Showerthought: grandma's "add a pinch of this" actually meant something

I spent years rolling my eyes at my grandma's recipes because she'd say stuff like "add a pinch of nutmeg" or "a dash of cinnamon" and I figured she was just being vague. Then I actually sat down with her last Christmas and measured what she called a pinch. It's exactly 1/8 teaspoon every single time, she's been doing it for 60 years in her kitchen outside Louisville. Has anyone else tested a family member's vague measurements and found they're surprisingly consistent?

2 comments

2 Comments

troy_scott19d ago

Got my wife's grandma to show me her "handful" of flour for dumplings and pulled out my little measuring cups. Three different times I checked and it was right around 1/2 cup plus a tablespoon each time. She'd been doing it since the 1950s and never bothered to write it down because her hands just knew. @cameroncarr is right about that eye closed thing being the real test, muscle memory from decades of cooking is way more reliable than any measuring spoon. Kinda makes you wonder how much of what we call "instinct" is just years of quiet practice nobody noticed.

cameroncarr19d ago

The real test is watching them do it with their eyes closed. My aunt measures flour by feel and she's never had a baking disaster in 40 years.