Conversions and Substitutions for cooking and baking

Diversity in the kitchen depends on translation and flexibility, thus I present the first installment of Conversion Corner, because not all recipes use the same measurement guidelines, nor does the cook necessarily have all ingredients conveniently available. Conversion and substitution guidelines with be updated along the way.

Cooking Measurement Equivalents

16 tablespoons = 1 cup
12 tablespoons = 3/4 cup
10 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons = 2/3 cup
8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup
6 tablespoons = 3/8 cup
5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon = 1/3 cup
4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup
2 cups = 1 pint
2 pints = 1 quart
3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon

Imperial/Metric Conversions

Liquid and dry ingredients

US 1/4 tsp 1/2 tsp 1 tsp 1 tbl 1/4 cup 1/3 cup 1/2 cup 2/3 cup 3/4 cup 1 cup 1 quart

Canadian 1 mL 2 mL 5 mL 15 mL 50 mL 75 mL 125 mL 150 mL 175 mL 250 mL 1 liter

Weight

US 1 ounce 1 pound

Canadian 28 grams 448 grams

Beans

I highly recommend you soak and boil dried beans for the recipes presented on this blog instead of using the canned variety. The taste and nutritional value is far superior, and really takes very little extra time, as you can prepare the other ingredients for the dish, or answer your email while the beans boil.

1 pound of dried beans = 2 1/2 cups dry beans = about 6 - 7 cups cooked beans

1 cup of dried beans = about 3 cups cooked beans

14 oz/398 ml can beans = about 1 1/2 cups cooked beans

19 oz/540 ml can beans = about 2 cups cooked beans

Butter

One stick of butter = 1/4 pound or 1/2 cup.

Buttermilk

1 cup of milk plus 1-3/4 Tbsp cream of
tartar or sour cream, or plain yogurt

Cinnamon

1 stick cinnamon = 1/2 teaspoon ground
cinnamon

Ginger

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger = 1/4 teaspoon
ground ginger

Herbs

Substitute one teaspoon of dried
herbs for one tablespoon of fresh herbs and vice-versa