"Small Tin"

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Tonya

Assistant Cook
Joined
Feb 27, 2007
Messages
4
How much in regular measurement terms is a "small tin" of condensed milk?
 
Tonya...

Are you asking condensed milk or do you mean evaporated milk?
If you mean evaporated then 5 oz is correct.
If you mean "condensed" milk then 14 oz is the smallest I've seen..they may make Condensed in smaller can...I just have not seen it...
 
It says "1 small tin of condensed milk". Does "tin" just mean "can"? I have not heard that term before. It's for a fudge recipe which also includes 1 lb granulated sugar, 1/4 lb. finest butter, 1 T water, 1 T corn syrup, and 4 T unsweetened chocolate.
 
Well to me a "tin" means a can in the context you are using it, but I learned along time ago that we live in a big world..words can have many different meanings depending on where one lives, languages etc. Where do you live..in broad terms??
 
The recipe comes from the book "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" - "Monsieur Bon-Bon's Secret "Fooj". ;-)
 
The British call cans 'tins'.

I believe sweetened condensed milk (the only type available) is sold in 14 ounce cans.
 
Yep, tin is a term for can, but it is one used in the UK more than in the US.

As such it is vague,term, particularly when we do not know how old the recipe is.

Have a number of old cookbooks and magazines, and the quantities are often quite uncertain.

As they are in recipes from family and friends.

Can only suggest you give us the recipe and someone may be able to fill in the blanks.

Tke care.
 
Bumping an ancient thread here I know, but for the benefit of people (like me) who find this on google etc...

Way way back**, there used to be two sizes of condensed milk tins in the UK - 7 oz and 14 oz. These days they only sell the "big" cans/tins - which are now labelled as 397 g (i.e. 14 oz). A small can of condensed milk would definitely have meant 7 oz.
This recipe came from those old days - I remember cos I used to make it.
What I'm personally confused about is whether it was evaporated or condensed milk in the book (might have to visit the library!). I remember it as condensed, but everything I can find on the net says evaporated :huh:

If it really does say evaporated milk in the recipe then I'm a little unsure - it may or may not have been in the same size tins as the condensed stuff. Today a quick search on a supermarket website suggests they sell it in 170 g and 410 g sizes. Weird, eh?

Will be making it today btw, and will probably go with evaporated :)

** I mean the 70s and 80s...
 
I've got nothing better to do than comment on an old thread right now...
The thing I found weird when reading this is, "tin" appears to be a UK term from the recipes I've seen, but yet the other measurements are given in pounds. I've only seen tin used in conjunction with metric measurement recipes.
But I've only seen the movie ;)
 
It has always been a pet peeve of mine where recipes list a "small can" (or similar) of an ingredient. It's too imprecise as this thread demonstrates.

Listing such imprecise quantities should be a federal offense punishable by death.
 
Bumping an ancient thread here I know, but for the benefit of people (like me) who find this on google etc...

Way way back**, there used to be two sizes of condensed milk tins in the UK - 7 oz and 14 oz. These days they only sell the "big" cans/tins - which are now labelled as 397 g (i.e. 14 oz). A small can of condensed milk would definitely have meant 7 oz.
This recipe came from those old days - I remember cos I used to make it.
What I'm personally confused about is whether it was evaporated or condensed milk in the book (might have to visit the library!). I remember it as condensed, but everything I can find on the net says evaporated :huh:

If it really does say evaporated milk in the recipe then I'm a little unsure - it may or may not have been in the same size tins as the condensed stuff. Today a quick search on a supermarket website suggests they sell it in 170 g and 410 g sizes. Weird, eh?

Will be making it today btw, and will probably go with evaporated :)

** I mean the 70s and 80s...

Well, what is the recipe. Maybe we can help. Is it a sweet recipe? Does it call for the milk and sugar?

Oh....btw....welcome to DC!
 
Well, what is the recipe. Maybe we can help. Is it a sweet recipe? Does it call for the milk and sugar?

Oh....btw....welcome to DC!
Thanks :) Have to admit I'm not much of a cook though!
And yes, it's sweet - it's the same recipe as the OP: the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Fooj. Great stuff! Must be close to twenty years since I made it mind you...
In fact, I've been googling just now to figure out what to do about the corn syrup the recipe asks for - not on the shelf here in the UK. Looks like Golden Syrup might work instead tho.

I may have to make it several times to get it just right ;)

PS:
The thing I found weird when reading this is, "tin" appears to be a UK term from the recipes I've seen, but yet the other measurements are given in pounds. I've only seen tin used in conjunction with metric measurement recipes.
The UK used to use exclusively Imperial units (for, eh, obvious reasons :)) and that was certainly the case when the book was published. But it's all (more or less) metric now, like the rest of the EU.

It has always been a pet peeve of mine where recipes list a "small can" (or similar) of an ingredient. It's too imprecise as this thread demonstrates.
Yup, it's totally bananas. But then again, what's a cup? No two cups in my house are the same volume :devilish:
 
Last edited:
Cool, thanks. Maybe I always used to make it with condensed milk (which might explain a few things!)...
 
Speaking of imprecise recipes, I was going through my grandmother's selections and the rum-ball recipe called for a "ten cent package of vanilla wafers"! good grief!
 
Speaking of imprecise recipes, I was going through my grandmother's selections and the rum-ball recipe called for a "ten cent package of vanilla wafers"! good grief!

Now if you had a ten cent package you would have a crumb! :LOL:
 
Thanks :) Have to admit I'm not much of a cook though!
And yes, it's sweet - it's the same recipe as the OP: the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Fooj. Great stuff! Must be close to twenty years since I made it mind you...
In fact, I've been googling just now to figure out what to do about the corn syrup the recipe asks for - not on the shelf here in the UK. Looks like Golden Syrup might work instead tho.

I may have to make it several times to get it just right ;)

PS:
The UK used to use exclusively Imperial units (for, eh, obvious reasons :)) and that was certainly the case when the book was published. But it's all (more or less) metric now, like the rest of the EU.

Yup, it's totally bananas. But then again, what's a cup? No two cups in my house are the same volume :devilish:

On the right (west) side of the pond, a cup is 8 U.S. ounces, ~450 ml. It's a standard. Four cups to a quart, but that's U.S. quarts, not Imperial quarts.
 
Older Canadian recipes can be fun too. Is that Imperial ounces or U.S. ounces? Before we went metric, we used the Imperial system, but cooking were influenced by U.S. magazines, etc.
 

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