Food Recipes

Why You Should Use Food Recipes

Why are food recipes important to meal preparation?

When preparing a new meal for the family, a good food recipe can be an essential aspect to a successful meal. Food recipes allow a person to know the necessary ingredients in a recipe and the exact measurements of each ingredient within the recipe. Recipes also explicate how each ingredient should be prepared, kitchen utensils and tools needed throughout the preparation of the recipe and the ideal temperatures to reach in the final stages of cooking. If a food recipe is adequate and followed exactly as written, then the final result should be exactly as desired.  Some recipes can be modified out of personal preference, but always keep in mind that substitutions can alter the intended result.  As you gain more experience in using food recipes, you will learn which things can be changed and which cannot.

What do some of the abbreviations in food recipes intend to represent?

There are often many abbreviations within food recipes. This is because food recipes for many years have been used in kitchens throughout the world a shorthand tool to remember how to recreate anything from a culinary masterpiece to a traditional family dish. “Ts” or “t” is recipe shorthand for teaspoon, while “Tbl” or “T” represents tablespoon, and “C.” stands for a cup. While there are many types of cups used in table settings, in a recipe a cup means 8 ounces. “Oz.” Should be interpreted as an ounce.

How to make conversions when cooking?

When making cooking conversions, within the American measurement system, remember that there are three teaspoons in one tablespoon. Eight ounces make a cup, two cups (or 16 ounces) create a pint. There are two pints (four cups, or 32 ounces) in a quart and a quart, as it’s name would imply, is a quarter of a gallon. These conversions may be essential when interpreting a recipe that expresses all measurements in ounces. If you are translating a recipe from the metric system, remember that the metric system is based on units of 10 and each type metric unit (milliliters, grams and centimeters) are generally smaller than the smallest units in US measurements. Furthermore, a litter is just 2.8 ounces more than a quart, while there are about 28 grams in an ounce. The conversions may seem complicated, but with a calculator in hand any recipe can be accessible to anyone.