I hate metric system.

[Chef Wil]

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I know you are right, I'm just being lazy. Also I have tendency to over do it. Whenever I cook, I cook too much. Of course I have an excuse, a big family, but it is just an excuse. For some reason I can’t cook a little, even when I want to I end up with a lot. Quite few times I start cooking in one pot and then all of a sadden I have to switch to a bigger one. I guess it’s all because I don’t use recipes.

LOL, I have the same problem at home at times but I learned that I can save it for rice pudding or fried rice dishes or even put it in a soup in a day or so and it's fine.

 

[silvercliff_46]

Hmmmmmm! Let's see.., A cup is 8 oz. but a cup of flour only weighs 5oz. but everybody knows that 8oz.= 1/2 pound so do I need a half a pound of flour, but a half pound doesn't fit in a cup or 5 oz. and if I sift it, it's like almost two cups?, but 226.8 grams = 1/2 pound (U.S.) sifted or other wise.

**** smart @$$ metric system. (only kidding)

 

[choclatechef]

Hmmmmmm! Let's see.., A cup is 8 oz. but a cup of flour only weighs 5oz. but everybody knows that 8oz.= 1/2 pound so do I need a half a pound of flour, but a half pound doesn't fit in a cup or 5 oz. and if I sift it, it's like almost two cups?, but 226.8 grams = 1/2 pound (U.S.) sifted or other wise.

**** smart @$$ metric system. (only kidding)

TMI!!!!

All of that math is giving me a headache.

 

[The Z]

The USA is too soft on some issues. The metric system is one of them. All those years ago, when the plan was to convert, too much 'discussion' was permitted and those whiners who thought the metric system conversion would be "too hard" swayed the government to abandon its plan.

Many years ago, Australia converted to the metric system. The government set a date and, while there were some people who moaned about it, the attitude of the government was: "It is for the best and we will all have to get used to it." And guess what? They did. If something like that is forced on you, you just adapt.

The metric system is a far more logical system of weights and measures and, if you HAD to use it, I'm sure that you could all learn it and see the benefits of it in no time.

 

[Chef Wil]

The metric system is easier to use but you will still find the same problems with the measurements between solids and liquids, as is shown above. A measure of volume isn't a measure of weight in the metric system unless you are using water. Any other substance is not going to work any better than what we have now.

 

[Ishbel]

The UK half-heartedly said we'd go metric way back in the 70s. My children only learned about metric measurements (as opposed to avoirdupois and Imperial) at school. I kept (stubbornly) to the Imperial.

A couple of years ago, we were forced to change. No foods could be sold by anything other than metric. BUT, in typical British fashion, we get round it by asking for 'a pound of ham', '6 ounces of cheese' etc and the shop assistant kindly looks at the conversion chart she has behind the counter and says 'oh yes that 500g' or whatever.... SIMPLE!

However, all my recent cookery book purchases have been in metric - which means I use metric for some recipes and Imperial for my older, tried and tested favourites.

Liquid and solids are easy - millilitres and grammes or kilos.... No probs!

 

[Brooksy]

Sometimes I still convert from metric to imp simply to assess temps. 30dC = 88dF - that's warm.

Being a metric converted country, in aviation we still measure speed in knots, distance in nautical miles and altitude in feet. BUT, when assessing VMC (flying conditions), visibility must at least 5000 metres, not 3 nautical miles, clearance from cloud - 1000ft above 500ft below and 1500 metres horizontal separation. All mixed up. As far as I'm aware, knots etc are still the International standard. Oh, and fuel calcs for some aircraft have to be converted from US gallons, as opposed to imperial gallons, to litres, different again

Cooking measures can be confusing, because an imp cup holds 230mls & a metric cup holds 250mls, a cup of flour weighs 130gms or imp 120gms. I have to be careful which measures I use because the mistakes are almost outnumbering the successful conversions.

The US is halfway to "metrification". Dollars & Cents have virtually trained you guys. On Feb 14, 1966 we changed from L.S.D. or pounds shillings & pence to decimal currency. That was a rort - if all your money was assessed in Pounds, after that date you automatically lost 20% of your worth off the top. 24 shillings = 1 pound = $2, 20 shillings also = $2.00. I was poor and young so it didn't matter. The math was crazy, but fun to learn. Our British brothers & sisters have also done the same exercise - changing from LSD to New Pence and they are still with us.

 

[Brooksy]

....... BUT, in typical British fashion, we get round it by asking for 'a pound of ham', '6 ounces of cheese' etc and the shop assistant kindly looks at the conversion chart she has behind the counter and says 'oh yes that 500g' or whatever.... SIMPLE!

Still happens here as well Ishbel. "Can you loan me a couple of Bob mate?" Just going down the road for a pound of spuds...... The 5 gallon drum rather than "the 20 litre drum", a pound od snags etc etc. the term 'hundredweight' (cwt) gets blank looks from anyone under 40.

 

[Ishbel]

I still see little old ladies in my butcher's shop asking, in a broad Scots accent 'Gie's a punna mince, son' - to the elderly man behind the counter!

 

[velochic]

Yeah, I think inertia is the culprit of the US not converting... been doing it that way so long, have to keep doing it that way. Which reminds me of my home state of Indiana, which does not observe daylight savings time. For the hoosiers of the state, it means resetting their clocks twice a year... which is... what?... too difficult or something???? They seem to think so. Back, forward... I'm sure there would be a large population coming into work 2 hours late in the Spring and 2 hours early in the fall.

I can't imagine what they would do if they actually had to ask for half of a kilo of ground meat instead of 1 pound. Complete pandemonium, I'm sure!!

 

[Claire]

Husband and I were on the road in an RV full time for three years. Everyone knows 'zonies don't do daylight savings time, but Indiana was weird in that some of the towns we hit DID honor DST. So when we travelled through Indiana, we never knew what time it was! I have a BIL from Indiana and he didn't even KNOW that lots of Indiana doesn't do DST. Anyway, I gather they've recently passed a DST law and will join the rest of us. I'm terrible at math, so would love it if we'd go metric.

 

[Karridog]

Imagine kilograms and grams. Liters and milliliters. How is the person supposed to know all of this and understand? Obviously I’m being sarcastic here.



Isn’t it so much easier when in one single recipe you get a teaspoon and a tablespoon, a cup and the ounces, a pinch and … well whatever else?

I am ready to scream. I usually cook at home, just for the family so I know how much of what I need to put. But the other day I was cooking for about 200 or so people. I made sweet and sour chicken. O boy. Was I mad? 2-table spoon of this, half a cup of that, 3 teaspoons, well you get the picture. Are we ever going to switch to metric, the rest of the world did. What are we waiting for? Who can possibly deal with 4 or 5 different units of measure in the same recipe?

The US was to go Metric several years ago but the Americans refused. The various units and equivalents should be in any good cookbook. They can also be found on the Internet in various forms. Try searching Google.

 

[Brooksy]

Just of the daylight saving.........

Years ago Queensland stopped using daylightsaving because it put the commercial chooks off laying & distressed other livestock. The then government went to great lengths to convince the general public that this was the case.

You have to hand it to Queenslanders, they're different.....

 

[Georgeco]

As far as my experience goes, only the US and Canada still routinely use volume measures for dry ingredients. The professional end of the food biz do not measure indry volumes, it's all weight, either gm or oz. If you want to significantly increase a recipe you already have then it is far far easier to do if you have converted the dry volumes to weights. It is also far far far more accurate.

If you ever want to accurately recreate a recipe from Europe then you are going to have to buy a scale and use it religiously. After about a month of using the scale you will have an entirely different view of recipes. When I teach students to use mass they quickly begin to see the relationship between ingredients and how they work in a dish. You just cant do this when you think about tripling an 1/8 cup you just don't have the measure on any volume cup measure of .375 cups.

Frational math is far harder to get used to than multiplication

 

[Daphne duLibre]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm . . .

You'd go nutz in my kitchen . . .

How much is a "pinch" ??? How about a "handful" ???

I don't bake. Baking is chemistry, and I can do it. I can do it but I don't. If I want bread, I go to the bakery.

Herbs, spices, condiments all vary in intensity. You never see Emeril measure anything. But he tests/tastes and adjusts all the time.

You should know that a litre is a "big quart" -- You should know a pound of meat from how it fits in your pan, not what it weighs.

Tablespoon, teaspoon . . . gram, oz, etc. You should have a basic concept of the term.

Someone tells me the peloton (Tour de France) is doing 55 Kph . . . I know that's a fast pace.

Soyez international ! ! !

And toss out your measuring stuff ! ! !

REAL cooks don't measure.

 

[CharlieD]

Daphne duLibre, Well, I have to say I agree with you, but it's okay in your own kitchen, but when you have to cook for 200 people and you are not a real chef, you better start measuring or you are screwed (what's the good word?) royally.

 

[Robo410]

Metric will be adopted in the US when the US Gov't passes a law mandating that it will purchase products only from companies that use it. That will make it financially advantageous for companies to go that route which up to now, only soda and coffee packagers have taken for the general public: the 12oz "pound of coffee" is 1/3 of a kilogram so a 3 pound bag is 1 kilo...and the 2 liter bottle of soda etc. Adapting cook book recipes is quite simple and it doesn't require changing all you baking pans as was the big fear put on us in the 60s. Oh, look at your cup measure...some have both systems? and which one do you read when you hold the cup in your left hand as you pour liquid into it from your right hand as over 50% of us do??

So we're just waiting for the gov't to make the change. But they are afraid to "anger" the average American although we've been teaching this for over a generation. Get over it...save some money and standardize!

 

[CharlieD]

The thing is, as i recently found out, just few days ago, that having metric system is a huge financial advantage for the US, and why it hasn't been adopted is a mistery not only to me, but to big financial moguls and financiers. So I was right without even thinking or knowing how trully right I was.

 

[Daphne duLibre]

Maybe I'm Crazy . . .

Maybe crazy, but I've made it this far . . . and don't see anyone in a white coat chasing me.

I don't follow recipes. Let me note here that I don't bake. Baking is complex chemistry and requires some recipe following.

But recipes for me are just a point of departure. I look at the basic dish, consider the main ingredient and the preparation process . . . Then I'm off on my own, incorporating ideas from a recipe into the standard preparation processes I know and use all the time.

Ingredients always vary in strength/intensity and so that needs adjustment.

Processes are pretty universal. I mean -- how many ways can you boil water? *G*

More and more I find myself in disagreement with a recipe approach. I don't add oil to pasta water (Emeril says "yes" Alton Brown says "never.") I never grate nutmeg on anything -- because I don't like it.

So, basic processes, standard preparation approaches, and the "recipe" is a guide. I don't measure stuff, but I taste and adjust all the time.

 

[Alix]

Daphne, I think I agree with most of what you write. I am somewhat haphazard in the kitchen as well. I think though that can be misleading. It is only because of years of experience in there that one knows what "works" and what doesn't. A fledgling cook is always better off starting with a recipe and branching out from there. That way they can figure out for themselves that you can't substitute baking soda for baking powder!

I also agree that baking is much more a science than cooking. Good observation. Many of my disasters have resulted from me messing around with the chemistry of a baking recipe. LOL!!!