Why you are using Standard or Metric?

[caseydog]

I grew up learning standard and I have a much easier time imagining pounds, cups, miles and so on. I get too confused over metric, as in which is larger, a centimeter or a millimeter (in my mind, they both look the same).

I am a car guy, to the bone. Tires use the PMetric system for sizes. So, I know the section width difference between a 205 and a 215 is roughly 3/8 of an inch. I also know the other two numbers. One is a percentage, and the other is in inches. So, you have metric, a percentage and inches all in one tire size, unless you have a mid-1980s Ferrari, or Mustang/Thunderbird SVO with the Michelin TRX tires, where it is all metric and percentage. That system didn't last long.

My head is full of useless knowledge like that. But, if you ever want to know, for some reason, what those numbers and letters on your tires mean, I'm you guy.

CD

 

[buckytom]

casey, many years ago I drove an Olds Cutlass Supreme that had chrome covered lug nuts that were standard size, and of course, there was a matching standard lug wrench.

Unfortunately, after many beatings by impact wrenches, the chromed covers for the lug nuts would break down and fall off.

I discovered this when I got a flat and tried to change a tire with 4 standard sized chrome covered lug nuts, and 1 metric sized because the cover had fallen off.

This was the days before cell phones and roadside assistance.

I had to walk 5 miles home, and 5 back just to bring back a metric set of wrenches and a breaker bar.

 

[4food]

Thank you all for playing along with my curiosity. I can see all different answers that goes from education (our foreign friends), to background from other hobbies like Caseydog or just going the easy way even so it might not be too accurate like Rodentraiser.
In my case, I can use all of them, but prefer metric as it is so much more easier (Mainly in baking) as 1 liter is exactly 1 Kg, where water matches perfectly its equivalent in weight. For volume, I try to stay away, we know flour can be tricky by volume and going from Kosher salt to table salt has the same issue, so I prefer using my best friend, the scale.

 

[tenspeed]

The metric system is the standard throughout most of the world, except the U.S., Myanmar, and Liberia. The U.S. customary system is not identical to the Imperial system. Read up:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_of_measurement

 

[Steve Kroll]

That is a question I have been asking myself. Why would you, the cook , use one over the other?

I really don't have any problem switching between metric and American measures, so I just use whatever units the recipe calls for.

 

[RPCookin]

Just out of curiosity, what graduations are used in metric measuring spoons? I've never seen a metric measuring spoon - every one I've ever seen uses teaspoons and tablespoons or fractions thereof. Most liquid measuring cups have markings on opposite sides of the vessel for the different formats, but that wouldn't work for cups or spoons that are used for solid ingredients.

 

[Andy M.]

Just out of curiosity, what graduations are used in metric measuring spoons? I've never seen a metric measuring spoon - every one I've ever seen uses teaspoons and tablespoons or fractions thereof. Most liquid measuring cups have markings on opposite sides of the vessel for the different formats, but that wouldn't work for cups or spoons that are used for solid ingredients.

Milliliters (ml). It's a measure of volume. It works for solids and liquids.

 

[roadfix]

I had to walk 5 miles home, and 5 back just to bring back a metric set of wrenches and a breaker bar.

...or about 16 kilometers round trip....

 

[buckytom]

Lol,

 

[RPCookin]

Milliliters (ml). It's a measure of volume. It works for solids and liquids.

I pretty much knew that. What I don't know is what are the actual measures used for each spoon? 5 ml, 10 ml, 50 ml?

More questions - why are centimeters commonly used, but centiliters not? Why is it common to express a length as 100 millimeters or 10 centimeters, but not as one decimeter? No matter how you measure, there are peculiarities to both systems.

I worked as a machinist for 33 years, and it became automatic to convert fractions to decimals and back on a daily basis. Even now, after being retired for 10 years, I still see 11/16" as .6875". I might use what was labeled as an 11/16 endmill to cut a keyway dimensioned as .750 +.001/-.000. I knew that tool was 1/16" smaller than the cut I needed to make, so it would work for the task I needed to accomplish. 13/16 would not, because that is .8125", larger than the slot I needed to make.

When working with fractions and decimals, you just have know that your tooling and measuring gear is what is correct for the desired result. I don't see those needs as being any different in the kitchen. Decimal conversions aren't difficult, and for most of us in the US, aren't even necessary since the fractional measuring instruments are found in every kitchen. Whether I use metric measuring, or convert to avoirdupois first, or convert from volume to weight, it's just necessary to have the right equipment plus a little knowledge, and it all comes out the same in the end.

 

[roadfix]

I've seen 5 ml and 15 ml measuring spoons as they correspond to 1 tsp and 1 tbs respectively.

 

[buckytom]

Because a teaspoon is a teaspoon, but a tablespoon just couldn't be 2 teaspoons. It had to be 2 1/2. So what's 3/4 of 2 1/2 tablespoons in teaspoons?

But 5ml is 5ml, and 10 is 10.

3/4 of anything base10 is still easier.

 

[RPCookin]

Because a teaspoon is a teaspoon, but a tablespoon just couldn't be 2 teaspoons. It had to be 2 1/2.

But 5ml is 5ml, and 10 is 10.

3/4 of anything base10 is still easier.

Actually it's 3 teaspoons to a tablespoon. 3/4 of a tb would be 2¼ tsp.

So what's 3/4 of 2 1/2 tablespoons in teaspoons?

5.625 (5-5/8) teaspoons.

 

[buckytom]

Ya see what I mean?

 

[4food]

Traveling through Europe, I can't say I ever come across the equivalent of a Tsp nor Tbsp. I don't think they exist. BUT, they sometime use a coffee spoon or desert spoon or soup spoon as general references, but those are not measured like our "Tsp" and others.

 

[tenspeed]

Traveling through Europe, I can't say I ever come across the equivalent of a Tsp nor Tbsp. I don't think they exist. BUT, they sometime use a coffee spoon or desert spoon or soup spoon as general references, but those are not measured like our "Tsp" and others.

I never really thought about it, and I don't bake much. I have a recipe for dutch oven bread that calls for 1/4 tsp. of yeast, or 1 gram. My scale has a resolution of 1 gram, so I assume that anywhere between 0.5 grams and 1.5 grams will register 1 gram. I commonly make a half size loaf using 200 grams of flour, so I eyeball half of 1/4 tsp. That won't even register on the scale. How are recipes written that call for minute quantities, such as 1/2 tsp. baking powder?

 

[rodentraiser]

It's interesting. I notice that in the UK, even though meters and centimeters and things like that are used, they also still use miles per hour to measure speed and they also use the 1:12 scale (1 inch is equal to 1 foot) when it comes to dollhouse miniatures. That would confuse me more than just being completely metric.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I never really thought about it, and I don't bake much. I have a recipe for dutch oven bread that calls for 1/4 tsp. of yeast, or 1 gram. My scale has a resolution of 1 gram, so I assume that anywhere between 0.5 grams and 1.5 grams will register 1 gram. I commonly make a half size loaf using 200 grams of flour, so I eyeball half of 1/4 tsp. That won't even register on the scale. How are recipes written that call for minute quantities, such as 1/2 tsp. baking powder?

They don't always weigh small amounts. I've seen many recipes that use volume-based measurements with amounts in ml. No different than what we do. For example, a recipe might call for 30ml of salt, or two tablespoons.

 

[CWS4322]

I guess because I live in Canada and have lived in Europe and have worked in commercial kitchens and have developed recipes, it is easier for me to think metric when cooking. I do the same when dyeing yarn or fleece. But I still want to buy fabric by the yard.

 

[Themommychef]

I use avoirdupois and standard because that's what I've used my entire life. Metric is much easier in its base10 logic, but for some reason we've never adopted it.

Same!!