US/UK Metric Conversions
Following is information from The Chef at World Wide Recipes
As every experienced cook knows, most recipes (with the general
exceptions of pastries and breads) will not suffer if the measurements
are not exact. In fact, these minor variations in quantities are
often what separate good cooks from great cooks. Also, the following
data were derived from many sources and the arithmetic might not
always work out exactly right, so please overlook any small
discrepancies with regard to differences in amounts given.
I am aware that most European recipes measure dry ingredients by
weight, using measuring cups for liquid ingredients almost
exclusively. However, I will continue to give the metric equivalent
for volume (usually milliliters) of dry ingredients rather than
weight. I do this for two reasons: first, any dry ingredient can be
measured in a measuring cup, even if the cook is more accustomed to
weighing it; and second, I either don't have time or am just too lazy
to worry about how much a tablespoon (15 ml) of pine nuts, or a 1/4
cup (60 ml) of Parmesan cheese weighs.
Let me also point out to my American readers that most measuring
devices sold in the US these days also list metric equivalents. If
you don't own a set of US/metric measuring cups I think one would be a
good investment, especially if you plan to try our international
readers' wonderful foods.
Oven Temperatures - An approximate conversion chart
Fahrenheit Centigrade Gas mark Description
225 F 110 C 1/4 Very cool
250 F 130 C 1/2
275 F 140 C 1 cool
300 F 150 C 2
325 F 170 C 3 very moderate
350 F 180 C 4 moderate
375 F 190 C 5
400 F 200 C 6 moderately hot
425 F 220 C 7 hot
450 F 230 C 8
475 F 240 C 9 very hot
General Conversion Tables
American Liquid Measures
1 gallon = 4 quarts = 3.79 L (Can usually be rounded to 4 L)
1 quart = 2 pints = 0.95 L (Can usually be rounded to 1 L)
1 pint = 2 cups = 16 fl oz = 450 ml (Can usually be rounded to 500 ml)
1 cup = 8 fl oz = 225 ml (Can usually be rounded to 250 ml)
1 tablespoon = 1/2 fl oz = 16 ml (Can usually be rounded to 15 ml)
1 teaspoon = 1/3 tablespoon = 5 ml
British Liquid Measures
1 pint = 570 ml = 20 fl oz
1 breakfast cup = 10 fl oz = 1/2 pint
1 tea cup = 1/3 pint
1 tablespoon = 15 ml
1 dessertspoon = 10 ml
1 teaspoon = 5 ml = 1/3 tablespoon
Weight
1 ounce = 28.4 g (can usually be rounded to 25 or 30)
1 pound = 454 g
1 kg = 2.2 pounds
International Liquid Measurements
standard cup tablespoon teaspoon
Canada 250ml 15ml 5ml
Australia 250ml 20ml 5ml
New Zealand 250ml 15ml 5ml
UK 250ml 15ml 5ml
Miscellaneous
1 UK pint is about 6 dl
1 UK liquid oz is 0.96 US liquid oz.
A "stick" of butter or margarine weighs 4 oz and is 1/2 cup US.
Each 1/4 cup or half stick butter or margarine in US recipes weighs
about 50 g. There are 8 tablespoons in 1/4 pound butter
British Short Cuts
Cheese (grated) 1 oz = 4 level tablespoons
Cocoa or chocolate powder 1 oz = 3 level tablespoons
Coconut (desiccated) 1 oz = 4 level tablespoons
Flour (unsifted) 1 oz = 3 level tablespoons
Sugar (castor/caster) 1 oz = 2 level tablespoons
(granulated) 1 oz = 2 level tablespoons
(icing) 1 oz = 2 1/2 level tablespoons
Syrup (golden) 1 oz = 1 level tablespoons
Some Australian Conversions
Metric Cups Grams Ounces
(approx)
(approx)
1 cup butter 250 8 3/4
1 cup biscuit (cookie) crumbs 110 3 3/4
1 cup breadcrumbs, soft 60 2
1 cup breadcrumbs, dry 125 4 1/2
1 cup cheese, grated 125 4 1/2
1 cup cocoa 110 3 3/4
1 cup cornflour (cornstarch) 125 4 1/2
1 cup cornflakes 30 1
1 cup rice bubbles (rice crispies) 30 1
1 cup coconut, desiccated (flaked) 95 3 1/4
1 cup dried split peas, lentils 200 7
1 cup dried fruit 160 5 3/4
1 cup dates, chopped 150 5 1/4
1 cup flour, plain, self-rising 125
4 1/2
1 cup flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) 135 4 3/4
1 cup golden syrup, honey, glucose 360 12 3/4
1 cup jam 330 11 1/2
1 cup nuts, chopped 125 4 1/2
1 cup oats, rolled 90 3 1/4
1 cup rice, short grain 210
7 1/2
1 cup rice, long grain 200 7
1 cup salt, or crystal sugar 250 8 3/4
1 cup castor sugar (superfine) 220 7 3/4
1 cup soft brown sugar, firmly packed 170 6
1 cup icing sugar (confectioners') 150 5
1 cup = 250 mls
Metric Spoons
Metric spoons Grams Ounces
1 level tablespoon peanut butter 20 2/3
1 level tablespoon baking powder, bicarb soda,
cream of tartar, gelatine, rice, sago 15 1/2
1 level tablespoon cocoa, cornflour,
custard powder, nuts 10 1/2
1 level tablespoon golden syrup,
treacle, honey, glucose 30 1
1 level tablespoon sugar, salt 20 2/3
1 level tablespoon yeast, compressed 20 2/3
1 tablespoon = 20 mls
1 teaspoon = 5 mls
Catties In ancient China, 1 catty = 1.33 pound = 600 grams. In Modern
China, this went with kilograms and stuff. To make the transition
easier for the average people they invented a new kind of catty. 1
catty = 0.5 kilo ( = 1.1 pound ) However, old books from Hong Kong and
Taiwan still uses the old catty = 600 grams.
Substitutions and Equivalents This section contains information on
where substitutions can be made, and what they can be made with.
Flours
US all-purpose flour and UK plain-flour can be substituted for one
another without adjustment. US cake flour is lighter than these. It
is not used much anymore, but if it does come up, you can substitute
all-purpose/plain flour by removing three tablespoons per cup of flour
and replacing it with corn starch or potato flour. Self-raising flour
contains 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt for each
cup of flour. US whole wheat flour is interchangeable with UK
wholemeal flour.
Leavening agents
Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. It must be mixed with acidic
ingredients to work. Baking powder contains baking soda and a
powdered acid, so it can work without other acidic ingredients.
Dairy Products
Evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk both come in cans, both
are thick and a weird color... but are not the same thing. Sweetened
condensed milk is, as the name implies, mixed with sugar or another
sweetener already. It isn't found everywhere, but this recipe makes a
good, quick substitute: Mix 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons dry (powdered)
milk and 1/2 cup warm water. When mixed, add 3/4 cup granulated
sugar. If a recipe calls for buttermilk or cultured milk, you can
make sour milk as a substitute. For each cup you need, take one
tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice , then add enough milk to make
one cup. Don't stir. Let it stand for five minutes before using.
The minimum milk fat content by weight for various types of cream:
(UK) (US)
Clotted Cream 55% N/A
Double Cream 48% N/A
Heavy Cream N/A 36%
Whipping Cream 35% 30%
Whipped Cream 35% N/A
Single Cream 18% (=Light Cream)
Half Cream 12% (=Half and Half)
Quark (aka quarg) A soft, unripened cheese with the texture and flavor
of sour cream, Quark comes in two versions - lowfat and nonfat.
Though the calories are the same (35 per ounce), the texture of lowfat
Quark is richer than that of lowfat sour cream. It has a milder
flavor and richer texture than lowfat yogurt. Quark can be used as a
sour cream substitute to top baked potatoes, and as an ingredient in a
variety of dishes including cheesecakes, dips, salads and sauces.
Starches
UK cornflour is the same as US cornstarch. Potato flour, despite its
name, is a starch, and cannot be substituted for regular flour. It
often can be substituted for corn starch and vice versa. In the US,
corn flour means finely ground cornmeal. If in doubt about which type
of cornflour is meant in a recipe, ask the person who gave it to you!
A couple of rules of thumb: - in cakes, especially sponge cakes, it's
likely to mean cornstarch - as a coating for fried okra, it's likely
to mean finely ground cornmeal. Cornmeal or polenta is not the same
thing as cornstarch or cornflour! What one can buy labelled 'polenta'
really looks no different to cornmeal though, so hey, lets not panic
too much. Polenta is commonly used to describe cornmeal porridge but
may also be used to mean plain cornmeal. Beware. If you don't have
cornstarch/corn flour, you can use twice the amount of
all-purpose/plain flour. However, unless whatever you're adding it to
is allowed to boil, the result will taste starchy.
Sugar and other sweeteners
UK castor/caster sugar is somewhat finer than US granulated sugar.
There is a product in the US called superfine sugar, which is about
the same as UK castor/caster sugar. Usually, you can use granulated
sugar in recipes calling for castor/caster sugar and vice versa, but
I've gotten reports of times this didn't work so well! As usual, give
the recipe a trial run with the substitute some time when it doesn't
need to be perfect. (US) Confectioner's sugar is (UK/Aust/NZ) icing
sugar. Sometimes these are marketed as mixtures containing about 5%
cornflour. Corn syrup is common in the US but not always elsewhere.
Sugar (golden) syrup can be substituted. Corn syrup comes in two
flavors - dark and light. Light corn syrup is just sweet, dark has a
mild molasses flavor. Some people have substituted dark corn syrup
for golden syrup in ANZAC biscuits and found it successful. A common
US brand is Karo Golden syrup is a thick, golden brown (fancy that)
byproduct of cane sugar refining. The taste is mostly sweet, although
there is a slight acidic, metallic component. Lyle's is a common
brand spoken about in rec.food.cooking, the New Zealand brand name is
Chelsea. If desperate, a plain sugar syrup may be a possible
substitute, boil 2 parts sugar, 1 part water. This could be messy.
You may want to thin it out with water. Again, you may want to try
this out on your own before making something for a special occasion.
Black treacle and blackstrap molasses are similar but not identical.
Fats
Shortening is solid, white fat made from hydrogenated vegetable oil.
(A popular brand name is Crisco, and many people call all shortening
Crisco.) It is common in the US, tougher to find in some other parts
of the globe. In my experience, you can usually but not always
substitute butter or margarine for shortening. The result will have a
slightly different texture and a more buttery taste (which in the case
of, say, chocolate chip cookies seems to be an advantage!). Sometimes
this doesn't work too well. Not to sound like a broken record but -
try it out before an important occasion. Copha is a solid fat derived
from coconuts, it is fairly saturated and used in recipes where it is
melted, combined with other ingredients and left to set. Lard can be
successfully substituted in some recipes, for example it makes very
flaky pastry. Deep frying requires fats/oils with heat-tolerant
properties. Butter and margarine, for example, are right out, as are
lard and olive oil. Corn and peanut oils are both good.
Chocolates
If you don't have unsweetened baking chocolate, substitute three
tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder plus one tablespoon of fat
(preferably oil) for each one ounce square. US dark chocolate is the
same as UK plain chocolate, that is, the darkest and least sweet of
the chocolates intended for eating (also called bittersweet). What is
called milk chocolate in the UK is called milk chocolate in the US,
too, but many people simply refer to it as "chocolate". The stuff
called "semi-sweet chocolate" by some folks is the US dark or UK
plain. "Bitter chocolate" is, apparently, the UK term for high
quality plain chocolate. Some manufacturers apparently distinguish
between "sweet dark," "semi-sweet" and "bittersweet" (Sarotti is one),
but they seem to be minor variations on a theme. Chocolate chips are
not necessarily a substitute for bar chocolates, because the chips
have something added to them to slow down melting.