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From: rwt@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Rainer Thonnes)
Subject: Re: Tablespoons (was: degrees Celsius)
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Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 11:36:35 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.std.internat:7241 sci.lang:72205

In article <5fne7o$5b9@dg-rtp.dg.com>,
goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) writes:
> jjjjcdill@ix.netcom.com (JCDill) wrote:
> 
> : Actually, yes, you use scales to measure volume. :-) Take flour, for
> : instance.  If you sift it and measure it, you get less flour than if
> : you scoop it (about 2 Tbs less per cup), and if you scoop, then jiggle
> : the cup to cause the flour to settle you can squeeze in a bit more.
> 
> I don't think this turns out to be a real problem in practice, since
> American recipes typically specify when flour is to be sifted, and it
> is otherwise assumed to be unsifted.

Be that as it may, this slight discrepancy is in any case a bit of red
herring, I think, since it seems more natural to measure the four before
sifting, not afterwards.  In fact, when we were in America, we had a
combined measuring and sifting device.  It was a plastic measuring cup
with a wire mesh bottom, and a clever fan-shaped agitator just above the
mesh which was linked to a trigger recessed into the handle.  You measured
the flour into it, and then just kept squeezing and releasing the trigger
to let the flour "snow down" onto or into whatever it was you were making.
This device has done sterling service even long after the spring broke.
