A similar chart could be made for the US, proving that it does use metric: soda and wine bottles, medicine doses, eye-glasses measurements (in fact most medical things).
I think that both systems are used in schools now.
But then I see cooking instructions for a “cup of chicken strips” and a recipe having 1/4 cup of butter, and I wonder why anyone thought that volume was a good idea there.
Butter in a tub usually isn’t pure butter as they add oil to it to make it spreadable when cold.
Recipes that call for butter are normally designed for true/pure butter and may not cook or bake properly if spreadable stuff is used. (there is however Amish rolled butter that’s sold in big ‘loaves’ where measuring can be annoying)
Or, we just use volumetric measurements, despite the slight variations they introduce when you cram pack flour into a cup instead of gently scooping the sifted. It’s a kitchen, not a laboratory or a factory.
“Frozen chicken strips” doesn’t mean what you think it means. “Frozen chicken strips” are “whatever neutral solid you want to use to carry the flavor of everything else in this dish to your mouth”.
“1 cup” of them is “However much of that solid you feel like eating with this meal”, plus any remaining that would be less than a full portion if saved for the next meal.
Forget the scale; if you’re dirtying a dish for a cup of chicken, you don’t belong in the kitchen! The proper tool for measuring a cup of frozen chicken is your dominant hand, curled into a fist around them.
A similar chart could be made for the US, proving that it does use metric: soda and wine bottles, medicine doses, eye-glasses measurements (in fact most medical things).
I think that both systems are used in schools now.
But then I see cooking instructions for a “cup of chicken strips” and a recipe having 1/4 cup of butter, and I wonder why anyone thought that volume was a good idea there.
If it’s medical, over 12%abv, or 2L of soda we use metric. Or related to spaceflight after the incident
Butter comes in sticks that are 1/2 cup. So half a stick is 1/4 a cup
True, but that’s just replacing a cup with a length, and rules out using an existing tub.
Why not use weight, which is easy to measure and tolerant of different forms/shapes?
Butter in a tub usually isn’t pure butter as they add oil to it to make it spreadable when cold.
Recipes that call for butter are normally designed for true/pure butter and may not cook or bake properly if spreadable stuff is used. (there is however Amish rolled butter that’s sold in big ‘loaves’ where measuring can be annoying)
Unless you need to measure it in grams then it’s super simple!
Weight requires a scale. I don’t know a single American who has a scale in their kitchen.
This sounds like a catch-22 problem.
Maybe scales could be improvised, with a stick, some cups, and awkward-shaped chunks of chicken in one of the cups.
Or, we just use volumetric measurements, despite the slight variations they introduce when you cram pack flour into a cup instead of gently scooping the sifted. It’s a kitchen, not a laboratory or a factory.
My first example was “a cup of frozen chicken strips”.
I know I can make a guess how much they mean, but I could easily be off by a factor of 2.
It really wouldn’t be hard to have the weight listed.
You’re cooking dinner, not crystal meth.
“Frozen chicken strips” doesn’t mean what you think it means. “Frozen chicken strips” are “whatever neutral solid you want to use to carry the flavor of everything else in this dish to your mouth”.
“1 cup” of them is “However much of that solid you feel like eating with this meal”, plus any remaining that would be less than a full portion if saved for the next meal.
Forget the scale; if you’re dirtying a dish for a cup of chicken, you don’t belong in the kitchen! The proper tool for measuring a cup of frozen chicken is your dominant hand, curled into a fist around them.