Cookbook:Units of measurement

Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Equipment | Techniques | Cookbook Disambiguation Pages | Units of measurement

Recipes from different parts of the world use different units of measurement. This page is a guide to those that are most commonly used in cooking which follow metric units, imperial units, and US customary units.

List of Units

Volume

Metric

• ml or mL, also milliliter, millilitre, cc (cubic centimeter)
• l or L, also liter, litre,
• dl or dL, also deciliter, decilitre

Imperial and US customary

• teaspoon (also t or tsp.)
• tablespoon (also T, tbl., tbs., or tbsp.)
• fluid ounce (also fl oz)
• gill (about 1/2 cup)
• cup (also c)
• pint (also p, pt, or fl pt)
• quart (also q, qt, or fl qt)
• gallon (also g or gal)

Weight

Metric

• mg (also milligram or milligramme)
• g (also gram or gramme)
• kg (also kilogram or kilogramme)

Imperial and US customary

• pound (also lb or #)
• ounce (also oz)

Length

Metric

• mm (also millimeter or millimetre)
• cm (also centimeter or centimetre)
• m (also meter or metre)

Imperial and US customary

• inch (also in or ")
• yard

Temperature

See the oven temperature table.

Metric

• °C (also degree celsius)

Imperial and US customary

• °F (also degree Farenheit)

Other

• Gas mark (informal temperature measurement on gas cookers)

Metric Units

Metric units are made up of a base unit and a scale modifier. Each type of measurement has its own base unit. The modifiers are shared between all units. The relevant base units for cooking are:

• Mass: gram (g)
• Length: meter (m)
• Volume: cubic meter (m³)

Commonly used prefix modifiers are:

• 1/1000 milli (m)
• 1/100 centi (c)
• 1/10 deci (d)
• 100 hecto (h)
• 1000 kilo (k)

In cooking the old unit Liter (l) is commonly used to measure volume. One liter is (exactly) equal to 0.001 cubic meters, or 1 cubic decimeter, written like: 1 l = 1 dm³. The prefix modifiers can be used with any unit and thus 1 cl (centiliter) is equal to 1/100 of a liter. The unit for volume is derived from the unit for length. Two lengths forms an area, which is length x length and has the derived unit square meter (m²). Three lengths forms the volume metric m³. This has the consequence that a m³ is equal to 1000 dm³, that is 10³ = 10x10x10.

Examples relevant for cooking:

• 1 l = 10 dl = 100 cl = 1000 ml = 1 dm³ = 0.264 US gallons
• 1 kg = 10 hg = 1000 g = 2.2 pounds
• 1 cm = 0.39 inches

Some recipes in Wikibooks Cookbook use American measurement units (pounds and ounces, Fahrenheit, fluid ounces and pints, etc.) and some recipes use metric units (grammes and kilograms, Celsius, milliliter, etc.). An attempt to ensure that all Cookbook recipes use metric units (alone or alongside American units) is an ongoing job. A list of recipes which have been confirmed as having metric units can be found here.

Avoirdupois Conversion Reference

Volume

American (US) units

• 1 T = 3 t = 1/2 fl oz
• 2 T = 1 fl oz
• 1 cup = 16 T = 8 fl oz
• 1 pint = 2 cups = 16 fl oz
• 1 qt = 2 pints
• 1 gal = 4 qt

Mass

• 1 lb = 16 oz

Mass/Volume conversions

Approximate conversions based on water density. These conversions are useful for more than just water. Although other things have different densities, they are good enough for most estimates.

• 1 fl oz = 1 oz
• 1 pint = 1 lb
• 2 cups = 1 lb

Water has a density of exactly 1 g/cm³

• 1 ml = 1 g
• 1 L = 1 kg

An American stick of butter is 1/4 lb, and is divided into 8 tablespoons. So, 1 tbsp butter = 1/2 oz butter.

Kitchen measures around the world

Swedish measuring spoons

Nigeria

Empty tins of saturated milk are commonly used in Nigeria as a dry measure for foodstuff such as rice, beans and flour. This might cause some confusion when examining recipes from this region. Usually, the recipe will specify "two milk cups of beans" or "two milk tins of rice." Guidelines to convert these figures into more familiar ones are widely available online.

Sweden

Sweden uses the following standard set of volume measures in recipes. (In the picture, from left to right, deciliter, tablespoon, teaspoon and milliliter.) All are metric, with the tablespoon defined as exactly 15 ml and the teaspoon as exactly 5 ml.

• deciliter (dl) = 100 ml
• tablespoon ("matsked", msk) = 15 ml
• teaspoon ("tesked", tsk) = 5 ml
• milliliter ("kryddmått", krm) = 1 ml

Finland

Finland uses the following abbreviations.

• tablespoon ("ruokalusikka", rkl) = 15 ml
• teaspoon ("teelusikka", tl) = 5 ml

See also

• The Best and Most Accurate Way to Measure Wet and Dry Ingredients for Baking: spooned flour is less dense (weights less) than scooped flour.