Chapter 5: Back to basics. In Introductory foods (13th ed., pp. 76-89). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Conforti, F. (2008). Laboratory 1: Measuring techniques; Appendix E: Emergency substitutions. In Food selection and preparation: A laboratory manual (2nd ed., pp. 1-11, 221). Ames, IA: Wiley-Blackwell.