I'm all for respecting cultural differences, but...

[EscargotChic]

I love the internet as a source of recipes, but when they give ingredients US-style it drives me nuts. I think the one currently in the oven will be fine with approximate amounts which is good because it called for a pint of cherry tomatoes and a quarter of a cup chopped onion.
Not wanting to disrespect lovely US Mumsnetters, but seriously, kitchen scales are an amazing invention!

Is there a specific size of cup for American recipes? Unless it's standardised then it can't be converted into metric.
When you buy packs of proper butter in the States, instead of one 200g slab there may be separately wrapped sticks making up the weight, 8 ounces may have 4 2 oz sticks.

Americans don’t usually have kettles… they survive. Different lives. The internet is a global platform of global cultures. Put a converter on your phone or… write it out on a bit of paper and stick to the fridge. I do.

I would mind less if they recognised that it's the world wide web where people don't necessarily have "sticks of butter" and they said "a stick of butter (4oz/114g)" so that people elsewhere don't have to Google the conversion.

Plenty of non-American recipes on the internet if you google appropriately.
Some ingredients have different names or don't exist at all in the UK, it's not just the measurements that cause problems. 'All purpose flour?' 'Half and half?'

We bought cups. I use them and scales depending on the recipe. It ain’t rocket science.

Not a bad idea because majority of recipes I tried on American websites have a lauper ong list of ingredients with not that great results. And I am a pretty decent cook.

Most U.S recipes I find give you an option tab to convert. Apparently though us UK peeps mix up imperial and metric measurements up easily so we are probably the odd ones to the world.

So I could follow a sponge cake recipe using a Sports Direct cup and it will turn out fine?

They are overrun with American recipes because Americans are very entrepreneurial and even with limited knowledge, they are confident to go out there.
Quantity don’t necessarily mean quality.

The rest of the world? I am in Singapore and measuring in cups was always a thing. I am thrown by US imperial measures ounces, pints and quarts etc but I convert.

I agree.

I just convert using my iPad.

Lots of people actually. I far prefer things measured by cups and spoons rather than by weight. I've had measuring cups for as long as I can remember - they are not just used in the US.

Cups aren't an imperial measure.

Anyway, is it our fault that the kilogram Jefferson had ordered from the French got nicked by pirates?

Singapore is not rest of the world. I am from India, much bigger country 😂. I use a weight scale.

Yep OP is right.

The first time I came across it I was like what they're using teacups to measure things? V odd.

Another time browsing through lasagne recipes and one of them talked about layering the noodles in the lasagne...

And when you come across things like 'rutabaga' and 'arugula' or 'zucchini' and you have to think wait what's that in English again?

There used to be a good website full of UK recipes called AllRecipes.Co.Uk and then a couple of years back they took it down and just left the annoying .Com one...

Chat GPT will convert a recipe for you.
I put a bunch of conversions on an A4 page front and back and laminated it. Something like this https://www.thespruceeats.com/volume-conversions-chart-1328757
I can't remember off hand where I got mine but super handy though. I've used enough US recipes now though to know what a stick of butter weighs 😆

All pasta is noodles to Americans. Lasagne is noodles. Penne is noodles. Macaroni is noodles. It's all just noodles.

Apparently the life story thing is to get it to the top of the search engine listings

My American friends hate cups and prefer uk recipes. I can switch between the two but there are some things that I just don’t think many any sense to measure in cups.

I don't get on with Cups, I did buy some but it's very hit and miss and not a precise way of measuring. Also see stick of butter! How big is the stick ffs... scales are much easier.

Well knowing how many onions is not helpful either, what size of onion: small, medium or large onions? What is a medium onion? Weight in grams or volume, eg. cups is much more useful.

Although, can you ever have too many onions?

@Alwayswonderedwhy The equivalents of a stick of butter in American recipes means 8 tablespoons or 4 oz or 1/4 pound or 113 gm or 1/2 cup.

Just ask Alexa. She'll convert cups to g
As will google

A cup of onions is about 210g she says

Whole or chopped? The effective volume is going to be a lot different because whole onions will have large gaps between them