Metric Recipes

Many recipe writers in the United States print exact metric equivalents in their recipes. As a result, you will see recipes calling for 454 grams potatoes, 28.35 grams butter, or a baking temperature of 191°C. No wonder many Americans are afraid of the metric system!

Kitchens in countries that use the metric system do not work with such impractical numbers, any more than cooks in the United States normally use figures like 1 lb 1¼ oz potatoes, 2.19 oz butter, or a baking temperature of 348°F. That would defeat the purpose of the metric system, which is to be simple and practical. If you have a chance to look at a French cookbook, you will see nice, even numbers like 1 kg, 200 g, and 4 dL. (Note that the metric abbreviations used in this book are consistent with common usage in Canada. Abbreviations used in Europe are somewhat different, such as lowercase l instead of uppercase L for liter.)