Metric or imperial in recipes?

[Henrik]

So, there are (at least) two ways of listing ingredients in a cook book. Metric and Imperial. Which one do you prefer? I'm asking because I'm translating my bbq cook book to English, and I wonder whether I can leave the recipes as is, or if I do need to do the calculations from Metric to Imperial.

Basically, if you pick up a book in the book store, think it looks great, but then you discover the ingredients are listed in metric. Is that book still a keeper, or does it go back on the shelf?

Whaddayasay?

[Thunder77]

Metric is good!

[Willy]

I think the metric system should be adopted by the US. Period. Nonetheless, at present, if you hope to have a successful sale of your book in the US, you have no choice but to go Imperial. Few Americans have metric volume measuring devices and many will simply put down a book printed solely in metric. Perhaps using both styles for each recipe will help make some folks comfortable with metric in the long run

[EdF]

Well, I'm with you guys on metric, though I prefer weight measures most - either system or baker's proportions. Thing is, in the US, where most of your sales will likely happen, people are most used to imperial.

[Jimmie Rhoden]

I know nothing about the cooking metric system, but I can learn.

[scottranda]

I prefer a metric clock to measure the time

[EdF]

bwah-hah!!

[Steve Vojtek]

I prefer digital...
But that's just a personal choice.

[MBMorgan]

At this point, I'm going to vote for "both". Like EdF , I strongly prefer to measure virtually everything by weight (predominately in grams) but I do have the technology to easily convert between metric and imperial weights. Volume measurements are a bit more of a problem as we have virtually no access to metric volume measuring tools here in the States ... even from local IKEA stores ... which is a shame.

[Henrik]

Thanks folks, I think I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet on this one and do the translations. The thing is; it is very easy to do a straight conversion, but to me reading recipes that says 0.76 cups [fluid] doesn't make sense. For the first recipe I simply "re-scaled" it a bit to make it more even, but it is tedious work. Oh well...

[Willy]

3/4 cup will be familiar to every American cook. A suggestion might be to use cups "by quarters and thirds" ( 1/4, 1/3, 3/4, etc) rounding when the decimal difference is minor, then account for significant errors by adding tablespoons, which are 1/16 of a cup, so, say, 1/3 cup plus two tablespoons.

[Willy]

And a teaspoon is 1/3 of a tablespoon or 48 per cup. There will be no need to say "fluid" when writing the recipe for imperial units. Every American kitchen has measuring cups in 1/4 and 1/3 increments up to one cup.

[Henrik]

Thanks Willy, that's a great suggestion. Great compromise, rounding off to the nearest 1/4 cup (and 1/2, 3/4) will really help.

[Spinaker]

I love this country with every ounce of my being......but what the heck were they thinking when they adopted the imperial system? Metric makes more sense on every level. Even the Brits have left it behind and they invented it!
I wish we could make the switch!

12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard, 5280 feet in a mile. Yeah, great call guys.....

As far as the cook book goes. Leave it metric. Personally, I like it better that way anyway.

[Meathead]

Alas, most Americans have no idea that a milligram is. If you can, do both. We are planning our next version of our recipe database to be convertable, and my next book should have both measurments.

[Henrik]

Thanks @Methead, I have decided to do both, I think that is best for all readers.

[FireMan]

Henrik, sharpen up on your spelling also. 🤠

[MBMorgan]

"my next book"

Aha!!! Never say "never" ... ...

[Willy]

A picture being worth a thousand words--the following links show a typical US set of measuring cups and table/teaspoons:

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/1/612067-artisanal-kitchen-supply-measuring-cups.html

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/4-piece-heavy-duty-measuring-spoon-set/808722.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=Cj0KEQjwgODIBRCEqfv60eq65ogBEiQA0ZC5-cETTxIWjSSCWC0NQIHHdrZR79_ks6x9APhbpq21xeEaAvG38P8HAQ

I've always found it a bit comical that EVERY recipe uses these "standard" volumes--one never sees 5/16 cup for instance, although on occasion one might see "1/4 cup plus one tablespoon". I suspect rounding your conversions to the nearest US standard will be fine most of the time.

I am certain that a metric based book would not be popular here.

[kmhfive]

As. Scientist and Engineer, I hate that we still use cups and teaspoons. Most Americans don't know that you can't use the same measuring cup to measure a cup of flour as you use to measure a cup of milk! Believe it or not, a "dry-measure" cup is different than a "liquid-measure" cup!

That said, your plan to use both and "round" the conversion seems the best for sales.

[Willy]

Not true. See my comment on the next page.

[Jerod Broussard]

I say metric weights and a complimentary digital scale with each book purchase.

[lonnie mac]

I still like "parts".One part this to two parts that.

[Jerod Broussard]

That's how Snake River Farms sells their stuff- "One part us, 250 parts you..."

[Willy]

@Jerod Broussard---LOLOLOLOL

[EdF]

Wasn't that from the old Beatle's song "Taxman"?