Who needs measuring cups and spoons when you've got creativity on your side? Cooking can be an art form that doesn't always require strict rules. We're sharing 10 clever ways to measure ingredients without standard units, using everyday items and a bit of ingenuity. Get ready to make magic in the kitchen without the usual tools!
AUTHOR: Ben Rice
Table of Contents
- 1. Just a Glug
- 2. Handfuls of Flour
- 3. Destroy the Blender
- 4. Turkish Coffee Cups Only
- 5. Cups or Glasses?
- 6. How Many Butts?
- 7. When It Smells Right
- 8. Who Needs Measurements?
- 9. The Buzz Metric
- 10. The Holy Trinity of Measurements
- 12 Life Secrets From People Over 70 You'll Wish You Knew Sooner
- 10 American Foods That Are Banned In Other Countries
- 12 Best American Foods According To Visitors
1. Just a Glug
When someone says, “Add a glug of this,” they usually don’t mean it literally — it means use discretion for this small addition. One woman explains how her mom uses "glugs" literally, listening to the pouring sound to measure amounts. One can only imagine how potent her whiskey cake must be.
2. Handfuls of Flour
Grandmas know best, especially with baking. While most pastry chefs would scream at anything but the exact amount in a recipe, one commenter begs to differ. Her grandmother measured everything by the handful, producing wonderful baked goods her entire adult life — it probably doesn’t work for butter, though.
3. Destroy the Blender
Potato pancakes are one example of a recipe that needs blending; at least, that is how one poster sees it. However, their assessment of the perfect batter consistency may raise a few eyebrows: to keep adding breadcrumbs until the blender struggles. While this can’t be good for the blender motor, you can’t argue with the creativity.
4. Turkish Coffee Cups Only
When a mom writes a recipe to hand down to future generations, she may embellish the recipe with some quirks. In this case, a storyteller shares her mom’s secret weapon — a 3 oz Turkish coffee cup she uses instead of a normal cup. There may even be an unwritten rule that all family recipes must have this weird phenomenon attached.
5. Cups or Glasses?
American recipes are rife with cup or tablespoon measurements, but cooks have struggled to interpret a cup for years. America’s British imperial measurement system refers to 237-240ml or eight fluid ounces. Another contributor explains how their mom used the same juice tumbler for years for her cup.
6. How Many Butts?
The next post shows a humorous way to measure not food but kitchen size — the advanced metric of a butt. For instance, one family member has a one-butt kitchen, while the weather sibling may have a four-butt kitchen. This label refers to the number of derrieres one can cram into a cooking space before it gets uncomfortable.
7. When It Smells Right
Some chefs have a cavalier attitude in the kitchen regarding measurements, even when measuring time. While there are hawks with egg timers primed to beep for several meal components, others still go by the sense of smell. Some people have a great nasal capacity, saying how when it “smells right,” they will switch the cooker off.
8. Who Needs Measurements?
It is true that once you have made a recipe several times, you defy accuracy because you know exactly how it will taste. You can create entire dishes without a single measurement, depending on the recipes. Take pasta sauce, for example. For two people, use one onion, one can of chopped tomato, and one clove of garlic, then double the recipe accordingly. Are these even measurements?
9. The Buzz Metric
Many desserts require an alcoholic addition, such as a whiskey glaze for bread pudding. In this case, the mother’s recipe requires the cook to keep adding whiskey until it tastes like it will give you a buzz. The same family has other curious methods: Hollandaise needs enough lemon to make you go on tip-toes, while garlic must be doubled — whatever the recipe says.
10. The Holy Trinity of Measurements
Italian nonnas make the greatest cooking companions imaginable. Spending a weekend cooking with his grandma, he discovered her method for pouring Lambrusco into the cannoli shell dough mixture — keep pouring for the same amount of time it takes to say, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” God bless this nonna.
Source: Reddit.
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