What are the definition and advantages of standardized recipes?

A recipe would be considered "standard" when it uses "standard" measurements. That is, the measurements that are commonly accepted by Americans as being the "correct" way to measure things, such as 1 cup of flour, or 8 ounces of flour; 1/4 cup of milk, or 4 ounces of milk; 1 tsp of salt, etc. All recipes consider 1 cup to have 8 ounces, from Alabama to Wyoming.

I really don't know who originated our standard measurements, or why they chose the amounts that were chosen, or why they were named the way they are. Some of them may be leftovers from the British, who got their standard of measurements from the King and Queen, I think, whoever they were at that time and place.

The advantages are quite obvious: I can write down my favorite recipe for biscuits in Alabama, and send them to my friends in New Hampshire, with complete confidence that my friends will have no problems following the directions and come up with the desired results! They should be exactly like the biscuits I make in Alabama! I have a cookbook that was written in Ireland, and thank goodness it was written to show the Irish measurements as well as our American measurements! Just imagine my problems trying to make "Toad-in-the-Hole" with 150 g of plain flour, 280 ml of liquid, 1 level dsp of thyme, 450 g of sausages and 2 large eggs! I have the large eggs, but who knows how much of everything else it calls for? (The American measurements for the "Toad-in-the-Hole" are 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 1/4 cups liquid (3 parts milk, 1 part water), 1 1/2 Tbsp thyme, 1 lb. sausages, and 2 large eggs. There's a lot more to this recipe, but I won't waste space with it here.

Presumably, these standard measurements will remain as they are until people stop cooking. We will be able to pick up a recipe that is over 100 years old, and still know how to make it. I have a couple of very old cookbooks, and thank heavens we don't need to know how to kill our own chickens any longer! One of my old cookbooks tells me how to wring its neck, how to get all the feathers off the bird, how to remove all the insides, etc. I have never tried to do any of that. It is vastly more satisfying to go to the grocery store and pick up a bird that is practically oven-ready! The same thing goes for beef, pork, and lamb. My cookbook has diagrams of a side of beef, showing where the meat cuts come from on the cow. (That one is actually very interesting. It is nice to know where the standing rib roast and the sirloin steak is on the cow.)

I hope this has answered your question, and provided you with the logic behind our standardized terminology for cooking.

Cathy

First answer by Cathysw. Last edit by Jayrusalem. Contributor trust: 654 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 20 [recommend question]