Every recipe is as good and accurate as the amount of ingredients you use for it. When working in your kitchen, it can be tempting to use a single measuring cup for all ingredients, but that is a highly inefficient and unreliable approach.
Though liquid and dry measuring cups essentially have the same shapes, designs, and volumes, they are designed to handle only those ingredients that they are made for.
You cannot measure flour with a liquid measuring cup with high accuracy just as it is not possible to measure milk and other liquids in a dry cup. If you are not sure what makes liquid and dry measuring cups so different from each other, then this article is for you.
Here we will look at both these measuring cups in detail and hopefully by the end you will see why you need to use both of these cups when working on any recipe that involves both dry and liquid ingredients.
Here is all you need to know about using dry vs liquid measuring cups
- Dry Measuring Cups
- Liquid Measuring Cups
- Measuring in Ounces: Dry vs Liquid
- Key Differences Between Dry and Liquid Measuring Cups
- Common Measuring Mistakes to Avoid
Dry Measuring Cups
As the name suggests, these measuring cups are designed to measure dry ingredients. These cups are mostly made from metal or plastic and they are not transparent like liquid measuring cups. Another thing that sets these apart is that they do not have graduated measurements.
These cups can only measure a specific weight value such as 1 cup, 1/2 cup, or 1/4 cup. This makes these scales ideal for accurately measuring dry ingredients like sugar, cocoa powder, flour, oats, berries, chocolate chips, etc.
To measure dry ingredients, gently spoon them into the dry cup until it is overflowing. Then you can use a dull knife edge to slowly sweep off the excess.
Liquid Measuring Cups
Just as solid measuring cups more accurately measure solid ingredients. Similarly, liquid measuring cups can give very accurate results for liquid measurements.
Made from clear glass or plastic, these measuring cups feature a handle, and a sprout, and they have graduated lines for measuring liquids. This cup is ideal for measuring things like water, milk, broth, cooking oil, honey, corn syrup, and molasses.
To measure liquids with this cup, keep pouring it until the lowest point of the liquid reaches the desired measurement line. After that, bring the cup to your eye level to ensure you have measured the right amount.
Measuring in Ounces: Dry vs Liquid
Using the right measuring cups can make cooking easier and more efficient. In most liquid measuring cups, it is clearly mentioned that 1 cup = 8 ounces. This means that if you fill the cup with a fluid, the fluid will weigh 8 ounces. However, with solid ingredients, this can be a little tricky.
Different types of solid ingredients have different volumes and weights. This makes the conversion of the cup to ounces very difficult and unreliable. For example, a full cup of all-purpose flour weighs about 4.5 ounces while a cup of chocolate chips weighs about 6 ounces.
So, in this case, using a liquid measuring cup is not a good idea. What you can do instead is use a digital kitchen scale for measuring solid ingredients to a high accuracy.
Key Differences Between Dry and Liquid Measuring Cups
Following are a few points of differences between liquid and dry measuring cups
- Liquid measuring cups work best with fluids while dry measuring cups give better results for solids.
- Dry measuring cups are made from plastic, metal, or even wood while liquid measuring cups are made from clear glass or plastic.
- Dry measuring cups can measure one specific measurement at a time while liquid measuring cups can measure different values.
- Liquid measuring cups have graduated measurements while dry cups don’t have these.
- Liquid measuring cups come with a sprout that makes the pouring easier and less messy. Dry measuring cups, on the other hand, don’t have sprouts.
Common Measuring Mistakes to Avoid
An accurate measurement of ingredients is necessary while cooking, This is only possible when you use the right measuring cups for the ingredients in question.
The issue arises when you try to use a liquid measuring cup to measure dry ingredients or vice versa. This can affect your recipe in a bad way making it tasteless and mediocre.
Let’s say you use a liquid measuring cup to weigh flour for a recipe. Since these cups are taller than dry cups, it will make it hard for you to level off the flour using a knife. Chances are you will attempt to tap the flour and shake the cup to settle the flour into place. Doing this can result in you adding more flour than the recipe demands.
Measuring liquids in dry cups is also another common mistake. For starters, you will have no idea how much liquid is in the cup since there are no graduated lines on the dry cups. Moreover, the tops of these cups are flat which can lead to the liquid spilling over if you fill the cup to the brim.
So, avoid making these mistakes and only use those measuring cups that each ingredient demands to get the best results.
Conclusion
Choosing the right measuring cup for your recipes can make a huge difference. Cooking is a game of accuracy and if you are not measuring the ingredients using the right methods and measuring tools, it can affect the taste as well as the look of the food you prepare for your loved ones.
So, make it a habit to only use dry measuring cups for solid ingredients, and if that is not available your second-best option is to use an accurate kitchen weighing scale. For liquid ingredients, it is always a good idea to use liquid measuring cups since they help you avoid spills and give accurate measurements each time.
You can visit Accurate Meezan to buy premium quality weighing solutions for measuring all kinds of ingredients for your recipes.
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