Thursday, March 15, 2018

The Joys of a Food Scale


During my 20s, if the recipe said 3 ounces of sugar or 450 grams of flour, I automatically thought to myself, “I’m not making that.”  I didn’t know how to measure 3 ounces or 450 grams because I didn’t have a food scale and I was too lazy to get one.

This went on for years until I moved to London, where the Metric System was in full swing.  If I hoped to follow any recipe exactly, I had to invest in a scale.  The only downside was that the scale took up a lot of cupboard space. Digital models were not yet available, so I had to buy what was out there.

My scale seems old-fashioned now, but it still works.  And no batteries are needed.  What a difference it made.  I drag it out to measure all sorts of ingredients.  If I need to figure how many tomatoes make a pound, I just keep adding more to the scale until I reach the weight needed.

The interesting thing with the scale is that it impresses people.  They think I know what I’m doing in the kitchen.  Usually I do know, although I make plenty of mistakes, even after writing four cookbooks.  Dinner guests trust me, and that gives me the chance to relax when I’m feeding them.  I tend to leave it out on the counter so people see it.  It was well worth the $10 investment.

                          For more recipes, order "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen!"

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