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"cups of butter" is the wildest measurement I come across regularly in US recipes. Just... how? Edit: A friend of mine has just related running across a US sc

"cups of butter" is the wildest measurement I come across regularly in US recipes. Just... how? Edit: A friend of mine has just related running across a US scone recipe asking for "5 tablespoons of cold butter". I don't even want to think about packing cold butter onto a tablespoon to get that measurement right!

nkurz 3y ago
In case you are wondering how this works in practice, American butter typically comes in "sticks". Each stick weighs 1/4 pound, and is individually wrapped in foil or paper. These wrappers are typically marked in Tablespoon increments with 8 Tablespoons (1/2 cup) per stick. Measuring Tablespoons of butter just involves looking at the markings on the stick (or visually estimating the number of 8ths) and cutting off the chunk that one needs. Measuring major fractions of cups is just counting sticks.
- Karellen 3y ago
  That does provide a method to the madness, thanks. But... butter being measured in "cups" and "tablespoons", which are multiples/fractions of a 1/4lb block, is therefore fundamentally a unit of weight, not volume?!? That's even more wild.
- Karellen 3y ago
  Also, that will greatly simplify the conversion process for me in the future. Previously, when I've come across a US recipe requiring cups of butter, I've looked up the size of a US cup - which is given in fl.oz - converted that to ml, and then found a good estimate for the density of butter, and used that to convert to a weight in grams - which I can then measure easily. If I'd known that "a cup of butter" was not really meant to be an actual "cup" measurement, and was actually shorthand (longhand?) for "0.5lb butter", that would have made conversion So. Much. Easier. Seriously, wtf. (I take it that other "cup" measurements are actually meant to be volume measurements, and I should measure cups of flour/sugar/etc... (and liquids, obviously) in volume-marked measuring containers?)
wlindley 3y ago
Butter in the USA is sold in 1-pound boxes, each containing four quarter-pound "squares" that are marked with tablespoon and fractional-cup gauges. Simply slice off five tablespoons. (There are "Eastern" and "Western" square sizes, depending on where you live.) See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter#Packaging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter#Packaging Indeed, how would you slice cold butter by grams? Is there even a procedure?
- Grumbledour 3y ago
  Easy. Just slice of parts into your bowl until the scale shows the desired weight. I am a bit envious of American butter packaging, because it saves so much time, but if they ever change anything about it, you are all hosed, because nobody will know what 5 tablespoons was supposed to mean. ;-)
- dukeyukey 3y ago
  > how would you slice cold butter by grams? It's more sensible than slicing off butter by spoons, where a spoon is not a square, except the slice of butter is a square!
joshstrange 3y ago
Butter stick at least in America normally have tablespoon marks on the wrapper. That said, sometimes the wrapper is clearly shifted one direction or the other so that the first or last “tablespoon“ is not a full tablespoon.
mopierotti 3y ago
Butter sticks in the US have marks down the side of the wrapper, like a ruler, that show you tablespoon increments. Google image search "tablespoons butter stick".
JeffRosenberg 3y ago
In the US, our butter comes in wrappers that divide each stick into 8 tablespoons, so it's actually very easy -- you can visually see where to cut.

nkurz 3y ago

In case you are wondering how this works in practice, American butter typically comes in "sticks". Each stick weighs 1/4 pound, and is individually wrapped in foil or paper. These wrappers are typically marked in Tablespoon increments with 8 Tablespoons (1/2 cup) per stick. Measuring Tablespoons of butter just involves looking at the markings on the stick (or visually estimating the number of 8ths) and cutting off the chunk that one needs. Measuring major fractions of cups is just counting sticks.

Karellen 3y ago
That does provide a method to the madness, thanks. But... butter being measured in "cups" and "tablespoons", which are multiples/fractions of a 1/4lb block, is therefore fundamentally a unit of weight, not volume?!? That's even more wild.
Karellen 3y ago
Also, that will greatly simplify the conversion process for me in the future. Previously, when I've come across a US recipe requiring cups of butter, I've looked up the size of a US cup - which is given in fl.oz - converted that to ml, and then found a good estimate for the density of butter, and used that to convert to a weight in grams - which I can then measure easily. If I'd known that "a cup of butter" was not really meant to be an actual "cup" measurement, and was actually shorthand (longhand?) for "0.5lb butter", that would have made conversion So. Much. Easier. Seriously, wtf. (I take it that other "cup" measurements are actually meant to be volume measurements, and I should measure cups of flour/sugar/etc... (and liquids, obviously) in volume-marked measuring containers?)

wlindley 3y ago

Butter in the USA is sold in 1-pound boxes, each containing four quarter-pound "squares" that are marked with tablespoon and fractional-cup gauges. Simply slice off five tablespoons. (There are "Eastern" and "Western" square sizes, depending on where you live.) See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter#Packaging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter#Packaging Indeed, how would you slice cold butter by grams? Is there even a procedure?

Grumbledour 3y ago
Easy. Just slice of parts into your bowl until the scale shows the desired weight. I am a bit envious of American butter packaging, because it saves so much time, but if they ever change anything about it, you are all hosed, because nobody will know what 5 tablespoons was supposed to mean. ;-)
dukeyukey 3y ago
> how would you slice cold butter by grams? It's more sensible than slicing off butter by spoons, where a spoon is not a square, except the slice of butter is a square!

joshstrange 3y ago

Butter stick at least in America normally have tablespoon marks on the wrapper. That said, sometimes the wrapper is clearly shifted one direction or the other so that the first or last “tablespoon“ is not a full tablespoon.

mopierotti 3y ago

Butter sticks in the US have marks down the side of the wrapper, like a ruler, that show you tablespoon increments. Google image search "tablespoons butter stick".

JeffRosenberg 3y ago

In the US, our butter comes in wrappers that divide each stick into 8 tablespoons, so it's actually very easy -- you can visually see where to cut.