This article is part of the Cuisine series
Foods
Bread - Pasta - Cheese - Rice Sauces - Soups - Desserts Herbs and spices Other ingredients Image File history File links Title_Cuisine_2. ... Cuisine (from French cuisine, cooking; culinary art; kitchen; ultimately from Latin coquere, to cook) is a specific set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a specific culture. ... Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ... Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ... Cheese is a solid food made from the milk of cows, goats, sheep, and other mammals. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... For the computer protocol, see SAUCE. Or see source. ... Soup is usually a savoury liquid food that is made by combining ingredients, such as meat, vegetables and beans in stock or hot water, until the flavor is extracted, forming a broth. ... A selection of desserts Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheeses. ... Herbs: basil Herbs (IPA: hə()b, or əb; see pronunciation differences) are seed-bearing plants without woody stems, which die down to the ground after flowering. ... For other uses, see Spice (disambiguation). ... Food is any substance, usually composed primarily of carbohydrates, fats, water and/or proteins, that can be eaten or drunk by an animal for nutrition and/or pleasure. ...
Regional cuisines
Asia - Europe - Caribbean South Asia - Latin America Middle East - North America - Africa Other cuisines...
Preparation techniques and cooking items
Techniques - Utensils Weights and measures
See also:
Kitchens - Meals Wikibooks: Cookbook

In recipes, quantities of ingredients may be specified by mass ("weight"), by volume, or by count. Asian cuisine is a term for the various cuisines of South, East and Southeast Asia and for fusion dishes based on combining them. ... See the individual entries for: Austrian cuisine British cuisine English cuisine Scottish cuisine Welsh cuisine Anglo-Indian cuisine Modern British cuisine Belgian cuisine Czech cuisine Danish cuisine Dutch cuisine Finnish cuisine French cuisine Basque cuisine German cuisine Hungarian cuisine Icelandic cuisine Irish cuisine Italian cuisine Cuisine of Sicily Lappish cuisine... Caribbean cuisine is a fusion of African, Amerindian, French, Indian, and Spanish cuisine. ... South Asian cuisine includes the cuisines of the South Asia. ... Latin American cuisine is a phrase that refers to typical foods, beverages, and cooking styles common to many of the countries and cultures in Latin America. ... The term Middle Eastern cuisine refers to the various cuisines of the Middle East. ... North American cuisine is a term used for foods native to or popular in countries of North America. ... Cuisine of Africa reflects indigenous traditions, as well as influences from Arabs, Europeans, and Asians. ... Cooking is the act of preparing food. ... This is a list of food preparation utensils, also known as kitchenware. ... A kitchen is a room used for food preparation and sometimes entertainment. ... For the coarsely ground flour, see flour. ... == Recipe for Simple Pancake Morning Muffins == Ingredients: 1 cup of Hungry Jack pancake mix 1/4 cup of water 2/4 cup of maple syrup cupcake pan (any size) Preheat oven at 300 degrees. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The volume of a solid object is the three-dimensional concept of how much space it occupies, often quantified numerically. ... Counting is the mathematical action of repeatedly adding (or subtracting) one, usually to find out how many objects there are or to set aside a desired number of objects (starting with one for the first object and proceeding with an injective function from the remaining objects to the natural numbers...

For most of history, most cookbooks did not specify quantities precisely, instead talking of "a nice leg of spring lamb", a "cupful" of lentils, a piece of butter "the size of a walnut", and "sufficient" salt^{[citation needed]}. In Europe, cookbooks used mass ("weight") rather than volume, though informal measurements such as a "pinch", a "drop", or a "hint" (soupçon) continue to be used from time to time. In the U.S.A., Fannie Farmer introduced the more exact specification of quantities by volume in her 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. Fannie Merritt Farmer (23 March 1857 - 15 January 1915) was an American culinary expert whose book, The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, became a widely used culinary text. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Today, most of the world prefers measurement by weight, though the preference for volume measurements continues in North America. Different ingredients are measured in different ways:

Liquid ingredients are generally measured by volume world-wide.

Dry bulk ingredients such as sugar and flour are measured by weight in most of the world ("250 g flour"), and by volume in North America ("1/2 cup flour"). Small quantities of salt and spices are generally measured by volume world-wide, as few households have sufficiently precise balances to measure by weight, though standardized spoon measures are not widely used outside North America. Dry measures are units of volume used to measure bulk commodities which are not liquid. ...

Meats are generally measured by weight or count world-wide: "a 2 kg chicken"; "four lamb chops".

Vegetables may be measured by weight or by count, despite the inherent imprecision of counts given the variability in the size of vegetables.

Chopped or cut-up meats and vegetables are generally measured by weight, except in North America where they are measured by volume.

Metric measures

In most of the world, recipes use the metric system of litres (l) and millilitres (ml), grams (g) and kilograms (kg), and degrees Celsius (°C). The word litre is often spelt liter in the USA. The International System of Units (symbol: SI) (for the French phrase Syst me International dUnit s) is the most widely used system of units. ... The litre or liter (see spelling differences) is a unit of volume. ... The millilitre is the equivalent of a cubic centimetre. ... BIC pen cap, about 1 gram. ... The U.S. National Prototype Kilogram, which currently serves as the primary standard for measuring mass in the U.S. It was assigned to the United States in 1889 and is periodically recertified and traceable to the primary international standard, The Kilogram, held at the Bureau International des Poids et... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale (previously known as the centigrade scale). ...

The English-speaking world frequently measures weight in pounds (avoirdupois), with volume measures based on cooking utensils and pre-metric measures. The actual values frequently deviate from the utensils on which they were based, and there is little consistency from one country to another. Some common measures in English-speaking countries are: The avoirdupois (IPA: ; French:) system is a system of weights (or, properly, mass) based on a pound of sixteen ounces. ...

The volumetric measures here are for comparison only. See below for the definition of Gallon for more details. The United States Food and Drug Administration is the government agency responsible for regulating food, dietary supplements, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, biologics and blood products in the United States. ... Image:Teaspoon sugar. ... The most commonly used spoon in most houses the dessertspoon is probably what youre used to eating your breakfast with. ... This tablespoon has a capacity of about 1 tbsp. ... A simple plastic measuring cup A measuring cup is a kitchen utensil used to measure liquid or dry substances when cooking. ... A fluid ounce is a unit of volume in both the Imperial system of units and the U.S. customary units system. ... The pint is a unit of volume or capacity. ... A quart is a unit of measurement for volume. ... The gallon (abbreviation: gal) is a unit of volume. ... The gallon (abbreviation: gal) is a unit of volume. ...

In addition the “cooks cup” above is not the same as a “coffee cup” which can vary anywhere from 100~200 mL [4–7 fl.oz.] (or even smaller for espresso)

In Australia - since 1970 - metric utensil units have been standardized by law and Imperial measures no longer have legal status. However - it is wise to measure the actual volume of the utensil measures - particularly the 'Australian tablespoon' - see below - since many are imported from other countries with different values. Dessertspoons are standardized as part of the metric system at 10 mL, though they are not normally used in contemporary recipes. Australia is the only metrified country with a metric tablespoon of 20 mL, unlike the rest of the world, which has a 15 mL metric tablespoon.

In Germany, and to a lesser extent in France, recipes frequently refer to pounds (Pfund in German, livre in French). In each case, the unit refers to 500 g, about 10% more than an avoirdupois pound (453.59237 g).

United States measures

The U.S. still uses pounds and ounces (avoirdupois) for weight, and U.S. customary units for volume. For measures used in cookbooks published in other nations navigate to the apropos regional section in Traditional measurement systems. The avoirdupois (IPA: ; French:) system is a system of weights (or, properly, mass) based on a pound of sixteen ounces. ... U.S. customary units, commonly known in the United States as English units or standard units, are units of measurement that are currently used in the U.S., in some cases alongside units from SI (the International System of Units—the modern metric system). ... The Traditional or Customary systems of measure date back to antiquity, frequently to the Roman Empire in Europe, Cultures formerly in the British Empire, and around the rim of the Mediterranean Sea. ...

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. Dry measures are units of volume used to measure bulk commodities which are not liquid. ...

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 and butter; butter is sold by weight but in packages marked to facilitate common divisions by eye. (As a sub-packaged unit, a stick of butter, at ¼ lb [113 g], is a de facto measure in the U.S.) The drop is a unit of measure of volume. ... Image:Teaspoon sugar. ... This tablespoon has a capacity of about 1 tbsp. ... A jigger (pen included for scale) A jigger or measure is a bartending tool used to measure liquor, which is typically then poured into a cocktail shaker. ... A simple plastic measuring cup A measuring cup is a kitchen utensil used to measure liquid or dry substances when cooking. ... Pinch in cooking is a very small amount of an ingredient, typically salt, sugar or spice, the amount that can be pinched between the thumb and first finger. ... For other uses, see Flour (disambiguation). ... Magnification of grains of sugar, showing their monoclinic hemihedral crystalline structure. ... Meat is animal flesh (mainly muscle tissue) used as food, sometimes with the exception of fish, other seafood, and poultry. ... Butter is commonly sold in sticks (pictured) or blocks, and frequently served with the use of a butter knife. ...

Cookbooks in Canada use the same system, although pints and gallons would be taken as their Imperial quantities unless specified otherwise. Following the popularization of the metric system, recipes in Canada are frequently published with metric conversions.

British (Imperial) measures

Note that measurements in this section are in Imperial units The Imperial units are an irregularly standardized system of units that have been used in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, including the Commonwealth countries. ...

Traditional British measures distinguish between weight and volume.

• Weight is measured in ounces and pounds (avoirdupois) as in the U.S.
• Volume is measured in Imperial gallons, quarts, pints, and fluid ounces (with 20 fl.oz. per pint [~570 mL]). The Imperial gallon was originally defined as 10 pounds [4.54 kg] of water in 1824, and refined as exactly 4.54609 litres in 1985. Older recipes may well give measurements in cups; in so far as a standard cup was used, it was usually half a pint [~285 mL](sometimes a third of a pint [~190 mL]), but if the recipe is one that has been handed down in a family, it is just as likely to refer to someone's favourite kitchen cup as to that standard.

American cooks using British recipes, and vice versa, need to be careful with pints and fluid ounces. A US pint is 473 ml, while a UK pint is 568 ml, about 20% larger. A US fluid ounce is 1/16 of a US pint (29.6 ml); a UK fluid ounce is 1/20th of a UK pint (28.4 ml). This makes an Imperial pint equivalent to 19.2 US fluid ounces. A spring scale measures the weight of an object In the physical sciences, weight is a measurement of the gravitational force acting on an object. ... The avoirdupois (IPA: ; French:) system is a system of weights (or, properly, mass) based on a pound of sixteen ounces. ... The volume of a solid object is the three-dimensional concept of how much space it occupies, often quantified numerically. ...

On a larger scale, perhaps for institutional cookery, it must be noted that an Imperial gallon is eight Imperial pints (160 Imperial fl.oz., 4.546 litres) whereas the US gallon is eight US pints (128 US fl.oz., 3.785 litres).

The Metric system was officially adopted in the UK for most purposes, some decades ago, and both taught in schools and used in books. It is now mandatory for the sale of food and almost all new cookery books are in metric only, as well as cookery programmes using metric exclusively. However, it is not uncommon to purchase goods which are measured and labelled in Mertic, but the actual measure is rounded to the equivalent Imperial measure (i.e you buy milk which is labelled correctly as 568ml which also happens to be the equivalent of 1 pint). Metrication or metrification refers to the introduction of the SI metric system as the international standard for physical measurements—a long-term series of independent and systematic conversions from the various separate local systems of weights and measures. ...

Special instructions

Some recipes include additional instructions for measuring the correct amount of an ingredient. For example, a recipe might call for “1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed”, or “2 heaping cups flour.” A few of the more common special measuring methods:

Firmly Packed

With a spatula, a spoon, or by hand, the ingredient is pressed as tightly as possible into the measuring device.

Lightly Packed

The ingredient is pressed lightly into the measuring device, only tightly enough to ensure no air pockets.

Even / Level

A precise measure of an ingredient, discarding all of the ingredient that rises above the rim of the measuring device. Sweeping across the top of the measure with the back of a straight knife or the blade of a spatula is a common leveling method.

Rounded

Allowing a measure of an ingredient to pile up above the rim of the measuring device naturally, into a soft, rounded shape.

Heaping / Heaped

The maximum amount of an ingredient which will stay on the measuring device.

Sifted

This instruction may be seen in two different ways, with two different meanings: before the ingredient, as “1 cup sifted flour”, indicates the ingredient should be sifted into the measuring device (and normally leveled), while after the ingredient, as “1 cup flour, sifted”, denotes the sifting should occur after measurement.

References

1. ^ For Nutritional facts labeling purposes, the FDA definitions state that "a teaspoon means 5 milliliters (mL), a tablespoon means 15 mL, a cup means 240 mL, 1 fl oz means 30 mL, and 1 oz in weight means 28 g."
2. ^ The “fifth”, originally exactly one-fifth gallon (25.6 fl.oz.) was adjusted slightly to make it exactly 750 ml (25.36 fl.oz.). It is normally only used as a retail measure of wine and liquor.
3. ^ Volume measures in the U.S. are based on the U.S. gallon (fluids, legally defined as 231 cubic inches [3.785 L]) and the U.S. bushel (dry goods, legally defined as an 8 inch [~200 mmm] tall cylinder 18.5 inches [470 mm] in diameter).

The nutrition facts label (also known as the nutrition information panel, and various other slight variations) is a label required on most pre-packaged foods in North America, United Kingdom and other countries. ... Spirits redirects here. ...

See also

• Cooking
• Gastronorm sizes (standard sizes of container)
• Gas mark, a system of oven temperatures used in the UK

Cooking is the act of preparing food. ... Gastronorm sizes are standard sizes of container used in the catering industry GN1/9 : 108 x 176 mm GN1/6 : 175 x 162 mm GN1/4 : 265 x 163 mm GN1/3 : 325 x 175 mm GN1/2 : 325 x 265 mm GN2/3 : 354 x 325 mm GN1/1... The Gas Mark is a system of marking temperatures on gas ovens and cookers in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations countries. ...

External links

• Conversion Charts from FoodGeeks.com
• How much does a cup weigh? from Veg World