Recipes / Baking

[doodles]

A friend of mine emigrated to the States last summer and at Christmas wanted to make mince pies. Unfortunately she couldn't find mincemeat in California so I had to send her a recipe but it took the two of us to translate it into American - one of the spices, I think it was mixed spice, was sold as pumpkin pie spice!

[Proud_Dad]

It's when they then go to 'sticks' of butter as well. What on earth is a stick of butter.

I think it's slightly more than a knob.

[Tinkers]

For info, a stick of butter is 110grams btw.

[Amber]

Lyle had strong religious beliefs, which is why the tin’s famous logo depicts strongman Samson’s ‘lion and bees’ from the Bible’s Old Testament, registered as Lyle’s trademark. ‘Out of the strong came forth sweetness’, as the quote goes; where bees produce honey inside the lion’s carcass, rich syrup pours from the well-loved tin… And the logo and design remain unchanged to this day

Well next time I come across a lion carcass I shall know what to do then - grab some bees, insert into corpse and wait. I am afraid I am a bit rusty on my Bible stories, sorry, so not sure where the tin comes in.

I have a book of Scandinavian cooking which is marketed at both English and American readers and includes 'apple pie spice' as the translation for mixed spice. It also reckons a stick of butter is 100g. Controversial eh?

I have a lovely set of American style measuring cups made by The one who had a coat of many colours The one who had a coat of many colours (to make up for lack of Bible knowledge in paragraph 1).

[Yamin151]

Don't have a problem with american measures. It's not difficult is it? If you're confused just look it up on the internet. You miss out on some gorgeous baking if you veto american recipes with their sticks of butter and cups. Actually I've found cups quite useful.

[ToadMum]

Lyle had strong religious beliefs, which is why the tin’s famous logo depicts strongman Samson’s ‘lion and bees’ from the Bible’s Old Testament, registered as Lyle’s trademark. ‘Out of the strong came forth sweetness’, as the quote goes; where bees produce honey inside the lion’s carcass, rich syrup pours from the well-loved tin… And the logo and design remain unchanged to this day

Well next time I come across a lion carcass I shall know what to do then - grab some bees, insert into corpse and wait. I am afraid I am a bit rusty on my Bible stories, sorry, so not sure where the tin comes in.

I have a book of Scandinavian cooking which is marketed at both English and American readers and includes 'apple pie spice' as the translation for mixed spice. It also reckons a stick of butter is 100g. Controversial eh?

I have a lovely set of American style measuring cups made by The one who had a coat of many colours The one who had a coat of many colours (to make up for lack of Bible knowledge in paragraph 1).

A stick of butter is apparently a quarter of a pound - so 113.whatever grams. Not a huge difference in the grand scheme of things when making something involving only one or two 'sticks', but could cause problems with larger quantities (depending on whether the other ingredients are scaled to their original measurement or to the butter, so to speak)?

[Tinkers]

Three different posters with three slightly different values for the weight of a stick of butter. albeit not by much, but as TM says, scaling up a recipe can cause all sorts of issues.

The problem with cups is that as you are measuring volume, you are not getting a constant weight. Flour in particular can vary in density, depending on whether you tap or shake the cup as you measure. Forget about the variation in sticks of butter. The variation of the weight of a cup of flour can vary by quite a lot. Any one who bakes a lot knows that you really should be working to precise measurements. Hence why recipes say to use either imperial or metric measurements, but not to mix.

[hermanmunster]

I remember going away to a self catering place and wanting to do some baking - no scales there so we did everything by volume - fortunately had access to t'internet and could find the volume of 100g flour or assorted types of sugar etc

[Tinkers]

Australian and Soth African recipes also sometimes use cups. THey just happen to be a different size to US cups, just to confuse you further. So a random recipe you find that uses cups, may or may not be US cups.

[doodles]

I have a very handy mug I use for Yorkshire puddings! They seem to work better for me by volume than by weight, so mug flour, mug eggs and mug milk/water and pinch of salt.