I do it for news shows when there’s an irritating host or guest but there’s something I want to find out.
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I use cc for everything. A lot of programs and movies have too much background noise or loud music to hear the dialogue.
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I’ve got a couple with recipe writers. One, giving really poorly done imperial to SI conversions. No, 3.25 cups of regular wheat flour is not 520 g because it’s about 120 g/cup, not 160 g/cup (unless you’re seriously packing it).
And no - looking at you, King Arthur Baking - a US cup of water, which is 8 fluid ounces, does not mass 227 grams. The US cup, at 8 fluid ounces, is right at 236.59 mL of volume, which means it cannot have a mass other than 236.59 grams. (This error, due to using the US ounce mass conversion to grams (1 oz mass = 227g) is in nearly every KA recipe.)
The above is somewhat in snark. I don’t really care if the conversions are not spot-on, as long as they state what they actually did do in the recipe - if they say they measured in cups, then I know what to do, and if they measured in grams, then I know what to do. It’s those recipes that don’t say how they measured when they did it that, if the disparities are large enough, I steer clear of.
The other peeve is that in my recipes, I always first write the protein basis (mass of beef, shrimp, tofu, paneer, or chicken or whatever), and I’d love it if other recipes were written that way. My brain can’t comprehend the relevance of the amounts used in a list of ingredients until I know the mass of the protein.
This is apparently a “me” problem. Most people, I believe, prefer to have the protein listed in the order where it appears in the use/method instructions.
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Fixing a “failed to complete the work” problem.
That’s exactly why baking recipes should only have weights as so much depends on humidity, packing etc. For us it’s normally around 140g/cup AP flour
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I am terrible about over-packing flour if I try to volume measure - even using the spoon and sweep method, I end up over 130g when shooting for 120, so I always weigh out flour.
What I buy (mostly KA, White Lilly, Pillsbury) all say they’re counting 1 cup at 120 (124 for Pillsbury), so that’s what I aim for if a recipe only states volume. Exception for rye flours being a lot less dense (under 100g per cup), and some of KA’s GF flours that are more dense, for which KA lists 140g/cup.
@CCE - you are mistaken and KA is correct regarding water. Have you measured the weight of 1 US cup of water? I just did. “A pint’s a pound the world around.” “2 Cups in a Pint”. My US cup of water on the scale was just under 8 oz and converted to grams as a bit LESS than KA’s 227 gm. In any case, the 2 tsp. difference in liquid measure of a cup of water between your calc and that of KA will make very, very, minor difference in results given all the other variables in cooking/baking/measuring.
Yes, I’ve weighed water many times.
While I can agree with you that it is only a small difference (2 tsp, as you note, per each cup), we’ll have to agree to disagree on whether KA and others mistaking US ounce mass for US ounce fluid are correct.
But let me ask this - do you agree with the statements that one US gallon weighs 8.34 pounds, and that one US gallon contains 8 pints?
P.S. This is just a bit of trivia, but that old saying (“… a pound the world around”) is wrong. It is the US pint that is close to a pound. Commonwealth countries using the larger UK pint (UK itself, Ireland, Canada (although I’ve heard something about 12 ounces can also be called a pint), AU) find that it weighs a bit over 1.25 pounds. I’m not sure which countries might use the US pint approximating 1 pound per each.
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No. It may be a reason we all should have very accurate scales. The reality is, though, many among us don’t. And without one (with a tare feature), the volume specs not only make sense, they make the difference between making and not making, between trying and not.
The best practice is to give both volume and weight measures, even though volume measurements are less precise.
People might also say that specific numerical values for temperature settings should be the only ones given, rather than, e.g., Medium-Low. But that, if followed, would limit recipes to those with PID-controlled appliances or good thermometers.
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Based on this chart which I trust, yes approximately, depending on the temperature and if we’re talking about water. https://pilotinstitute.com/standard-weights-aircraft/
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Interesting chart - I only had a vague idea of flight weight distribution worries.
But because a gallon is 8.35 pounds, and there are 8 pints per gallon, that’s why a pint must weigh more than a pound.
Not much more - only about an extra 20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce mass) over a pound.
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In high school chemistry, many moos ago, I learned:
A pint’s a pound the world around, except in England where a pint of water is a pound and a quarter.
And a liter equals a quart and a swallow.
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Forgetting about background noise, I don’t understand why documentaries need to have “crash-bang” background “music” accompanying the spoken word. There was an interesting documentary on the brain that I once abandoned because the music was so distracting.
One program I can’t watch is Gordon Ramsay’s “The F Word” because the noise is an assault on the senses.
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I’m getting to that point with The Bear.
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I’m from the Boston area and moved to Tucson, AZ many years ago (which only lasted a couple of years before we headed home). I had a friend who was originally from Alabama, and there were times when we simply couldn’t understand each other. 
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This is my absolute favorite SNL sketch. And so true!!!
I was just gonna start singing a pint is a pound the world around … I keep it in mind to figure how much liquid I can carry without resorting to a cart or begging for help.
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Dry and wet volume (as marked on the cups) are exactly the same. “Wet” cup generally has a little spout to help the pour. and of course a little more material at the top to contain then liquid without spilling.
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Yep. And going in the opposite direction, if you like to dry measure flour (instead of weighing on a scale), imagine trying to scrape the cup of flour flat using a wet-intended vessel.
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I have cousins in the Deep South. I get you …
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