| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Recipe measurements. Keep the original measurements or use the target country measurements? Thread poster: HenrietteT
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Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 05:50
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Rhubarb in Finland | Oct 8, 2021 |
Heinrich Pesch wrote:
When I wanted to publish one of my pie recipes in a German forum, I wrote "one litre of rhubarb pieces". The editor complained, nobody in Germany knows what that means. So I had to improvise and put 400 grams.
Heh-heh. I googled for Finnish rhubarb pie recipes and you're right: the Fins often indicate rhubarb by volume (it helps to know that this means stalks diced to about 1-2 cm long). And many recipes measure volume in decilitres! I checked a couple of conversion sites, and indeed: the consensus is that 1 litre of diced (sometimes "chopped", which isn't the same as "diced") rhubarb weighs about 400-600 grams. Very interesting.
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 06:50
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| dl is very handy | Oct 20, 2021 |
Samuel Murray wrote: Heinrich Pesch wrote:
When I wanted to publish one of my pie recipes in a German forum, I wrote "one litre of rhubarb pieces". The editor complained, nobody in Germany knows what that means. So I had to improvise and put 400 grams. Heh-heh. I googled for Finnish rhubarb pie recipes and you're right: the Fins often indicate rhubarb by volume (it helps to know that this means stalks diced to about 1-2 cm long). And many recipes measure volume in decilitres! I checked a couple of conversion sites, and indeed: the consensus is that 1 litre of diced (sometimes "chopped", which isn't the same as "diced") rhubarb weighs about 400-600 grams. Very interesting.
Yes, in Finland we measure almost everything in volume, and the decilitre (dl) is used for dry ingredients also. So it could be 16 dl flower for a plate of cinnamon rolls. 1 dl sugar is 100 g. Butter and margarine packages have marks for 50 g pieces to cut through. Small parts are measured in tee spoons or table spoons.
But now when I learned from youtube how to make Naples pizza dough, I use my kitchen balance and put 150 g of water and 250 g of fine wheat flower to make one pizza. Then I can be sure the dough is good to work by hand. Just a very tiny amount of dry yeast and one tee spoon of salt and oil each. 2 nights in the fridge!
| | | | Noura Tawil
Syria
Local time: 06:50
Member (2013)
English to Arabic
Jessica Noyes wrote:
As a Canadian living in the U.S., who likes to cook from Quebec women's magazines, I am always glad to see both measurements included, i.e. "add 1 cup / 136 grams sawdust".
Sawdust? Hmmm... Interested to know what kind of dish are you cooking here
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 23:50
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| If the client wants them to be converted, you should do it | Oct 21, 2021 |
An extra charge is definitely needed if you have many numbers to convert.
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| The proportions are at least as important as converting the units | Oct 21, 2021 |
I have translated several cookery books from Danish to English, and here the client wanted units that British cooks could use in their own kitchens. (All that is easier now - the British use decimal measurements quite happily).
I never did manage to understand American cups, so my advice is not going to be very helpful apart from general principles. My mother-in-law had her own method with cups, but used a Danish coffee cup... and I have had trouble with some of her recipes too!
... See more I have translated several cookery books from Danish to English, and here the client wanted units that British cooks could use in their own kitchens. (All that is easier now - the British use decimal measurements quite happily).
I never did manage to understand American cups, so my advice is not going to be very helpful apart from general principles. My mother-in-law had her own method with cups, but used a Danish coffee cup... and I have had trouble with some of her recipes too!
What I mean is that if you take easy recipes like the classical Victoria sponge - my great grandmother said 'the weight of two eggs' in butter, sugar and flour. Beat the butter and sugar together, then beat in the eggs, and finally add the flour. (Plus a teaspoonful of baking powder.)
In imperial measures this was rounded to 4 ounces of each of the weighed ingredients, and the eggs were assumed to weigh around two ounces each.
In Danish this is called sandkage, and the cake is made with 100g of the weighed ingredients plus two eggs.
The cake is slightly smaller, but it works. (1 ounce = 28,3495g  and 4 ounces = approx. 113g)
Danes often use 200g and three large eggs - the eggs weigh around 65g each.
Which illustrates the problem nicely - an egg is an egg in any system 
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However, even quite complex recipes often have simple ratios of each ingredient to the others.
Equal amounts of each vegetable in a soup, or a two-to-one ratio, for instance. So with a little tweaking, you can find rounded standard conversions. Don't fiddle about with 13 grams of this and 19 of that...
Alternatively, use conversion tables. Agree with the client what you are going to do, but if you want to give target readers a serious idea of what the recipes are all about, you need to convert them into units they can understand. Especially if the recipes are intended for use in an average kitchen.
I still use a lot of old family recipes that were originally in lb and oz, half pints, etc.
However, I have converted many of them to metric measures, because my scales are Danish, or because friends have asked me to translate the recipes into Danish for them.
Again, I know the conversions of ounces and pints to grams and dl best.
25g is used for 1 ounce, 100 for four ounces.
150 is often used for 6 ounces, but in fact 175g is closer.
200g is very close to 7 ounces
225g is eight ounces
450g is a pound. Strictly it is 454g, but 450 is usually close enough, and sometimes 500g is used...
300g is close to 10 ounces or half an imperial pint (which is not the same as an American pint...)
I use 600ml for a pint (≈ 568) ml in my own kitchen.
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And then we have not even mentioned ingredients that may or may not be obtainable in the target country...
More research needed - Which I enjoy, but it takes time!
And make sure the client gives you a realistic deadline for all the extra work!
[Edited at 2021-10-21 23:56 GMT]
[Edited at 2021-10-21 23:57 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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