Do you measure?

joev · Joined: 05 May 2008 Posts: 11

I'm one of those people that never measures when I'm cooking. It's almost impossible for me to give someone a recipe, though! I did learn my lesson with baking after a very unfortunate batch of oatmeal pucks.

**lisathewaitress** · Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 1:06 am Post subject:

I'd like a "sometimes" or "only when baking" option! Because I really only measure when baking. HOWEVER, since having my website, I've really had to start measuring so that I could provide accurate recipes. It was a bit of a challenge, but I'm okay at measuring now. Usually, when I'm writing a recipe, I'll put all of the liquids in a measuring cup and then measure them before & after using them. It's kind of backwards, but if I said "pour in one glug of wine from your glass," I don't know if people would read me anymore. But who knows?
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joev · Joined: 05 May 2008 Posts: 11

uhockey · Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Dublin

Perhaps I'm a bit anal retentive (who'd have thought, a doc with a type A personality?) but I don't measure with cups......I use a food scale for pretty much everything as it is more accurate. Smile

Great for portion control as well.
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pheedme · Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 16 Location: North Campus

Used to be a measure-er, but with now, not so much. It's funny, but the smaller the amount (Tbs or less), the more I (still) measure, and with larger amounts I pretty much wing it -- which is probably the opposite practice of most? I'm not a baker, so that's how I get away with it most of the time.

DC · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 5

I really only measure when baking and preparing spice mixtures for barbecue rubs and sausage making where the amount of salt added is of concern. Too much salt can completely ruin a batch of sausage or a rub, but too little will cause them to be very bland.

I always wind up having to put in some kind of lame, nebulous description of how much to add of something whenever I give someone a recipe...

Anne · Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 6 Location: Columbus, Ohio

I also only measure when baking, or sometimes when I am trying a new and complicated recipe. Most of my cooking directions are rather vague, involving "a glug" of this and "some" of that. When trying a new recipe I'll often look at three different versions to get a handle on the ingredients, then wing it. My homemade sloppy joes directions involve adding the seasonings until it smells like sloppy joes, then tasting it and correcting until it tastes like sloppy joes. It makes perfect sense to me, but it kind of sucks as a blog recipe.

I consider myself a method cook (or maybe an intuitive one.) It's really more about the method than the exact ingredients.