First appeared on Food Riot, by Sara Bir
Holiday time! You've got new recipes to try and dozens of cookies to bake for that exchange party. Hours and hours in the kitchen to look forward to. Want to make it fun and easy?
Use a scale, dummy!
But isn't that what measuring cups are for? For all these years we've been getting along just fine using those dinky cups and spoons, right. Why start now?
Just use a scale, dummy!
A digital kitchen scale pays off with speed, accuracy and greatly reduced dirty dishes. Don't be afraid of it. Especially if you bake. Because dry ingredients and volume measurements are as inconsistent as the latest Katy Perry album. Lightly spooning sifted flour into a one-cup measure might get you 3 ounces, while heartily dipping the cup into the flour and leveling it could result in as much as 5 ounces of flour. That's a 2-ounce difference. That's significant, enough to ruin an otherwise great recipe. Enough to affix that annoying #fail to. You don't want to join the #fail club.
Use a scale, dummy!
Oh, but why get another kitchen gadget when you have a perfectly useful set of measuring cups and spoons? First of all, you can keep your cups and spoons. I still use mine, sometimes, though usually because I'm dumping volume measurements into a bowl on my scale so I can convert all of my favorite baking recipes to grams. Second, a decent digital scale is cheap. Mine, a Salter, cost about twenty bucks. It's lasted ten years, with very frequent use (I've changed the batteries twice). A nice set of stainless-steel measuring cups can cost more than that.
Just get a scale, dummy!
People in the know use scales: Chemists. Pharmacists. That hottie who works in the boulangerie. Do pot dealers use measuring spoons when they sell weed?
Right. I'm talkin' scales, dummy.
And don't even get me started on pounds and ounces. Metric all the way. Because if there's anything as annoying as a recipe that calls for 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons of an ingredient, it's a recipe that calls for 5-5/8 ounces of something. Know what tool will convert to weights to metric? Yup.
Your digital scale, dummy.
But let's not put the cart before the horse. What, dear foodie person, will you ask Santa for this Christmas? Or hell, what are you going to march to the store and just buy for yourself outright?
A scale. Because, smarty, you're worth it. Love, Sara.
Try your new scale with this colorful cookie recipe from The Sausagetarian. I promise your scale will make you feel powerful and capable. "You have more confidence in yourself as a cook when you do things directly in the professional manner rather than using subterfuges," a wise woman once said. Her name was Julia Child. She didn't say "use a scale, dummy," but I wouldn't put it past her.
Read more at Food Riot