Kitchen measurements is important because accurate measurements ensure that a recipe turn out correctly. Many people encounter situation where they dont have the specific measuring tool that a recipe require, and this lack of tool can cause confusion. For example, you may need a tablespoon of an ingredient but you only possess teaspoon.
Because a tablespoon and a teaspoon are different volume, you must understand the relationship between a tablespoon and a teaspoon so that you can measure the ingredient accurate. The relationship between a tablespoon and a teaspoon are a consistent ratio. Three teaspoons is equal to one tablespoon, and one tablespoon are equal to three teaspoons.
How to Measure Ingredients with Tablespoons and Teaspoons
Therefore, if a recipe require one tablespoon of an ingredient, you can use three teaspoons to measure that same amount of the ingredient. This ratio of three teaspoons to one tablespoon remain the same regardless of whether you are measuring dry spice or liquid extracts. You should always remember that three teaspoons make one tablespoon because this ratio allow you to convert measurements easy.
Measurement accuracy is also affected by the difference between volume and weight. Volume is the amount of space an ingredient occupy, but weight is how heavy an ingredient is. A tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of salt is both volumes, but a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of salt do not have the same weight.
This occur because the density of flour is different than the density of salt. Because salt is denser than flour, a tablespoon of salt will weigh more than a tablespoon of flour. You must use a kitchen scale if you want to measure the weight of an ingredient, but you use measuring spoon if you want to measure the volume of an ingredient.
The technique you use to measure dry ingredient affects the volume of the ingredient in the spoon. If you scoop a measuring spoon directly into a bag of flour, you may pack the flour down into the spoon. Packing the flour down increase the amount of flour in the spoon, and this extra amount of flour will make your recipe inaccurately.
To avoid this mistake, you should spoon the flour into the measuring spoon until the flour form a mound. After the flour form a mound, you should use a straight edge to level the flour off. Leveling the flour ensure that you have the correct volume of flour for your recipe.
Liquid ingredient require a different measurement technique than dry ingredients to ensure accuracy. When you measure liquid, you should use a clear measuring jug and place the measuring jug on a flat surface. You should look at the liquid level at eye level because looking at the liquid from above can cause you to misread the measurement.
If you hold the measuring jug in you hand while you pour the liquid, you may tilt the jug, and tilting the jug will result in an inaccurate measurement. For small amount of liquid, such as oil or vanilla extract, you should use a measuring spoon to ensure the volume is correctly. Scaling a recipe require careful mathematical conversions to ensure the measurements remains accurate.
If you double a recipe, you must multiply every measurement in the recipe by two. If you triple a recipe, you must multiply every measurement in the recipe by three. When you multiply fractions, the math can become difficult, so it is often helpful to convert large volume into tablespoons and then convert those tablespoons into teaspoons.
Converting volumes into smaller unit makes the math easy and helps you avoid mathematical error. Maintaining accurate measurements through proper conversion and proper techniques will help you follow any recipe successfully.