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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 spo

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.
- SamBam 6y ago
  You're not answering the question, the question was simply "what is a spoonful?" The answer is that a "spoonful" is not precisely defined. "Tablespoon" and "teaspoon" are defined measurements, but "spoonful" isn't. The answer from another comment is that the author meant "tablespoon."
  - derefr 6y ago
    Sorry, I wrote a conclusion section for my post as an edit, but I guess I never hit submit on it: > The idea is that when someone says "spoonful", they mean "one unit of the thing as you'd normally apportion that thing, using the spoon you'd normally use when interacting with that thing." > So, one "spoonful of sugar" (or most spices) is a teaspoonful, because you use tea spoons when interacting with sugar in everyday life; while one "spoonful of honey" (or soup stock, or reserved pasta water, or any other thing that you only tend interact with in the context of cooking) is a tablespoonful. (Or actually, a wooden-mixing-spoon-ful, since that's what cooks had on hand to measure with — but as it turns out, wooden mixing spoons usually had the same level liquid capacity as table-spoons. The heaping measures weren't equivalent between wooden mixing spoons and tablespoons, though, and this has caused much numerical error when modernizing old recipes!)
AdamN 6y ago
I'm from NY if it matters. When I hear 'spoonful' in a recipe, I generally think of a regular spoon (one for cereal, but not an oversized one) with a heaping amount of whatever the ingredient is. 'spoonful' also implies the quantity is to taste, otherwise they would be more specific.

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.

SamBam 6y ago
You're not answering the question, the question was simply "what is a spoonful?" The answer is that a "spoonful" is not precisely defined. "Tablespoon" and "teaspoon" are defined measurements, but "spoonful" isn't. The answer from another comment is that the author meant "tablespoon."
- derefr 6y ago
  Sorry, I wrote a conclusion section for my post as an edit, but I guess I never hit submit on it: > The idea is that when someone says "spoonful", they mean "one unit of the thing as you'd normally apportion that thing, using the spoon you'd normally use when interacting with that thing." > So, one "spoonful of sugar" (or most spices) is a teaspoonful, because you use tea spoons when interacting with sugar in everyday life; while one "spoonful of honey" (or soup stock, or reserved pasta water, or any other thing that you only tend interact with in the context of cooking) is a tablespoonful. (Or actually, a wooden-mixing-spoon-ful, since that's what cooks had on hand to measure with — but as it turns out, wooden mixing spoons usually had the same level liquid capacity as table-spoons. The heaping measures weren't equivalent between wooden mixing spoons and tablespoons, though, and this has caused much numerical error when modernizing old recipes!)

AdamN 6y ago

I'm from NY if it matters. When I hear 'spoonful' in a recipe, I generally think of a regular spoon (one for cereal, but not an oversized one) with a heaping amount of whatever the ingredient is. 'spoonful' also implies the quantity is to taste, otherwise they would be more specific.