As part of our ongoing efforts to minimize redundancy and conserve space in our small kitchen, we've often thought about keeping either our dry or our liquid measuring cups and ditching the other set. Ultimately, we think it's worth keeping both, and here's why!
It's true that if you measure a cup of rice with a dry measure and pour it into a liquid measuring cup, it will come right up to the one-cup mark. This also works if you measured a cup of water and then poured it into a dry measuring cup.
But in our experience, the real issue is how easy it is to use each kind of cup with the specific kind of ingredient.
It's simply easier and more accurate to measure dry ingredients in a measuring cup where you can fill the cup and then sweep the excess off the top to get an even measure. And it's easier to measure liquids in a liquid measuring cup where the line of measurement is below the lip of the cup. This allows us to get right up to the measurement mark without spilling over and also helps us transfer the liquid without sloshing.
Of course, we could get rid of all our measuring cups and just go by weight. That would truly be the most accurate!
Do you think both dry and liquid measuring cups are necessary, or do you get by with only one set?
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speaking of weighing ingredients ... how would one go about converting the standard units to weight? i've read that measuring cups can fluctuate as much as 10% in terms of quantity. that could be a disaster with some baking projects. what should we do?
Being European I enjoy weighing everything. I had to get a set of cups for measuring US recipes (converting can be horrible) and I have never had a problem with using the solid cups for measuring liquids.
The problem with converting measurements to weight is that you still never know how the person who wrote the recipe did their measurements. One persons cup of flour may be 120 grams while another persons cup may be 140 grams. I wish more books were written with both weight and volume measurements.
On the subject at hand though, yes, you need both liquid and dry but in a pinch can sub one for the other. For instance, I've used dry cups for liquid while the dishwasher is running and my Pyrex cups are in there.
You can use dry measuring cups for liquid ingredients, but you really can't easily go the other way. That plus the greater ease of measuring liquids in a liquid measure is enough for me to insist on having both. Even if I could get along with just dry measuring cups.
rebecca_f: I weigh my ingredients if I'm using a recipe written for weights (which I definitely prefer), but I don't convert from volume to weight as a general rule. I don't have the patience to search out appropriate conversion values for each individual ingredient.
Most of the time, the ingredient packaging (such as the bag of flour or sugar) will tell you a single serving amount and the weight in grams of one serving. You can then convert the volume your recipe calls for into the weight appropriate for that recipe.
I've started weighing most if not all of my dry ingredients whether it is a recipe for baked goods or something as simple as oatmeal. It's much, much more accurate!
I have never had or used a liquid measuring cup. They don't store easily with their bulky handles and spouts. I use the dry measuring cups for everything, and just try to be really careful when transporting liquids in a full measuring cup!
You'd have to pry my scale out of my cold, dead hands!
I use the extremely useful chart in the back of Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible (stuff like, 1 c stirred & spooned APF = 121g, 1 c dip & sweep APF = 145g) for converting. And in most other baking books there's usually someplace where they discuss their methods for measuring flour, often the section on ingredients/techniques.
The little nutritional chart required on all food packaging (and on bulk bins) is also indispensable for weighing out ingredients. It gives you the volumetric measurement and metric weight for 1 serving. This has made measuring things like mayo, sour cream, and molasses a cinch.
But I do really, really appreciate all recipes that give metric weight!
And yet, I do still have my wet and dry measures too. They still have their uses.
Both both both!!! And not even because I necessarily care about what state of matter goes into which kind, but if I measure a cup of milk and I need a cup of flour next, then what am I going to do?
Also, maybe there's another topic on this, but re: weighing ingredients, I've read about making sure not to pat down flour when measuring it because a cup should be about 120g, which is a loose cup of flour and if you pat it down you're using too much, but I've been wondering lately if this applies to all "powdery" things (i.e. baking powder, soda, etc etc) that COULD be packed down - is the general rule "don't pack unless it tells you" (as in brown sugar)?
I have two sets of dry measuring cups, two liquid measuring cups (2- and 4-cup), two small liquid measures for amounts less than 1/4 cup, and a kitchen scale, and I wouldn't give any of them up.
I use liquid cups for everything, which I [slapdashedly] use as an alternative to sifting. You can pour flour into a liquid measuring cup and tap it to level it out--far less likely to compress flour, which happens when you scoop and level. I have a set of three liquid measures like the larger one in the above picture. They allow you to see how much you're pouring in from above, and work about right. Also, if you scoop and level, your measuring cup spreads flour when you put it on the counter. I'll do anything I can to reduce mess when baking.
Like Heather77, I multiple sets of dry and liquid measurings cups. Plus two Tupperware 8 cup measuring/mixing bowls. And I tend to save glass spaghetti sauce jars that are calibrated on the side. Two sets of measuring spoons too.
Someday I will no doubt need to downsize, but not this day.
I weighed stuff too until the battery died in the scale. And it was a special battery, required a teeny tiny screwdriver to access, blah blah blah, too too tedious. I have seen non-digital scales but they seem about as accurate as measuring cups. So for now, I'll stick to my cups.
I was taught in Home Ec that dry and wet measures were different and I've always observed that as received wisdom, but I guess you all have proved that wrong! I don't think my Home Ec teacher was at the mercy of corporate sponsorship by cup manufacturers back in 1972, so I guess someone told her they were different too.
Actually MFalk, tapping is what makes flour settle and compact. I can see how some people wouldn't like measuring liquids in a dry measure cup, but I can't see how anyone would rather measure dry ingredients in a liquid measure cup!
I have three sets of dry measures which eliminates having to wash any while baking. All three sets are nesting and fit easily in a drawer. I just don't have cabinet space for the liquid measures.
Definitely both. Just in case you measure your water first, and then have to go measure flour, that just ends up making a mess.
But like other said, my next purchase will be a kitchen scale so that measuring cups won't be as much of a hassle anyway.
I like the wet measuring cups for mixing dressings and small sauces. I can hold the handle and whisk away, and then pour.
I have both, as well as a scale. I've come to the point where I have been measuring the weight of ingredients with recipes that don't provide it so that for the future I can be more precise. I do believe some cookbooks will have the weight in ounces or grams in the back of the book. My King Arthur Whole Grain Baking one does but its in ounces, which I then need to convert yet again.
Being English I weigh most things on the scale or use the jug for liquids (measurements in fluid oz or ml, not cups) but I also have a set of cup measures which I use for either wet or dry stuff for Oz or US recipes.