When I was very young and learning how to bake, I was shown something called the Water Displacement Method. I haven't seen this method for measuring solid fats mentioned recently, so perhaps it's gone out of fashion. Is this still being taught today?
This method works if you have a solid block of butter that hasn't been cut into quarters or if you are measuring shortening or coconut butter or other such scoopable solids like nut butters (as long as they're quite solid and not the runny kind.)
It works like this: Say you need a 1/2 cup of shortening. Get a 2-cup liquid measuring cup and fill it with COLD water up to the 1.5 cup mark. Add spoonfuls (or small slices) of the shortening until the water comes up to the 2 cup mark. It helps to bend over and view this at eye level for an accurate read. Carefully pour off all the water or, alternatively, scoop the fat out of the water and drain it slightly, and what you have left is 1/2 cup of shortening.
Be sure the water is cold, and your fat as cold as possible, to prevent any melting. It's also really important that the fat is totally immersed in the water for proper measuring. The easiest way to achieve this is to have much more water than fat. Measuring 1 cup of fat in a 2 cup measuring container will probably be problematic, for instance.
The best part of this method is that clean up is so easy — very little of the fat sticks to the measuring cup. It's also very accurate, although I confess to being a big fan of weighing my ingredients these days.
• See more about this method: Water Displacement Method at Nifty Chef
Do you use the water displacement method?
Related: Praise for the Adjust-A-Cup
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This is how my mom taught me to measure out shortening for pie crust. I was also taught it in my home ec type class in middle school - about 12 years ago. It's still how I measure out shortening when I bake with it.
This makes the nerd in me so so happy.
We learned this method in my food science lab class. I'll stick to weighing though :-)
This is one of those "duh!" moments. It seems so obvious (especially to anyone who took any sort of science class), but it would never have occurred to me to apply this to baking. Love it!
I generally use an online converter (http://www.onlineconversion.com/cooking_butter.htm) to convert the amounts into grams, and then use my kitchen scale. Even less cleanup, and even more accurate!
That is how I learned to bake as well. But that was back in the 70's!
that's amazing. i just smoosh it in and guess, which sucks.
@ASHLEYDANAE more of a "eureka" moment, I'd say.
This is how my mom taught me too - that was the late 80s. I'm sure it's how her mother taught her and so on. I still measure solid fats this way - especially peanut butter recently.
I have a vague memory of knowing this, maybe from my home economic classes or my Mom. It makes so much sense. I often wonder how much product I waste while scraping the measuring cup and even how much is lost from measuring liquids, such as cream, vanilla.... Do the measurements in recipes include adjustments for the small amount of product left in the cup or spoon? Haha, I know I'm being very anal here but usually do add a tad more because of this. Am I just being an idiot or what???? Do tell please.
My mom used to bake this way. I'm not sure why I've never tried it.
I use this technique when I make Kraft Dinner to measure the margarine and the milk :)
Every time I see this method, I shout EUREKA!
Oh wow, it should be so obvious but this never occurred to me before. I'm definitely going to put this tip to good use.
Makes sense for this method but it would be a million times easier and a million times more accurate if American recipies used weighing as a method rather than cups. Its very frustrating. Its impossible to be accurate with cups.
My grandmother taught me this when I was a kid, back when Crisco didn't come in those sticks. (and I guess back when Crisco was more commonly used) I use it for peanut butter too. Everytime I do it I think of her. I love showing this trick to others, it's seems so obvious once you see it, but not many people know about it.
I learned this from a friend's mom when I was a kid, but I'd never heard it from anyone else or in any cookbooks so I worried it wasn't accurate and stopped (I'm not very good at science). Thank you for validating this method!
Hurray for Home-Ec Teachers ! A fading & underestimated group of dedicated teachers. They brought forth some basic oral wisdom about cooking, housekeeping, and other "make your home a castle" tips. My home-ec teacher taught me more useful lifelong information than my geometry teacher.
That's a good tip. Still I rarely measure anything and don't even own a measuring cup. I eye-ball everything and so far no disasters...
My grandma taught me to measure it that way. I prefer a scale myself. Or my favorite (if not for baking)... eyeballin'.
My grandmother taught me this as well when I was knee high to a grasshopper. Until recent years, I always thought is was common knowledge. Then in the space of a few wks, three different guests asked what in the world I was doing. Without steppin up on my soapbox, I've come to the conclusion that this lack of knowledge all boils down to the breakdown of the traditional family in today's culture...
Used to be, wisdom was passed down from one generation to the next. Not so much today....mentors are sadly lacking. Yet another reason I love this place. Many great mentors here willing and eager to share their knowledge & wisdom. And I'm not ashamed to say, more than a couple are decades younger than I. To them I say, "Thank you."
(ha...the nerd in me is so so happy here, too)
Being a European (and therefore usually weighing my ingredients), I did wonder how you Americans measured the volume of these kind of things. Now I know. Thanks!
My mom taught me this - most important in making no-bake cookies to make sure all the peanut butter makes it in. Note on that - we always measured out the milk first, then added the right amount of PB. When I was little, the idea of watery peanut butter upset me. It still does, to be honest.