What did people do before measuring cups were invented?

Home Forums Decaffeinated Coffee What did people do before measuring cups were invented?

Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #612072
    Torah613Torah
    Participant

    And how did they ever bake cakes in Europe? Did they have baking soda or powder?

    #1004148
    SaysMe
    Member

    estimating??? Just like many still do today

    And yeast. Or sour dough or any other fermenting item if they didnt have i’d assume

    #1004149
    🐵 ⌨ Gamanit
    Participant

    I don’t use measuring cups normally… I just make sure the batter looks right. I think they did have baking soda.

    #1004150
    akuperma
    Participant

    Measuring devices predate most surviving written records (okay, that’s cheating since a cup may last thousands of years, and most writing materials survive centuries at best). The oldest measuring cup predates the oldest surviving recipes.

    #1004151
    zahavasdad
    Participant

    I can tell the tempature in my house without a thermostadt. With a little practice you can get knowledge of weights and measures fairly easy

    #1004152
    yaakov doe
    Participant

    They estimated the amounts just like any serious cook does today. There where no Susie F cookbooks asking for 1/8 cup of pine nuts or 1/2 cup of pomegranate seeds or sundried tomatoes. Life anmd cooking were much simpler.

    #1004153
    oyyoyyoy
    Participant

    they used measurements like kzayis

    #1004154
    TheGoq
    Participant

    Baking unlike cooking is a precise business you can’t guesstimate it’s not so much a recipe as it is a formula.

    #1004155
    WIY
    Member

    Torah

    In the Torah they already had measuring cups. ???, ???…

    #1004156
    oomis
    Participant

    There absolutely had to be measures of some type, or there would be no halachos pertaining to weights and measure. Whether they conformed to the measuring utensils we use today – that I cannot say. Probably not.

    #1004157
    nfgo3
    Member

    They ate the whole cow.

    #1004158
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    They measured with their eyes, like I do, and then they made a cup to the right size and used it from then on.

    #1004159
    LevAryeh
    Member

    This question makes no sense. Measuring cups by definition are used to measure a standard, agreed-upon measurement. That measurement could not have been agreed upon unless someone had a cup which held that amount, or was marked off to show that amount. Once you have one, you can make a million.

    Unless you’re asking how people measured ingredients for recipes before they had standards for measurements. I presume they had to test proportions (5 horns of black pepper to 1 1/2 conch shells of baking soda) until they found something that worked, which is the same thing they do nowadays.

    #1004160
    squeak
    Participant

    The better question is, how did they know if people were fat before BMI was invented?

    #1004161
    ☕ DaasYochid ☕
    Participant

    They saw how much yiras shomayim they had.

    #1004162
    Sam2
    Participant

    They used measuring cups in the Beis Hamikdash. Pashut P’shat in the Mishnayos and Gemaros in Menachos is taht the sizes are D’oraisa.

    #1004163
    interjection
    Participant

    I always assumed they weighed their ingredients

    #1004164
    King19
    Member

    Also the gemara in ???? ?? ?? talks about the use of measuring cups on yom tov

    #1004165
    Momofsix
    Member

    I have seen a very old cookbook and it uses eggshells as a measurement

    As in : “2 eggshells of oil”

    Interesting

    #1004166
    cv
    Participant

    “And how did they ever bake cakes in Europe? Did they have baking soda or powder”

    ***

    Yes, in Europe people had and still have baking soda, powder, yeast,

    To measure flour, sugar or water they use a glass (half glass). To measure oil – table spoon. To measure salt – tea spoon. To measure butter – grams (the measurement of weight).

    Every recipe in a cook book has measurements of the country, where book published.

    #1004167
    cv
    Participant

    I have seen a very old cookbook and it uses eggshells as a measurement

    As in : “2 eggshells of oil”

    Interesting

    ***

    Today, some measurements mentioned in Torah, compared to the size of the egg – to give us a clue of the size

    #1004168
    Torah613Torah
    Participant

    So I looked it up. Interesting responses on the measuring cups question.

    Baking soda wasn’t used for baking until the 1800’s earliest, and wasn’t mass produced until much later.

    #1004169
    LevAryeh
    Member

    Torah613Torah – My comment was said tongue-in-cheek. I didn’t think they actually used conch shells either.

    #1004170
    SayIDidIt™
    Participant

    I saw this in Ruchoma Shain ?”?’s book, All for the Boss:

    She was describing life in Mir, Europe in letters to her parents. She was explaining her language barrier problems:

    …I asked her for simple instructions in cooking. “How muuch salt?” I asked. Her terse answer was, “A chuch.” For my question on the amount of sugar, “A hoifen” and for liquid, “A shpritz.”

    I finally got up enough courage to ask … chuch – a pinch of salt; hoifen – a handful of sugar; shpritz – a few drops of any liquid. I am still experimenting with these measurements, but my food does not always taste the way it should…

    Chapter 16 – Letter 3 (Page 231 in the newly expanded edition)

    Well, I assume they had some sort of measuring utensils, but they didn’t always use them. And people today still use the above measurements.

    SiDi™

    #1004172
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    If your food doesn’t taste right, try wearing gloves.

    #1004173
    SayIDidIt™
    Participant

    rebyidd23, don’t eat your food wth your fingers, eat your fingers separately…

    SiDi™

    #1004174
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    Know that. Command or statement?

    #1004175
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    Ha

Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.