10 ms·

On this subject, can an American please tell me what a spoonful is? There is a great video series on youtube, with his recipes online, but all measurements are

On this subject, can an American please tell me what a spoonful is? There is a great video series on youtube, with his recipes online, but all measurements are spoonful: https://www.ethanchlebowski.com/cooking-techniques-recipes/pakistani-chicken-karahi https://www.ethanchlebowski.com/cooking-techniques-recipes/p... Spoons can vary in size, so is it a tablespoon or a teaspoon? When dealing with spices you'll be adding 3 times the amount if you go with tablespoon interpretation so it'd be a pretty big difference in flavour and intensity.

penetraitor69 6y ago
As an American, I have no idea. I actually don't think I've ever seen a recipe that didn't have explicit tea/tablespoons before, that's really weird.
Jetrel 6y ago
If I had to hazard a guess, our table cutlery (i.e. the stuff people eat meals with) has somehow managed to get really bizarrely standardized. There are basically only two sizes of spoon in the normal set - a regular spoon, which has a fairly consistent size, and then a "soup spoon", which is a bit inconsistent (sometimes it's a larger size, sometimes it's round rather than teardrop-shaped, etc). So most likely they're relying on the "incidental standardizing" of normal silverware, and making a guess that most people's regular eating spoons are bizarrely similar in size. Since we're on HN, there's probably a really interesting philosophical rabbit hole one could go down, concerning the idea of things that aren't officially standardized (by some standard-setting body), but end up gravitating towards almost being so, due to industrial pressures and consumer expectations.
- dbspin 6y ago
  Do you not have 'tea spoons' in the US? Or is that what you're referring to as a 'regular spoon'?
  - ydant 6y ago
    We most definitely do - the standard utensil set comes with 5 items per person: 1 table/butter knife 1 regular fork 1 small ("salad") fork 1 regular ("table" large?) spoon - approx equiv to 1tbsp 1 small ("tea") spoon - approx equiv to 1tsp I grew up referring to those spoons as "spoon" or "table spoon" (the default assumed desired spoon) and "tea spoon". Since the spoons are so flat, they can't really compare to a proper measuring spoon. We didn't talk about the small forks much. The smaller variants get substantially less frequently, at least in my households.
    - Jetrel 6y ago
      Yeah, there's sort of an "expanded set" like you describe, but there's definitely a thing where there's a very standardized subset of "normal fork, normal spoon, normal knife". (Which is to say you're not wrong at all, I'm just stressing how standardized that subset is). You can really see it with plastic utensils. If you get them from a restaurant, the spoons and so on are pretty consistent - not absolutely so, but it's interesting how often they'll be a certain type.
Xylakant 6y ago
As European who sometimes cooks recipes from US sites. I have a dedicated set of cup and spoon measures (1) and the sizes in the spoon measures read * tablespoon 15ml * teaspoon 5ml * 1/2 teaspoon 2.5ml * 1/4 teaspoon 1ml (1) not exactly this set, but a similar one https://www.amazon.de/-/en/HAUSPROFI-Stainless-steel-measuring-spoon/dp/B0816MB9Q3/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=cup+messbecher+amerikanisch&qid=1615450841&sprefix=cup+mess&sr=8-3 https://www.amazon.de/-/en/HAUSPROFI-Stainless-steel-measuri...
- Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
  That's not what they asked.
- deanclatworthy 6y ago
  I'm European. There is no issue here in what a teaspoon or a tablespoon is. A tablespoon is three times the size of a teaspoon and I have dedicate measuring spoons for each size. The issue is what a "spoonful" constitutes. Check the link to the recipe.
  - Xylakant 6y ago
    Sorry for misreading your question. In the video he's pretty clearly using a tablespoon, but also heaps it, so measurements for the spices are a bit in the "whatever you see fit" category, as he says. This converter table I sometimes use for conversions lists a spoon as 10ml, https://foodconverter.com/ounces-to-cups-spoons-grams-conversions-flour-sugar/ https://foodconverter.com/ounces-to-cups-spoons-grams-conver...
  - ebiester 6y ago
    Spoonful is approximately 20ml, but the recipe author is saying the exact measurement is not important and that this is a particular lever to adjust for taste. (A spoonful of sugar means that some people will prefer this sweeter and some more savory, and that you should use judgement based on you or your audience.)
  - derefr 6y ago
    A tablespoon is called a tablespoon because table spoons — the medium-sized spoons that come in flatware sets — have a mostly-standardized capacity, and this capacity comes out to around 1tbsp. Why? As it happens, a 1tbsp basin on a utensil, with loose food (e.g. rice, corn, pudding, whatever) heaped atop the basin to its sloughing point, constitutes pretty much exactly a “mouthful” of food (for almost all human skull+jaw sizes age ≥6yo.) Soup spoons are larger than table spoons, because you can’t heap soup, so you need a larger basin to get a mouthful of soup. Likewise, 1tsp is the traditional heaped-to-sloughing capacity of a tea spoon—a spoon given with a tea cup+saucer, used for measuring sugar into your tea, and then stirring said tea. These are actually rather uncommon today, as they aren’t sold in flatware sets, but rather must be purchased separately. You may not have ever seen a true tea spoon. If you’ve ever seen a bar spoon, that’s an elongated tea spoon — both have a 1tsp basin.
Ekaros 6y ago
Also if we aren't talking about measuring spoons is it heapful or flat? Also 30 cranks of black pepper? Are the pepper mills standardised? What is a crank full 360 degrees or less? Or some back and forth motion, but again how large motion? How does this even work with my electric grinder?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- deanclatworthy 6y ago
  Always flat
- SamBam 6y ago
  > Also 30 cranks of black pepper? Yeah, that alone is nonsense. Very confusing, coming from someone who is touting himself on the website as a "food science" guy.
tayo42 6y ago
Really you just cook to your taste. Cooking isn't a science experiment. Like step 5 says, taste it and adjust. The foods already cooked by the time your adding the spices
- dmitriid 6y ago
  That's a really bad advice to give beginners. If you're lucky, you'll guess right the first time, and end up with a good dish. And then you'll use that. If you're unlucky — and the more inexperienced you are the more unlucky you are — then you'll guess wrong, and your dish will be at best okay, and at worst inedible. A few failed experiments like this, and you'll hate cooking, or approach cooking with fear. Recipes have to be very precise, because recipes are aimed at people who are new: new to cooking or new to the dish.
  - OwlsParlay 6y ago
    Experimentation is part of learning though. Heck, failing is part of learning! We really need to teach kids that just because you fail a few times at something you're not bad at it - it's part of learning.
    - viraptor 6y ago
      There's time for learning and time for "I want to make this right-ish". Basically if it's a lazy weekend and I'd like to experiment, being vague would be fine. If I'm a beginner and there are people coming over tomorrow evening, I want you to guide my every step.
      - ols 6y ago
        If you’re a beginner cooking for multiple people - stick to something that you already perfected. Even with a superdetailed recipe something can go wrong or be unexpected for a first-timer.
      - astura 6y ago
        A beginner cook doesn't cook a new dish they've never made before for dinner guests. Hell, I've been cooking my entire life and I wouldn't cook a new dish for dinner guests in most cases.
imgabe 6y ago
This is not an American thing, that's just a bad recipe. They should specify tablespoon or teaspoon.
- UncleMeat 6y ago
  I can see this both ways. For a lot of ingredients this can be false precision. That fresh thing of dried ginger is going to be 5x more flavorful than the jar that has been sitting in your cabinet for two years. Saying "1 tsp" doesn't actually produce consistent results and can actually discourage people from adding more if they need it. I think it is good to have these precise amounts but also good to tell people which amounts are critical and which amounts can survive being doubled or halved without trouble.
  - jfengel 6y ago
    Halving or doubling is entirely feasible, though unless you're experienced go with 1x the first time you make the recipe. In this case the ambiguity is a factor of 3X, the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon. Or possibly more: given the quantities of the recipe he may mean some kind of personal dedicated spice spoon that could be around 1/2 tsp. In which case a tablespoon would be a factor of 6x, which is sufficient to make a recipe inedible. If that recipe appealed, I would say that if you use a teaspoon the recipe would work (assuming he hasn't made other errors in the recipe; I didn't look that closely). But he's not following the conventions and I'd probably go looking for a difference recipe. Once you've made a few recipes successfully you can, as you point out, easily halve or double spices. But I'd start with recipes that were better tested than this one.
    - UncleMeat 6y ago
      If I saw "spoon", I'd assume that they meant "the actual spoon I use to eat cereal in my drawer" rather than either tsp or tbsp. The point is that the recipe author doesn't know what the right amount of that spice is. They can't know because the spice sitting in your cabinet is almost certainly much less fresh than what they have in the kitchen. Spices tend to be flexible outside a few exceptions. I'd wager that you can just wildly change almost any spice amount in almost any recipe before you've ever made it and and have any sort of calibrated taste it'll turn out fine. Salt is a way bigger risk here and not many recipes give precise salt measurements.
astura 6y ago
I assume that essentially means "to taste," you have the correct ratios, mix all the spices and add spice mixture slowly until dish tastes good. Do people normally measure spices? I never do. Ever. I assume the cook's lack of exact measuring (eyeballing) is why it says "spoonful", rather than "teaspoon."
- ghaff 6y ago
  >Do people normally measure spices? If I'm working from a recipe, yes? I don't sweat extreme precision, but I do use measuring spoons. Especially in something like a cookbook, I assume the author has put some thought into the measurements.
  - moron4hire 6y ago
    That... Really depends on the cookbook. I'd be very surprised if the authors of some of the more popular "celebrity chef" books had actually cooked all of the recipes in their own books. The books are often anthologies of recipes found from other sources. I've definitely encountered recipes in his that were impossible to perform the way they were written.
- ydant 6y ago
  > Do people normally measure spices? For me, no, not anymore. Recipes serve as inspiration and I rarely do more than scan the ingredients list and then go off to make something (inspired). It's taken me a lot longer to develop a great intuition of which herbs, spices, and ingredients combine to make a great flavor than it did to develop the intuition of how /much/ to use if I know what I'm using. The problem here is the threeish kinds of cooks: - beginner - experienced recipe follower - experienced intuitive I've been asked for "recipes" by people in camp #2 - and they don't know what to do with what I'm able to give them. Which is fair - my recipes are just a list of general ingredients, spices, and a method of cooking in my head. "These vegetables (sauté), these meats (brown), combine, these spices ("enough", go heavy on this particular one), this preparation (slow simmer for hours, like a chili), this finish." Camps #1 and #2 want exactly the same thing, they just need varying level of specificity. Both would strongly prefer you give them exact measurements. My guess is #1/#2 is the bulk of people who cook. The recipe cards that everyone's family seems to have as heirloom keepsakes - those are all more #2 with a dash of #3 ambiguity thrown in to throw off any people trying to copy grandma's old recipe. The recipes swapped at potlucks and family dinners - same. There's usually a (simpler or more shortcuty than the person might want to admit) recipe buried under there.
moron4hire 6y ago
If it's spices, I don't even bother with a spoon. Just dump a bunch in until it looks good. Most recipes call for so small amounts of spices that you're not really going to taste it, so why bother putting it in at all?
- deanclatworthy 6y ago
  This is not the case with Indian food. But the main thing with this question is there is a huge difference when it comes to spoon sizes with table and tea spoon. So what is a spoonful.
  - moron4hire 6y ago
    It's whatever you want it to be
- hc-taway 6y ago
  I've started searching for "ethnic" recipes in their home languages, because the English-language ones are often so badly under-spiced that the called-for amounts aren't even useful as a rough estimate (for e.g. shopping or judging whether you have enough on-hand to make the dish), and sometimes are practically a completely different dish than the real thing. (if the dish has an English-language Wikipedia entry, clicking the link on that page for the dish's page in its native language is a great way to find the right thing to search for, and then Google Translate usually does an OK job on the recipe itself)
KingEllis 6y ago
Comparing with a similar recipe I have, those look to be teaspoons.
stjohnswarts 6y ago
I would say teaspoon size which is about what's in your regular eating spoon if it were bigger they'd say tablespoon which is obviously a lot bigger than what most people use to eat their dinner with. Unless it's mac and cheese and then tablespoon would make sense.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > I would say teaspoon size which is about what's in your regular eating spoon A “regular eating spoon” is usually a tablespoon, hence the name. A teaspoon is typically used for adding sugar to, or stirring, coffee or tea, or eating desserts.
  - Grustaf 6y ago
    Teaspoons should not be used for eating dessert. You default to a dessert fork, and use a dessert spoon (larger than a teaspoon) for things like ice-cream.
thaumasiotes 6y ago
> On this subject, can an American please tell me what a spoonful is? The problem isn't with American conventions. We have no "spoonful" measure any more than you do. That website is not following any American convention by declining to specify its spice amounts.
- cloverich 6y ago
  Also relevant, spice (and salt) preferences have a high subjective component. It drives my wife crazy but I don't even read amounts any more for things like this, I just put whatever I think, and add more if it seems like it needs it after I taste it. Conveniently its also the best, and perhaps only, way to develop in to a good cook because it teaches you how ingredients impact the flavour of your meal, and in turn how that is percieved by the people consuming it. If its helpful to anyone not well versed in cooking, focus on salt first. IME its by far the most important component in most dishes.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
8note 6y ago
I would generally consider it to be a heaping teaspoon. Teaspoon where you have a bit of a pyramid on top
maxerickson 6y ago
The spoons in the video aren't measuring spoons, they are flatware. Estimating, I would say he is using between 1 and 2 measuring teaspoons when he does a spoonful. So probably start with 1 tsp if you aren't sure more will work and go up from there if you feel like it. The video you've linked is as much a sketch as it is a recipe anyway.

penetraitor69 6y ago

As an American, I have no idea. I actually don't think I've ever seen a recipe that didn't have explicit tea/tablespoons before, that's really weird.

Jetrel 6y ago

If I had to hazard a guess, our table cutlery (i.e. the stuff people eat meals with) has somehow managed to get really bizarrely standardized. There are basically only two sizes of spoon in the normal set - a regular spoon, which has a fairly consistent size, and then a "soup spoon", which is a bit inconsistent (sometimes it's a larger size, sometimes it's round rather than teardrop-shaped, etc). So most likely they're relying on the "incidental standardizing" of normal silverware, and making a guess that most people's regular eating spoons are bizarrely similar in size. Since we're on HN, there's probably a really interesting philosophical rabbit hole one could go down, concerning the idea of things that aren't officially standardized (by some standard-setting body), but end up gravitating towards almost being so, due to industrial pressures and consumer expectations.

dbspin 6y ago
Do you not have 'tea spoons' in the US? Or is that what you're referring to as a 'regular spoon'?
- ydant 6y ago
  We most definitely do - the standard utensil set comes with 5 items per person: 1 table/butter knife 1 regular fork 1 small ("salad") fork 1 regular ("table" large?) spoon - approx equiv to 1tbsp 1 small ("tea") spoon - approx equiv to 1tsp I grew up referring to those spoons as "spoon" or "table spoon" (the default assumed desired spoon) and "tea spoon". Since the spoons are so flat, they can't really compare to a proper measuring spoon. We didn't talk about the small forks much. The smaller variants get substantially less frequently, at least in my households.
  - Jetrel 6y ago
    Yeah, there's sort of an "expanded set" like you describe, but there's definitely a thing where there's a very standardized subset of "normal fork, normal spoon, normal knife". (Which is to say you're not wrong at all, I'm just stressing how standardized that subset is). You can really see it with plastic utensils. If you get them from a restaurant, the spoons and so on are pretty consistent - not absolutely so, but it's interesting how often they'll be a certain type.

Xylakant 6y ago

As European who sometimes cooks recipes from US sites. I have a dedicated set of cup and spoon measures (1) and the sizes in the spoon measures read * tablespoon 15ml * teaspoon 5ml * 1/2 teaspoon 2.5ml * 1/4 teaspoon 1ml (1) not exactly this set, but a similar one https://www.amazon.de/-/en/HAUSPROFI-Stainless-steel-measuring-spoon/dp/B0816MB9Q3/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=cup+messbecher+amerikanisch&qid=1615450841&sprefix=cup+mess&sr=8-3 https://www.amazon.de/-/en/HAUSPROFI-Stainless-steel-measuri...

Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
That's not what they asked.
deanclatworthy 6y ago
I'm European. There is no issue here in what a teaspoon or a tablespoon is. A tablespoon is three times the size of a teaspoon and I have dedicate measuring spoons for each size. The issue is what a "spoonful" constitutes. Check the link to the recipe.
- Xylakant 6y ago
  Sorry for misreading your question. In the video he's pretty clearly using a tablespoon, but also heaps it, so measurements for the spices are a bit in the "whatever you see fit" category, as he says. This converter table I sometimes use for conversions lists a spoon as 10ml, https://foodconverter.com/ounces-to-cups-spoons-grams-conversions-flour-sugar/ https://foodconverter.com/ounces-to-cups-spoons-grams-conver...
- ebiester 6y ago
  Spoonful is approximately 20ml, but the recipe author is saying the exact measurement is not important and that this is a particular lever to adjust for taste. (A spoonful of sugar means that some people will prefer this sweeter and some more savory, and that you should use judgement based on you or your audience.)
- derefr 6y ago
  A tablespoon is called a tablespoon because table spoons — the medium-sized spoons that come in flatware sets — have a mostly-standardized capacity, and this capacity comes out to around 1tbsp. Why? As it happens, a 1tbsp basin on a utensil, with loose food (e.g. rice, corn, pudding, whatever) heaped atop the basin to its sloughing point, constitutes pretty much exactly a “mouthful” of food (for almost all human skull+jaw sizes age ≥6yo.) Soup spoons are larger than table spoons, because you can’t heap soup, so you need a larger basin to get a mouthful of soup. Likewise, 1tsp is the traditional heaped-to-sloughing capacity of a tea spoon—a spoon given with a tea cup+saucer, used for measuring sugar into your tea, and then stirring said tea. These are actually rather uncommon today, as they aren’t sold in flatware sets, but rather must be purchased separately. You may not have ever seen a true tea spoon. If you’ve ever seen a bar spoon, that’s an elongated tea spoon — both have a 1tsp basin.

Ekaros 6y ago

Also if we aren't talking about measuring spoons is it heapful or flat? Also 30 cranks of black pepper? Are the pepper mills standardised? What is a crank full 360 degrees or less? Or some back and forth motion, but again how large motion? How does this even work with my electric grinder?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
deanclatworthy 6y ago
Always flat
SamBam 6y ago
> Also 30 cranks of black pepper? Yeah, that alone is nonsense. Very confusing, coming from someone who is touting himself on the website as a "food science" guy.

tayo42 6y ago

Really you just cook to your taste. Cooking isn't a science experiment. Like step 5 says, taste it and adjust. The foods already cooked by the time your adding the spices

dmitriid 6y ago
That's a really bad advice to give beginners. If you're lucky, you'll guess right the first time, and end up with a good dish. And then you'll use that. If you're unlucky — and the more inexperienced you are the more unlucky you are — then you'll guess wrong, and your dish will be at best okay, and at worst inedible. A few failed experiments like this, and you'll hate cooking, or approach cooking with fear. Recipes have to be very precise, because recipes are aimed at people who are new: new to cooking or new to the dish.
- OwlsParlay 6y ago
  Experimentation is part of learning though. Heck, failing is part of learning! We really need to teach kids that just because you fail a few times at something you're not bad at it - it's part of learning.
  - viraptor 6y ago
    There's time for learning and time for "I want to make this right-ish". Basically if it's a lazy weekend and I'd like to experiment, being vague would be fine. If I'm a beginner and there are people coming over tomorrow evening, I want you to guide my every step.
    - ols 6y ago
      If you’re a beginner cooking for multiple people - stick to something that you already perfected. Even with a superdetailed recipe something can go wrong or be unexpected for a first-timer.
    - astura 6y ago
      A beginner cook doesn't cook a new dish they've never made before for dinner guests. Hell, I've been cooking my entire life and I wouldn't cook a new dish for dinner guests in most cases.

imgabe 6y ago

This is not an American thing, that's just a bad recipe. They should specify tablespoon or teaspoon.

UncleMeat 6y ago
I can see this both ways. For a lot of ingredients this can be false precision. That fresh thing of dried ginger is going to be 5x more flavorful than the jar that has been sitting in your cabinet for two years. Saying "1 tsp" doesn't actually produce consistent results and can actually discourage people from adding more if they need it. I think it is good to have these precise amounts but also good to tell people which amounts are critical and which amounts can survive being doubled or halved without trouble.
- jfengel 6y ago
  Halving or doubling is entirely feasible, though unless you're experienced go with 1x the first time you make the recipe. In this case the ambiguity is a factor of 3X, the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon. Or possibly more: given the quantities of the recipe he may mean some kind of personal dedicated spice spoon that could be around 1/2 tsp. In which case a tablespoon would be a factor of 6x, which is sufficient to make a recipe inedible. If that recipe appealed, I would say that if you use a teaspoon the recipe would work (assuming he hasn't made other errors in the recipe; I didn't look that closely). But he's not following the conventions and I'd probably go looking for a difference recipe. Once you've made a few recipes successfully you can, as you point out, easily halve or double spices. But I'd start with recipes that were better tested than this one.
  - UncleMeat 6y ago
    If I saw "spoon", I'd assume that they meant "the actual spoon I use to eat cereal in my drawer" rather than either tsp or tbsp. The point is that the recipe author doesn't know what the right amount of that spice is. They can't know because the spice sitting in your cabinet is almost certainly much less fresh than what they have in the kitchen. Spices tend to be flexible outside a few exceptions. I'd wager that you can just wildly change almost any spice amount in almost any recipe before you've ever made it and and have any sort of calibrated taste it'll turn out fine. Salt is a way bigger risk here and not many recipes give precise salt measurements.

astura 6y ago

I assume that essentially means "to taste," you have the correct ratios, mix all the spices and add spice mixture slowly until dish tastes good. Do people normally measure spices? I never do. Ever. I assume the cook's lack of exact measuring (eyeballing) is why it says "spoonful", rather than "teaspoon."

ghaff 6y ago
>Do people normally measure spices? If I'm working from a recipe, yes? I don't sweat extreme precision, but I do use measuring spoons. Especially in something like a cookbook, I assume the author has put some thought into the measurements.
- moron4hire 6y ago
  That... Really depends on the cookbook. I'd be very surprised if the authors of some of the more popular "celebrity chef" books had actually cooked all of the recipes in their own books. The books are often anthologies of recipes found from other sources. I've definitely encountered recipes in his that were impossible to perform the way they were written.
ydant 6y ago
> Do people normally measure spices? For me, no, not anymore. Recipes serve as inspiration and I rarely do more than scan the ingredients list and then go off to make something (inspired). It's taken me a lot longer to develop a great intuition of which herbs, spices, and ingredients combine to make a great flavor than it did to develop the intuition of how /much/ to use if I know what I'm using. The problem here is the threeish kinds of cooks: - beginner - experienced recipe follower - experienced intuitive I've been asked for "recipes" by people in camp #2 - and they don't know what to do with what I'm able to give them. Which is fair - my recipes are just a list of general ingredients, spices, and a method of cooking in my head. "These vegetables (sauté), these meats (brown), combine, these spices ("enough", go heavy on this particular one), this preparation (slow simmer for hours, like a chili), this finish." Camps #1 and #2 want exactly the same thing, they just need varying level of specificity. Both would strongly prefer you give them exact measurements. My guess is #1/#2 is the bulk of people who cook. The recipe cards that everyone's family seems to have as heirloom keepsakes - those are all more #2 with a dash of #3 ambiguity thrown in to throw off any people trying to copy grandma's old recipe. The recipes swapped at potlucks and family dinners - same. There's usually a (simpler or more shortcuty than the person might want to admit) recipe buried under there.

moron4hire 6y ago

If it's spices, I don't even bother with a spoon. Just dump a bunch in until it looks good. Most recipes call for so small amounts of spices that you're not really going to taste it, so why bother putting it in at all?

deanclatworthy 6y ago
This is not the case with Indian food. But the main thing with this question is there is a huge difference when it comes to spoon sizes with table and tea spoon. So what is a spoonful.
- moron4hire 6y ago
  It's whatever you want it to be
hc-taway 6y ago
I've started searching for "ethnic" recipes in their home languages, because the English-language ones are often so badly under-spiced that the called-for amounts aren't even useful as a rough estimate (for e.g. shopping or judging whether you have enough on-hand to make the dish), and sometimes are practically a completely different dish than the real thing. (if the dish has an English-language Wikipedia entry, clicking the link on that page for the dish's page in its native language is a great way to find the right thing to search for, and then Google Translate usually does an OK job on the recipe itself)

KingEllis 6y ago

Comparing with a similar recipe I have, those look to be teaspoons.

stjohnswarts 6y ago

I would say teaspoon size which is about what's in your regular eating spoon if it were bigger they'd say tablespoon which is obviously a lot bigger than what most people use to eat their dinner with. Unless it's mac and cheese and then tablespoon would make sense.

dragonwriter 6y ago
> I would say teaspoon size which is about what's in your regular eating spoon A “regular eating spoon” is usually a tablespoon, hence the name. A teaspoon is typically used for adding sugar to, or stirring, coffee or tea, or eating desserts.
- Grustaf 6y ago
  Teaspoons should not be used for eating dessert. You default to a dessert fork, and use a dessert spoon (larger than a teaspoon) for things like ice-cream.

thaumasiotes 6y ago

> On this subject, can an American please tell me what a spoonful is? The problem isn't with American conventions. We have no "spoonful" measure any more than you do. That website is not following any American convention by declining to specify its spice amounts.

cloverich 6y ago
Also relevant, spice (and salt) preferences have a high subjective component. It drives my wife crazy but I don't even read amounts any more for things like this, I just put whatever I think, and add more if it seems like it needs it after I taste it. Conveniently its also the best, and perhaps only, way to develop in to a good cook because it teaches you how ingredients impact the flavour of your meal, and in turn how that is percieved by the people consuming it. If its helpful to anyone not well versed in cooking, focus on salt first. IME its by far the most important component in most dishes.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

8note 6y ago

I would generally consider it to be a heaping teaspoon. Teaspoon where you have a bit of a pyramid on top

maxerickson 6y ago

The spoons in the video aren't measuring spoons, they are flatware. Estimating, I would say he is using between 1 and 2 measuring teaspoons when he does a spoonful. So probably start with 1 tsp if you aren't sure more will work and go up from there if you feel like it. The video you've linked is as much a sketch as it is a recipe anyway.