A Scale of Two Purposes

I like to cook Alton Brown’s recipes, but he often uses weight measurement instead of cups and tablespoons as he feels it is more accurate.  I have managed to make the recipes with out too many problems using our Polder spring scale.  If the recipe calls for two-ounces, so what if I end up putting in four-ounces because the scale is so inaccurate.

When I started to make the cinnamon rolls (see House of the Rising Bun), all the ingredients were by weight – oh bother!  I decided to measure this recipe correctly and I remembered that I had an electronic postage scale in my office.  Off I went with our container of sugar and a bowl to my office in our upstairs to weigh two-ounces of sugar.

I made it to my office when I started to think about my use of the scale.  In the last year, I have used the scale to weigh postage maybe two times; I have used our inaccurate scale for recipes about twenty times.  Why is the electronic scale that is accurate to 1/10 of an ounce in the office when I need it in the kitchen?

I unplugged the scale and took it downstairs to the kitchen where I have used it about ten times to measure ingredients in the last week.  I managed to salvage this scale at a company where I used to worked.  The person in charge said to throw it in the garbage because it was no longer needed.  The scale will even weigh in grams and can count a volume of items based on a sample weight.  It may not have the current postage rates inside, but I can easily check the weight vs. postage on the internet, and I don’t care at all about postage when I weigh out my ingredients.

I am very pleased with the scale and look forward to using it to make many new recipes to share.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell