Very interesting about the recipe languages, and it is eye opening. I always look to ATK first for recipes because I’m familiar with the way they are written, and I typically stock their suggested pantry items such as suggested flour. AP flours are different from brand to brand! And yes! I’ll usually skip trying a recipe if they don’t give the weight (especially for flour). Can’t wait to try the biscuits!
I always convert baking recipes I use regularly to weight rather than volume. More accurate, fewer dishes to wash, etc. My cup of flour never matches the weight-to-volume chart from ~1998 I have taped to the door, or the extrapolation of the serving size off the bag, so I wish everyone would write recipes by volume. I wonder about the moisture content of flour from day to day from humidity, though.
Thank you! It's so frustrating working with volume-only baking recipes. Seems to dirty every measuring cup I own, plus the results are frequently inconsistent. Funny that some publications have gone so far as to "test" the accuracy of measuring cups and spoons, and have found many are inaccurate. Just stick with the stinkin' weights of things (preferably metric, which is easiest to scale).
First started seriously reading about food in my yearly compilation of Cook’s Illustrated (I’ve subscribed since 1993). Though I never missed the left out articles, I always appreciated the just nuts and bolts recipes.
Have been weighing all ingredients since first noticing the conversions therein.
Thanks for explaining the style guides. Very interesting!
I feel your pain. I ended up having to develop a style guide for the Bread Bakers Guild of America (and didn't know what I was doing).
I'm now leaning away from using volumes for small quantities, like teaspoons since a microgram scale only costs $13, less than a larger capacity scale!
I should think so, especially in the case of baking recipes. When I start with a collection of other people's recipes, the first thing I do is convert to ratios and line them up in a spreadsheet for comparison.
After years of your proselytizing, I am a cook by weight convert whenever possible and have written the weights into all of my favorite recipes. So much easier and way more consistent.
Love this content, Andrew. I'm very interested in style guides and how publishers use them.
Very interesting about the recipe languages, and it is eye opening. I always look to ATK first for recipes because I’m familiar with the way they are written, and I typically stock their suggested pantry items such as suggested flour. AP flours are different from brand to brand! And yes! I’ll usually skip trying a recipe if they don’t give the weight (especially for flour). Can’t wait to try the biscuits!
I always convert baking recipes I use regularly to weight rather than volume. More accurate, fewer dishes to wash, etc. My cup of flour never matches the weight-to-volume chart from ~1998 I have taped to the door, or the extrapolation of the serving size off the bag, so I wish everyone would write recipes by volume. I wonder about the moisture content of flour from day to day from humidity, though.
Thank you! It's so frustrating working with volume-only baking recipes. Seems to dirty every measuring cup I own, plus the results are frequently inconsistent. Funny that some publications have gone so far as to "test" the accuracy of measuring cups and spoons, and have found many are inaccurate. Just stick with the stinkin' weights of things (preferably metric, which is easiest to scale).
First started seriously reading about food in my yearly compilation of Cook’s Illustrated (I’ve subscribed since 1993). Though I never missed the left out articles, I always appreciated the just nuts and bolts recipes.
Have been weighing all ingredients since first noticing the conversions therein.
Thanks for explaining the style guides. Very interesting!
I think in my work lyfe I've had to explain the benefit of a style guide a million billion times.
what do you do for work, exactly?
I'm a development/proposal writer, currently working in higher ed.
I assume that is also a precise figure. 😁
I feel your pain. I ended up having to develop a style guide for the Bread Bakers Guild of America (and didn't know what I was doing).
I'm now leaning away from using volumes for small quantities, like teaspoons since a microgram scale only costs $13, less than a larger capacity scale!
https://www.amazon.com/Weigh-Gram-Digital-Jewelry-Kitchen/dp/B06Y61YW7S/ref=sr_1_1_sspa
Also...I had often wondered if some/most/all recipe developers work in mass and then convert to volume.
I should think so, especially in the case of baking recipes. When I start with a collection of other people's recipes, the first thing I do is convert to ratios and line them up in a spreadsheet for comparison.
After years of your proselytizing, I am a cook by weight convert whenever possible and have written the weights into all of my favorite recipes. So much easier and way more consistent.
Finally! ❤️