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Confusing measurements


Arey

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I recently received some packages of Le Puy green lentils. Sabarot brand. They've changed their English language carton, and the cooking instructions are "1 glass = 2 servings or 80 g per serving".  Assuming the g means grams that means 2.8 oz. per serving, but what sort of measurement is "1 glass"?  It's so vague, so unFrench.  It sounds like the sort of measurement you'd find in a very old cookbook, with measurements such as a knob of butter the size of a walnut, and stir for long as it takes to say 5 Pater Nosters. 

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It is my understanding that 1 glass of water = 8 US fluid oz = 1 US cup = 237ml = 237g water

 

Put a measuring cup on your scale and zero the reading. Add 160g of lentils and see if it fills up the cup! That is then 2 servings.

 

I think the instructions can be classified as "lost in translation".

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That is pretty funny.  This Amazon UK listing for the product includes all sides of the packaging and each side has slightly information on the serving size, no doubt driven by the need to comply with different labeling standards.

At least the cooking directions on that package are quite clear:  1 volume of lentils + 3 volumes of water.  Use your own cup.....or glass xD

Edited by blue_dolphin (log)
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If it helps, I find lentils run about 200 g per cup.  Which would say their "glass" is 6.4 fluid ounces.

You can confirm or disconfirm this by the method John suggests.

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This is a good topic. We who live in this stubbornly parochial non-metric country know that one cup equals eight fluid ounces. Except that when we're using an automatic drip coffee maker, a cup is five ounces. Unless it's a Technivorm; then it's four ounces.

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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If one were to start to change to a metric system today, you MIGHT have most of the American population converted and 'thinking' in metric around the turn of the next century. Not an easy task and it requires several generations to die off before it can be 'complete'.

 

Canada has tried it - but most of us Canadians above the age of 35 or 40 I would say convert to and from Imperial for some things and for others we stubbornly refuse to change from the system we learned as kids. I know what a metre of yard goods is ... 39 INCHES or 1 yard plus 3 inches. I have real trouble with millimeters - too small (I want to know how much rain fell in inches please) - and when something is measured in centimeters I have to multiply by 2.5 (approximately) so I can imagine its size in inches. I don't know my height in metric (though I could convert it in my head if forced to). I can buy meat by the pound or kilo - but I still tend to convert the price for each so I have some basis for comparison with what things still cost in the US I guess - but then again, many stores still use both for that type of thing too - often converting for you on the label or a sign next to the display. I can weigh out things in either pounds and ounces or grams, etc. but pounds and ounces are still more natural for me to 'think in'. Temperature I am pretty fluent in - I go back and forth with some ease in that area - but still find it annoying and much less precise to use Celsius versus Fahrenheit. I am so used now to crossing the border in my truck - which was built for the American market and shows mileage not kilometer(age) that I can do that kind of conversion easily so I don't break the speed laws. I agree it would be nice again to have 'one system' for north America at least (though an Imperial gallon was never the same size as an American gallon - but it is even more tricky now to compare the cost of litres of gas in Canada to what one pays for a gallon in the US, especially with a fluctuating exchange rate) but frankly I am not sure I would wish to see the US try to go metric all the way in my lifetime.

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In Metric to Imperial or vice versa, Mr. Google is your best friend.

 

I just typed in 28cm and Google immediately brought up "to inches" which I clicked on and popped into the search line. I noticed tonight that my large and deep stainless chicken fryer was marked 28 cm while washing it. I got curious after your post. I was sure it was a full 12" because I accidentally broke the handle off the lid for it a while back and use the two tempered glass 12" skillet lids I own instead, and they fit absolutely perfectly, sealing the steam in very well. I dug out my sewing measuring tape, and sure enough, as usual, Google knows more than I do. :)

 

Google works for temp conversion from F to C and vice versa too. That is important for me because my beloved old timey mechanical oven thermometer lost all the red ink F markings over time because the thermostat is gone on my oven and it got too hot. The C markings in black ink are still there. Google will immediately pop up a suggested conversion for you when you type in * C or x* F. Best thing since ever. I have always found them to be accurate. Even when I doubt.

 

Can't help with currency conversion, as I have no call for it, but I'd try Google first. 

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I don't have Mr. Google sitting in my head as I go about my daily life. I don't even carry a smartphone of any kind but I would hate for that to be my 'brain' anyway in every situation. I (as do most of us) manage but I was just trying to illustrate how hard it is to truly convert from one system to the other in reality. Yes, I can 'use' metric but not all of it is 'natural' to me even now after several decades. I am quick at some mental conversions - particularly if complete accuracy is not required - and not so fast at others (but in those cases, it may not be necessary to be fast).

 

The problem is not that one cannot convert from one to the other (and over time get better at it on the fly), it is that even bright people who learned one system or the other as children (and solidified that by using that system for decades before suddenly being told they have to switch to a 'foreign measurement language') may take many years to become so fluent in 'metric' in all the many dimensions required, that they no longer convert at all, but just 'think' in it constantly .. in other words, 'live' it with the old ways totally forgotten.

 

Of course, one of the reasons that (older) Canadians perhaps have had a long learning curve is that the US, which does not use metric measurements, is right next door and with so many things common to both of us, we have to keep both concepts in our heads making a complete transition more difficult. Younger Canadians were for the most part raised to think in metric but still, if they cross the border or buy some goods in Canada even today, may encounter situations where they have to mentally convert to the American system. Had both countries tried this conversion together it might have gone better for all of us - but they didn't.

Edited by Deryn (log)
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6 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Google works for temp conversion from F to C and vice versa too. That is important for me because my beloved old timey mechanical oven thermometer lost all the red ink F markings over time because the thermostat is gone on my oven and it got too hot. The C markings in black ink are still there.

 

 

At baking temps, C is about half F. 

 

(C x 1.8) + 32 = F

(F - 32)/1.8 = C

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Thanks, pastrygirl. 'Approximation' and little tricks like that get my brain into the right area constantly so that I don't have actually look up or do the more complex math in most instances.

 

That brings to mind the fact that Canadians mostly still use ovens that work in Fahrenheit but outside temperatures are in Celsius. We still live in a very mixed up world.

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7 hours ago, Deryn said:

If one were to start to change to a metric system today, you MIGHT have most of the American population converted and 'thinking' in metric around the turn of the next century.

 

It doesn't take that long.

 

My mother (in her late 80s) is entirely imperial. I am equally at home with both (although I prefer metric) and my kids are completely metric.

 

It took, I estimate, about 20 years.

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1 hour ago, pastrygirl said:

 

At baking temps, C is about half F. 

 

(C x 1.8) + 32 = F

(F - 32)/1.8 = C

 

I've always found it easier to use the 5/9 rule: F = C times 9/5, then add 32. C = F minus 32, then multiply by 5/9.

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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My 32 year old daughter is completely metric (I think - that is what she was taught at school and she now lives in Scotland so I expect that has been reinforced - particularly since she teaches school there now). My mid-40s boys are far from metric inclined - they learned the Imperial system and I don't think they have really bothered to adapt much - though they have to buy gas in litres and drive in kph - and I am sure they use both metric and Imperial tools. I am probably more metric now than they are but I still have a foot in both worlds too - and some measurements come more easily to me in one system than another.

 

I believe that the Canadian government estimated about 20 years was all it would take but I am pretty sure we are not really there yet and it has been longer than that now. I think the lack of a faster transition in this case has been because Canada sits right next door to the States which definitely has not made the shift to metric easy since we still use many products produced in the States. It's complicated. The government might say Canada has completely converted now - but I don't believe everyone really 'thinks' metric - we just 'manage' to cope with what is still a dual system.

 

Anyway .. I didn't have a clue what kind of measurement a 'glass' is - so I thank those who offered a possible solution to that question even though it might vary depending on where you are or what is being measured.

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13 hours ago, Alex said:

This is a good topic. We who live in this stubbornly parochial non-metric country know that one cup equals eight fluid ounces. Except that when we're using an automatic drip coffee maker, a cup is five ounces. Unless it's a Technivorm; then it's four ounces.

 

What is that in rice cooker?

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8 minutes ago, daveb said:

 

What is that in rice cooker?

 

Great question! I wonder if that measurement varies by brand. The plastic cup that came with my Sanyo microprocessor machine (which guides the water level markings on the side of the bowl) is six ounces by volume.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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At school in England during the late 1960s and through the 70s we learned only metric measurement.  Despite the time that has passed there are many people here, younger than me and so presumably also educated via the metric system, who choose to stick with imperial measurements.  Personally I can't understand this, units based on 10s are, at least for me, much simpler to conceptualise.  

 

20 some miles south of England lies France, considered by many as entirely metric.  Odd then, less than 10 years ago when I was living there loose coffee was sold by the'livre' or pound. Odder still, a French pound is different to the old UK pound.  500g rather than the 453ish g of the imperial pound in the UK before the introduction of the metric system.   Two and a quarter pounds of jam weighs about a kilogramme, as my mother taught me.  Also, a litre of water's a pint and three quarters.  

 

My tin of Saborot lentille vert du puy advises 250g lentils in ¾ litres of cold water, heat and simmer 20 minutes or 10 in a pressure cooker.  I don't use that method.  I place 125g lentils in a pan, add cold water to around 3cm above the lentils.  Cover, bring to the boil, turn off the hob and leave the lentils to cook in the residual heat for at least an hour.  Strain, rinse with boiled water and use as you want.  

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I'm raising my children with the metric system. In the house we only use grams/cm/celsius. Also my husband who started with the metric system, reverted to the imperial system and now in the house is back to metric. I don't have a problem with Fahrenheit when it comes to oven temperature from 300 to 500 but when I go outside and people start talking about the weather I'm lost and need to check my phone. Also when it comes to inches, good to have a calculator with me.

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I use 1/4 cups lentils and 3/4 cups water, bring to a boil , reduce heat simmer for 16 or more minutes until they're the way I want them.  Last night I only simmered for 16 minutrs, and could have simmered them a bit more as they were a bit on the crunchy side, but since I was using them to make lentil salad to go with last night's salmon for dinner, I decided that a little crunchier than usual was alright.  I don't like mushy green lentils. I base the way I make it on David Lebovitz's recipe for Le Puy lentil salad but he says to bring the lentils to a boil then reduce the hea and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. I'm assuming he cooks with gas, but I cook with with electricity, and my stove can actually achieve a simmer but it takes a while.  For soups, or stews, or braises it's not a problem, but for something you want to bring to a boil then reduce to simmer and only simmer for a short while it can be a problem.  Sometimes I use two burners one set to high and one set to medium  to medium low, and switch from the high burner as soon as its boiling to the medium to medium low burner and even then I have to fiddle with the setting.  So last night my lentil was a little bit crunchier than I would have liked but at least not mushy which I wouldn't have liked at all.

"A fool", he said, "would have swallowed it". Samuel Johnson

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40 deg C = 104 deg F (too darned hot for this northerner, but Texans call this an average spring day)

20 deg C = 'room temperature' (pretty close to 70 deg F)

0 deg C = 32 deg F (oranges freeze in Florida but it is just hitting sweater weather in Canada)

-40 deg C = -40 deg F (darned cold no matter what system you are using)

 

For everything else I just go by what it 'feels' like outside.

 

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On 5/28/2016 at 5:16 PM, liuzhou said:

 

It doesn't take that long.

 

My mother (in her late 80s) is entirely imperial. I am equally at home with both (although I prefer metric) and my kids are completely metric.

 

It took, I estimate, about 20 years.

 

Same. Well, my mother is like me, my gran was all imperial. I'd guess we are not far off ages but you might be a wee bit older.

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