I own a book with that exact topic. Unfortunately it's only available in German probably because it's a very niche interest. It's called "Das Maß im Kochen", ro

I own a book with that exact topic. Unfortunately it's only available in German probably because it's a very niche interest. It's called "Das Maß im Kochen", roughly translated as "The measure in cooking" or "Measurement in cooking" by Renate Breuss. For instance it contains a chapter about time durations that have historically been measured or compared to the time you needed walking a known length. Presumably in a time where not everyone owned a watch.