jlawrence01 wrote: Or the folks who will use a LIQUID measuring cup for measuring dry ingredients.

I use the cups interchangeably and it works out fine. I'll sometimes scoop liquid with a dry cup. I'll use a Pyrex measuring cup for flour. Whatever is at hand. If the recipe is that sensitive to the exact amounts, I feel you should be using a scale, anyway.

While I agree that you need to carefully choose your tutor, there is good, accessible instruction out there. Again, the Fannie Farmer specifies "systematic discussion of measurement — "A cupful is measured level ... A tablespoonful is measured level. A teaspoonful is measured level." — led to her being named "the mother of level measurements." I did learn a lot from FF - in the one I currently own, I was relieved to find a whole section on gutting and preparing a freshly-caught fish, which got me through it just fine (it lacked only information on what to do if the fish in question was still alive.)

Given a relatively developed palate, (which is crucial, but I doubt the "I don't cook" types lack one - or how would they know) some of it is about being able to choose your guide wisely, and some of it is about being able to accurately follow directions until you have a "feel." While I agree, many shows are not a good place to start, but there are food shows that make no assumptions about your background: I'd suggest Good Eats, in particular.

I'm a horrible bungler of directions, as my sister-in-law will tell you: I often ruin meals - but I'd never say "I can't cook." I have good days and bad days - I'm guessing architects do, too.

Binko wrote:

jlawrence01 wrote: Or the folks who will use a LIQUID measuring cup for measuring dry ingredients.

I use the cups interchangeably and it works out fine. I'll sometimes scoop liquid with a dry cup. I'll use a Pyrex measuring cup for flour. Whatever is at hand. If the recipe is that sensitive to the exact amounts, I feel you should be using a scale, anyway.

It isn't easy to use a scale with recipes that specify ingredients by volume. Once you know what you're doing, you can ignore the rules somewhat, and for a lot of recipes it doesn't matter if you're off by a few spoonfuls. But for some, particularly for baked goods, it does matter, and new cooks are better off following directions precisely.

I'm always annoyed by cookbooks that don't specify whether they use the lightly spoon ingredients into and sweep off excess method of measuring (aka the Fannie Farmer method) or the scoop and sweep method, which can increase the amount of ingredients like flour enough to throw off a cake recipe.

"If you can read you can cook" only works so far as the recipes are well written and the would-be cook understands the terminology used.

LAZ wrote:It isn't easy to use a scale with recipes that specify ingredients by volume.

Of course not. But if you're writing a cookbook where such exact measurement are usually necessary (in baking), I think it's much more foolproof for the beginner (and expert alike, for that matter) to write your recipes such that measurements are made by weight, not by volume. There's just way too many factors involved in measuring baking ingredients accurately by volume, that it's so much easier to do it by weight. That's all.

Like you said, for most regular, non-baking recipes, you really need to screw up a measurement pretty badly for it not to work out. For baking, I wish more cookbooks would go by weight to avoid the sort of problems you mention.

Binko wrote:But if you're writing a cookbook where such exact measurement are usually necessary (in baking), I think it's much more foolproof for the beginner (and expert alike, for that matter) to write your recipes such that measurements are made by weight, not by volume. There's just way too many factors involved in measuring baking ingredients accurately by volume, that it's so much easier to do it by weight. That's all.

Like you said, for most regular, non-baking recipes, you really need to screw up a measurement pretty badly for it not to work out. For baking, I wish more cookbooks would go by weight to avoid the sort of problems you mention.

For better or worse, Fannie Farmer set Americans cooking by volume. My guess is more than 90 percent of home cooks in this country don't even own a kitchen scale, and most of those who do acquired it because they went on a diet plan that called for weighing your food.

I own two, but I confess that they're more often used for weighing packages en route to the post office than for food. (And the one that gets used most often for kitchen duty is a balance scale that's probably less accurate than the digital scale, but the latter always seems to have dead batteries when I want it.)

While measuring by weight is common in other countries, it's commonly thought that the average American home cook would find directions for weighing flour and sugar and dealing with tare weights intimidating. You're likely to see measurement by weight only in cookbooks aimed at professionals or highly sophisticated cooks.

Even some things sold by weight are listed by volume in most published recipes. For example, you routinely see butter listed in amounts like "1/2 cup" rather than "1/4 pound."

Boxed potatoes were not to be touched...actually we were rarely allowed to get things at the grocery store that listed more than 3 ingredients!

Messycook, I wish my family had that rule when I was growing up! It would have made the whole "learning to cook as an adult" thing much easier. I was trained early in the science of baking, but most of my cooking education has been on-the-fly, make-it-up-as-I-go-along. I improvise a lot.

When my S.O. and I first moved in together I was making dinner one night and I made mashed potatoes and S.O. was amazed at the potatoes being REAL and not coming from a box! Poor dear had *never* had real mashed potatoes growing up, or gravy that didn't come from a jar. At least I had more cooking basics growing up than that.

The number of "cheater" foods (premade) that I use depends mostly on my work schedule. If only I had all the time in the world to learn to cook new things! It does help inspire me to be around people who enjoy cooking (mostly online people, like here!).