Measuring Ingredients
Thursday, January 11th, 2007If there’s any “First Rule� of measuring, it is this: never measure over the pot the ingredient is going into. All kinds of things can happen that could ultimately dump a whole lot of whatever into the pot, which could ruin your dish.
When you’re trying a new recipe, it’s a good idea to start out with the amount called for, and then add more if you want later on.
There are two kinds of measuring cups: liquid and dry measures. Dry measures are quite often a group of graduated cups. The reason for this is that you scoop up the flour or sugar, etc., and even out the measure by scraping off the top with a straight edged knife. This is the most accurate way to measure. When you’re measuring these kinds of ingredients, it’s important to avoid shaking down or compacting the contents of the cup. This can give you way more than you need.
The best way to use a liquid measure is to hold it at eye level, and pour in the amount needed. Or you can set it on the counter and bend over to look. If you’re looking down into the cup, you could easily get less than the amount you need.
For measuring ingredients, you don’t want to use things like coffee cups or spoons from your tableware set. It’s pretty much guaranteed they won’t be accurate measures.
While there isn’t much you can do about too much oregano, or too much hot sauce, if you get too much salt, try this: put a couple of slices of raw potato into the pot, and let them soak up some of the salt. Just don’t forget to fish them out before serving!