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Digital Scales: Changing How We Cook

When I was in college, I had a public speaking class where we presented about ‘how to do’ something. You could have presented on how to change the oil in a car or how to get A’s on an exam. One student, it was a man by the way, talked about how to make cookies. His family owns a bakery and so he was used to making really, really good cookies. He gave several cookies to each member of the class and they were really, really good. I took that recipe home to my wife so that we could make some of them together. This is when I discovered that people who really cook, cook differently than the way that you and I cook.

Instead of having 2 cups brown sugar and 3 cups floor, it said, “0.5lbs brown sugar….” And he also specified in the recipe to make sure that you got the right kind of flour, etc or the weights would be off. I had never even heard of measuring by weights before that day.

Digital scales have again come to the rescue in this situation and have provided the answer to the public on how to cook better and more accurately. The advent of the digital kitchen scale has improved many a professional cook’s kitchen and can improve ours as well.

The underlying basis behind the need for a digital kitchen scale is density. Density is how closely together molecules are to each other. Amazingly enough, water and alcohol can have different densities (even though they are both liquids). So can different kinds of flour or even sugar. Have you ever wondered if 1 cup of brown sugar meant: left fluffy, packed in, or really packed in hard? A digital kitchen scale easily answers these questions by providing you with the weight, which is a measurement totally independent of density or volume.

Aside from making cooking/baking more accurate, it is a lot quicker. Instead of getting out all of your cup measurements and tablespoons, teaspoons, doing conversions between all the units, you can use a digital scale. The digital scale allows you to measure anything, solid or liquid, and to get a perfectly accurate measure of the ingredients. Ever have the problem of thinking you scraped off too much butter from the cup measure? Does it dip a little bit into the cup measure? With a digital scale you are assured to get the right measurement every time in a fraction of the time that it normally takes.

I have used a digital kitchen scale for quite some time now, and I must say that they are much easier to use than all of my volume measurement tools. It is less messy and much more accurate. Instead of the time-honored cooking technique of ‘adding a pinch’ or some other method, I can reproduce results the exact same way each time I cook. It not only allows me to have variation when I cook, but it allows me to know how I varied. If I think that the cookies tasted extra good today, better than yesterday, than I will know exactly what I did differently.

There are many great digital kitchen scales out there. Make sure you look around for the one that is most reasonably priced, has a fair amount of resolution (accuracy), is durable, and definitely the one that looks good in your kitchen.

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Can someone expain kitchen scales?

I thought 4 oz = 1/2 cup but when I measured it it doesn't. What is more accurate...measuring cups or scales?

It depends what you are measuring. Most home cooks measure everything in volume (teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, etc...) but professional Chefs only use volume for liquids. For accurate baking results it is best to weigh items such as flour because it is hygroscopic and its volume measure varies with the humidity.

4oz does indeed equal 1/2 cup in terms of volume. Only thin liquids such as water, vinegar, wine, etc will the measure be the same in volume and weight.

Computer says no
Our computers at work have been down since Thursday. Before I go any further, let me just say that I love my job, I love the people I work with, and our offices are awesome. BUT, I do not love our computers or the network we're on.

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