Just a quickie before I shoot off to London - what are the most useful oven temperatures to give in a recipe? I routinely put Centigrade, Fahrenheit and gas but don't include a fan oven temperature which I note many of the food magazines now do. How many of you have a fan oven?
I've also given up listing imperial measurements (i.e. pounds and ounces) so wonder if any of you still like to see those in a recipe? I've noticed a number of the local greengrocers seem to have reverted to pricing their fruit and veg by the pound. Probably because it looks cheaper . . .
12 comments:
Fiona,
I use a fan oven these days, have no choice in the matter came with my flat.
However, I don't use pounds and ounces, despite the fact I was taught cooking with pounds and ounces as a child - the main reason being i rarely find them used in a recipe.
I can't do farenheit at all, only celsius, and I'm a bit worried that if I move to a house with a gas oven I won't understand the temperatures at all.
I mostly work in grams now, since most stuff is sold in grams, but I still bake cakes in ounces like my mum taught me (and because it's easy to remember that each egg gets two ounces each of butter, flour, and sugar).
Fan oven too but I can cope with metric and imperial
Interesting the weights thing. I use balance scales and the old imperia lrecipes always use a sensible combination of weights. Anything metric always ends up using the 5gram weight. In an ideal world there would be a 25gram weight i.e 1 ounce!!
Thanks, all. Sounds like I can give up on Fahrenheit but that a fan oven temperature would be useful.
I use metric measurements now, only because most recipes books use them and I can't cook without one.
With regards the greengrocers using the 'old money' system, i read recently that the law had changed back and they could use pound and ounces again.
Ah, that would explain it. I thought Trading Standards was taking a lenient eye! Confusing for those who have been brought up on metric though.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6988521.stm
Just found the link for it!
Some things are just quintessentially British aren't they? This has to be one of our national foibles.
Yes, straight from Dad's Army! Plucky Brits defending the onslaught of dodgy continental practices!
I don't use Fahrenheit for oven temperature, but I do use pounds and ounces most of the time. That's partly as I cook with a lot of old recipe books (old as in I bought them when I was young) and because I was brought up to cook that way. Mostly, however, I cook by "eye" - ie that looks like the right amount for two.
It's funny that, Sue. You have to take extra care with measurements when you're writing a book but sometimes I cut a slice of butter that needs to be 25g and find it weighs exactly that. You do get to know what a certain amount of food should look like.
When cooking I think in Fahrenheit and other imperial measurements. My oven does have Celsius on it too though.
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