How Do I Convert My Recipes to the Metric System? Good Questions

Q: I have a good friend from Texas who is getting married at the end of this month and then moving to Switzerland. I am making her a cookbook with traditional Texas recipes.

It takes a certain knack to work with the metric system when you're used to American measurements, so I would like to convert the recipes to metric to make life a little easier for her. Any good ideas for converting recipes to metric? I have found calculators for flour and sugar, but what about other ingredients. Has anyone done this before? — Sent by Priscilla

Editor: Priscilla, what a nice project for your friend! We have a couple of thoughts. First of all, don't get tripped up by the difference between actual metric volume measurements and metric weight. If you want to just convert the recipes into milliliters and liters, then there are straightforward conversions you can do. (Of course, the non-standardized cup has all different conversions into mL depending on where you are; it can be anything from 180 to 250, depending on what part of the world you're in!)

But for basic conversions from cups into metric volume measurements, check out this chart:
• Conversion Charts at foodgeeks

Overall, though, if she has a regular set of American measuring cups, then why not just leave the recipes in the format she is most accustomed to? The conversions between the metric and Americans system really trip people up when they are being asked to deal with formats they are not used to. If she has the measuring cups and spoons, then it would probably be easiest for her to have the recipes as they are.

Readers, what do you think?

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Comments (12)

Italian Cooking Magazine had a great one pager conversion of everything you need even tempreratures for the oven. Go buy it bcs it was a fantastic issue with the zuchini flowers on the cover.

I run into this problem a lot. When I try Turkish recipes in the US, there are even different terms, for instance one tea glass full off something....In Turkey, tea glasses has a certain shape and size so this makes sense, in US it does not. I would say keep the recipes as they are and see if you can search through some Swiss cooking sites to see if there are any special terms, conversion charts..etc. This might be a bit challenging. Or you can try and see if there is a measuring tool/cup with metric on one side and American on the other. You may also want to print the conversion chart and give to your friend along with the cooking book. Good luck!

I live in Austria and I find that it's easiest for me to follow recipes that have the US measurements on them because that's what I know. What has really been helpful for me, though, is to have a set of measuring cups and measuring spoons that have both standard and metric measurements on them. That way I can follow the directions on packages and German recipes as well as my favorites from home.

A measuring cup and scale that give both metric and Imperial system measures are definitely the way to go. But I found when living overseas that the challenge of converting recipes to the metric system begins even before getting into the kitchen -- it begins at the grocery store. It takes some time and practice to adapt recipes based on the size of, say, a standard can of tomatoes in the foreign market, as well as to learn which recipes really aren't feasible due to the difficulty in obtaining certain ingredients.

You know google.com does automatic conversions, right? Try the search term "3/4 cup to ml" and you'll see what I mean.

Google can be used as a fancy calculator. It does US/metric conversions, math problems, combinatorics, currency conversions, etc. etc.

Maybe this will help.

The engineer in me says to use the easiest way for your friend... both sets of units. She can use her US measuring cups/spoons or metric ones. For example

1 cup (250mL) Ingredient 1
1 tsp (5mL) Ingredient 2

and so on...

Most recipes in Canadian publications have both metric and imperial measurements in them (like Dan O suggests). Even if you have imperial measuring cups and spoons, you still have to go to the market and buy your ingredients in metric.

I'm in Canada and I use both...my measuring cups have Imperial and Metric on them...I thought everyones did actually!

I recommend that you NOT go to the trouble of converting the recipes. If she grew up in the US, she is used to thinking in imperial measures anyway. But maybe you could give her a set of measuring tools that are marked in both metric and imperial measures? That might help her make the transition.

Another thing to consider is that recipe conventions can differ from one country to another. For example, I have see German recipes where measures are given in dL (deciliters, or tenths of a liter). And I have seen recipes in British cookbooks that still use pints, which are different from American pints.

If you do go ahead to convert the recipes, remember that the ratio of the ingredients is more important than the actual measurements. So while 1 cup of milk in a pancake recipe is not exactly 250 ml, it is close enough, as long as the other ingredients are converted according to the same ratio.

If you have a Mac, there is a widget that allows you to convert many measurements. But, I agree with those who say to keep the measurements she is used to. She might enjoy the familiar in a new country.

This has little to do with measuring cups, but, as a Texan living abroad (in China), I can say that the hardest thing about cooking Texas recipes is finding ingredients. I think the cookbook is a lovely idea, but don't stress about converting all the measurements. (Oven temperatures *would* be helpful, though!) And, with your cookbook, make sure she has a good set of measuring cups and spoons and a few ingredients -- dried chiles, cans of Rotel, whatever you like -- that will help her achieve a taste of home. A friend sent me off with a tortilla press and masa, and I'm the envy of my American co-workers.

I'm used to the Metric system and I have to say that the American tendency of measuring, for example, butter by tablespoons so infuriating! I come across an interesting recipe and as soon as I see tablespoons/cups/etcetera, well, it's enough to make me switch off. I am puzzled, though: why? Scales are more accurate, whether one is used to the Imperial or the Metric sysytems.