American food measurements

[Caroline5]

Does anyone know when an American recipe refers to measurements in "cups", how much this equates to in either ozs or grams? Or what size cup should I be using?? Thanks.

Caroline, there is anoher thread on this although I can't remember its title - anyway an American cup is 8 fl oz although I don't know how this translates into grammes - I'll see if I can find the thread for you!

Found it, Caroilne - under Food it's US Translation Needed. (I never learned how to do a link - sorry.)

8 fluid ounces should be very close to 8*27grams (216 g, if I can do the maths off the top of my head).

This is very tricky. A "Cup" is measured as a "liquid" cup or a "dry" cup. Americans keep both on hand for cooking & baking (confusing unless you've done it all your life, like inches & feet!). Liquid & dry are slightly different from each other. Best bet is to actually buy a set of cups if you're planning to use US cookbooks. You can buy these in the UK (low cost) at www.lakelandlimited.co.uk NB: a US "Pint" (16 oz)is less than at UK pint (20 oz); a US "Tablespoon" is more like a UK soupspoon.

I got a set of cups from Debenhams I think. I'm pretty sure most cook shops stock them and they're not expensive. I've also got a very cheap measuring jug from Woolworths (bought for DS1s water play!) which has cup measurements on the side.

I just found out today that UK and US tablespoons are 15ml and an Aust tablspn is 20mls. Confusing!