Measurement Formats and Systems

Measurement Formats and Systems

Measurement Formats:

Accurate measurements are among the the most important aspects of food preparation. Ingredients and food portions must be measured correctly to ensure consistent product quality.
In other word, the chef must be able to prepare the same recipe, the same way each time, and portion sizes must be the same from one order to the next.

In a kitchen, measurements may be made three ways: weight, volume and count.

Weight refers to the mass or heaviness of a substance. It is expressed in terms such as grams, ounces, pounds and tons. Weight may be used to measure liquid or dry ingredients and portions.
Since weight is generally the most accurate form of measurement, portion scales and balance scales are commonly used in kitchens.

Volume refers to the space occupied by a substance. This is mathematically express as height x width x length.
It is expressed in terms such as cups, quarts, gallons, teaspoons, fluid ounces, bushels and liters.
Volume is most commonly used to measure liquids. It may also be used for dry ingredients when the amount is too small to be weighed accurately.
Frequently mistakes are made in food preparation by chefs who assume wrongly that weight and volume are equal!
One cup does not always equal 8 ounces!
Errors are commonly made in bake-shops by cooks who assume that 8 ounces of flour is the same as one cup of flower. In fact, one cup of flower weighs only about 4.5 ounces!

Count refers to the number of individual items. Count is used in recipes
(4 eggs) and in portions control (2 fish fillets). Count is also commonly used in in purchasing to indicate the size of the individual food items. For example,
a "96 count" case of lemons means that a "40-pound" case contains 96 individual lemons.
Shrimp is another item commonly sold by count.
One pound of shrimp may contain from eight to several hundred shrimp, depending of the size of the shrimp.
When ordering one pound of 21-25-count of shrimp, he chef expects to receive not fewer that 21 nor more than 25 pieces.

Measurements Systems:

The measurements formats of weight, volume,and count are used in both the U.S. and metric measurement systems. Both of these systems are used in modern food recipes, so the cook should be able to prepare recipes written in either one.

The U.S. system with which you are probably familiar, is actually the more difficult system to understand. It uses pounds for weight and cups for volume.
The metric system is the most commonly used measurement system in the world.
Developed in France in the late 18th century, it was intended to fill the need for a mathematically rational and uniform system of measurement.
The metric system is a decimal system in which the gram, liter and meter are the basic units of weight, volume and length.
The most important thing for the cook and chef to know about the metric system is that you do not need to convert between the metric system and the U.S. system in recipe preparation.
If a recipe is written in metric units, use metric measuring equipment and if a recipe is written in U.S. units, use U.S. measuring equipment.
Most modern measuring equipment is calibrated in both U.S. and metric increments.
The need to convert amounts will arise only if the proper equipment is unavailable.

Converting Grams and Ounces

1 Ounce equals 28.35 grams.

To convert ounces to grams, multiply the number of ounces
by 28 (rounded for convenience)

8 ounces x 28 = 224 grams

To convert grams to ounces, simply divide the number of
grams by 28

224 grams ÷ 28 = 8 ounces

To help you develop a framework for judging conversations, remember the following:

• A kilogram is about 2.2 pounds
• A gram is about 1/30 ounce
• A pound is about 450 grams
• A liter is slightly more than a quart
• A centimeter is slightly less than 1/2 inch
• 0° Celsius is the freezing point of water (32°F)
• 100° Celsius is the boiling point of water (212F°)