A thread on the EYB Member Forum about differences between metric and Imperial measures got me thinking about how recipe writers (along with editors and publishers) treat the measurement of ingredients. I do a lot of baking and have appreciated the trend to include weights in recipes because it leads to more consistent results. I understand, however, that some editors and publishers still resist putting weights in cookbooks. A cookbook author (I can't remember who) recently answered a question on social media about why they didn't include weight measures in their most recent release, and they said it was because the publisher didn't believe in using weights because it might make the book seem less accessible or friendly to the audience. The author gave them the weights and they refused to put them in! Yikes.

Even in books where weights are common there are strange exceptions. A recipe might call for a pound of carrots but then cups of another ingredient or unit quantities for something else, such as one onion. Onion sizes can vary greatly, and it's almost as bad to see "one medium onion" or "one large onion". Whenever I see the latter, I think back to when I was six and was photographed for the local newspaper because my mother and I grew a tremendously large onion in our garden. I think it weighed at least three pounds - the photo showed me holding the onion in my lap and it covered most of it! That probably isn't what the authors intend, but if they are not going to include a weight, could they at least make a size comparison and say "a baseball sized onion"? And please, no "fist-sized onion" measurements. Baseballs are standard in size, but hands are not. Neither are teacups, so no thank you to those comparators as well.

Another set of ingredients where weight measures are extremely helpful is for herbs. One of my favorite chicken recipes from Sabrina Ghayour helpfully provides weights for the herbs in the dish. This is much better than calling for "a bunch" of cilantro because the sizes of bunches at the two supermarkets and the farmers' market in my town all vary considerably. Slightly more helpful are the "X cups, packed" herb measurements but they always makes me wonder just how packed is packed. Tell me how many grams or ounces and I'll be a happy camper. If the measurement is not meant to be precise, I would still appreciate a range, especially if the ingredient isn't cheap. There are few things worse than wasting several dollars of an ingredient in what turns out to be an inedible dish. If I'm not familiar with the ingredient it can be difficult to gauge what a reasonable amount should be.

Accuracy aside, I prefer to weigh my ingredients because it's also more efficient and dirties fewer dishes. My kitchen already looks like a tornado hit it when I'm through cooking; anything I can do to minimize the mess and resultant cleanup is a big win. Weight measures have become so important to me that I generally refuse to purchase cookbooks that don't have them. I have pared down my volume measuring tools accordingly - I used to have multiple sets of measuring cups and spoons but now need only one. Of course this has not led to a Marie Kondo-style cleanout of drawers and cupboards but instead to a bevy of additional kitchen gadgets. I still count it as a win, though.