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How does one need unit conversion while cooking? Sometimes I need how many grams is 1 dl of flour/oats (60g/35g) but I memorized that the second time, maybe if

by emj 2y ago

How does one need unit conversion while cooking? Sometimes I need how many grams is 1 dl of flour/oats (60g/35g) but I memorized that the second time, maybe if you are doing larger portions.

snapcaster 2y ago
You answered your own question in the comment? If you require two instances to memorize it that means you needed unit conversion twice in cooking
- crazygringo 2y ago
  Exactly. And given that there are probably 50 different common conversions you'll encounter in cooking, both between imperial units and between imperial and metric, not to mention common weight-vs-volume conversions of things like flour, good luck in not only memorizing them all but getting them exactly perfectly right every single time. You mess up a single conversion and your finished baked goods go straight in the trash.
  - emj 2y ago
    I do not understand how a voice assistant help with this, it has never worked for me. Seems like pretty hard things to do on the fly with recipes. Weight to volume conversions are rare here but sure I do those on the fly so I guess it makes sense, do you really do you guys really do it that often? If you do extensive conversions of recipes you will need to get the ratios correct as well it is just not something I see myself doing with a voice assistant.
    - crazygringo 2y ago
      > I do not understand how a voice assistant help with this, it has never worked for me. What do you mean it has never worked? What do you ask your assistant, and what does it respond? > Seems like pretty hard things to do on the fly with recipes. What's hard? I don't understand. If you need a quantity in unit x, but you only have a measuring cup or spoon in unit y, then you ask for the conversion and then you measure out that amount in unit y. I genuinely don't understand the difficulties you seem to be encountering. > do you really do you guys really do it that often? Yes, literally all the time.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
    - pavel_lishin 2y ago
      If I have a measuring cup that maxes at at one cup, and I need to add a pint of something to a pot on the stove, being able to say "Hey Jibble, how many cups are in a pint" and getting an answer would be pretty nifty. As things stand, I walk over to the conversion chart hanging on the fridge.
chankstein38 2y ago
Some people might just not want to take the time to math it out while they've got something time-sensitive on the stove. I feel like your comment doesn't really serve a purpose other than to put other people down. Congrats on your memory and math prowess but not everyone in the world has the same brain as you.
- emj 2y ago
  I wanted concrete examples, I see I could have been clearer on that point but I did not intend malice or to brag. I memorize because of diabetes. You need to know how much sugar you eat so you do volume -> weight * carbs/weight * portion size to calculate how much insulin you are supposed to give for a meal. That is not because of cooking and having tried doing that with voice assistant several times I know it is hard to get correct numbers.
  - pavel_lishin 2y ago
    I have no idea how many cups are in a pint. I have no idea how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon, or how many tablespoons are in a cup, or frankly any of the other byzantine imperial measures. The only thing I'm reasonably sure of is that there are four quarts in a gallon - and yet, I would only bet $10 on that, not $20.
  - lotsoweiners 2y ago
    I probably ask Alexa how many oz in cup or how many cups/oz in a gallon once a month but have yet to commit it to memory. I have no need to memorize this stuff when I have the internet available.
mschuster91 2y ago
Everyone who routinely tries to cook American or British recipes, for example. It's all "tablespoons", "cups", "ounces", "fluid ounces" (whoever thought about naming that one deserves a special place in hell...) and whatnot. And since that stuff isn't metric, orders-of-magnitude conversions (e.g. scaling a recipe up/down) become needlessly more complex as well.
- tomn 2y ago
  > American or British recipes American or old British recipes; ours are all metric now. The exception is perhaps teaspoons/tablespoons, but those are trivial metric values (5ml and 15ml), so easy enough to scale and convert if you don't have the right measuring spoon handy.
- emj 2y ago
  That is probably it, never would have occurred to me. When doing international recipes doing a translation/conversion is not always straight forward. I cook a lot and often it becomes a investigation into the ingredients and what to replace rather than a simple conversion of units. Not something Alexa does.
9dev 2y ago
It's a real problem for all countries not using the metric system, so, uhhh... the US, Liberia, and Myanmar. If the units have no meaningful way of conversation, like gallons, ounces, pounds, cups, and so on, cooking can get hard.
rudasn 2y ago
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by emj 2y ago

How does one need unit conversion while cooking? Sometimes I need how many grams is 1 dl of flour/oats (60g/35g) but I memorized that the second time, maybe if you are doing larger portions.

snapcaster 2y ago

You answered your own question in the comment? If you require two instances to memorize it that means you needed unit conversion twice in cooking

crazygringo 2y ago
Exactly. And given that there are probably 50 different common conversions you'll encounter in cooking, both between imperial units and between imperial and metric, not to mention common weight-vs-volume conversions of things like flour, good luck in not only memorizing them all but getting them exactly perfectly right every single time. You mess up a single conversion and your finished baked goods go straight in the trash.
- emj 2y ago
  I do not understand how a voice assistant help with this, it has never worked for me. Seems like pretty hard things to do on the fly with recipes. Weight to volume conversions are rare here but sure I do those on the fly so I guess it makes sense, do you really do you guys really do it that often? If you do extensive conversions of recipes you will need to get the ratios correct as well it is just not something I see myself doing with a voice assistant.
  - crazygringo 2y ago
    > I do not understand how a voice assistant help with this, it has never worked for me. What do you mean it has never worked? What do you ask your assistant, and what does it respond? > Seems like pretty hard things to do on the fly with recipes. What's hard? I don't understand. If you need a quantity in unit x, but you only have a measuring cup or spoon in unit y, then you ask for the conversion and then you measure out that amount in unit y. I genuinely don't understand the difficulties you seem to be encountering. > do you really do you guys really do it that often? Yes, literally all the time.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - pavel_lishin 2y ago
    If I have a measuring cup that maxes at at one cup, and I need to add a pint of something to a pot on the stove, being able to say "Hey Jibble, how many cups are in a pint" and getting an answer would be pretty nifty. As things stand, I walk over to the conversion chart hanging on the fridge.

chankstein38 2y ago

Some people might just not want to take the time to math it out while they've got something time-sensitive on the stove. I feel like your comment doesn't really serve a purpose other than to put other people down. Congrats on your memory and math prowess but not everyone in the world has the same brain as you.

emj 2y ago
I wanted concrete examples, I see I could have been clearer on that point but I did not intend malice or to brag. I memorize because of diabetes. You need to know how much sugar you eat so you do volume -> weight * carbs/weight * portion size to calculate how much insulin you are supposed to give for a meal. That is not because of cooking and having tried doing that with voice assistant several times I know it is hard to get correct numbers.
- pavel_lishin 2y ago
  I have no idea how many cups are in a pint. I have no idea how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon, or how many tablespoons are in a cup, or frankly any of the other byzantine imperial measures. The only thing I'm reasonably sure of is that there are four quarts in a gallon - and yet, I would only bet $10 on that, not $20.
- lotsoweiners 2y ago
  I probably ask Alexa how many oz in cup or how many cups/oz in a gallon once a month but have yet to commit it to memory. I have no need to memorize this stuff when I have the internet available.

mschuster91 2y ago

Everyone who routinely tries to cook American or British recipes, for example. It's all "tablespoons", "cups", "ounces", "fluid ounces" (whoever thought about naming that one deserves a special place in hell...) and whatnot. And since that stuff isn't metric, orders-of-magnitude conversions (e.g. scaling a recipe up/down) become needlessly more complex as well.

tomn 2y ago
> American or British recipes American or old British recipes; ours are all metric now. The exception is perhaps teaspoons/tablespoons, but those are trivial metric values (5ml and 15ml), so easy enough to scale and convert if you don't have the right measuring spoon handy.
emj 2y ago
That is probably it, never would have occurred to me. When doing international recipes doing a translation/conversion is not always straight forward. I cook a lot and often it becomes a investigation into the ingredients and what to replace rather than a simple conversion of units. Not something Alexa does.

9dev 2y ago

It's a real problem for all countries not using the metric system, so, uhhh... the US, Liberia, and Myanmar. If the units have no meaningful way of conversation, like gallons, ounces, pounds, cups, and so on, cooking can get hard.

rudasn 2y ago

E0ewwwswŵwp9w9w0www³039392⁰039392 2wee0w939e⁴