Make sense of spoons, cups and recipe measures
Read the original quantity correctly and avoid guessing when a recipe uses a scoop, spoon or an unspecified cup.
Small abbreviations can make a large difference
The archive contains recipes contributed in different countries and at different times. A capital T beside a quantity commonly represents a tablespoon, while tsp means teaspoon. We have expanded the clear abbreviations into words so you do not have to remember that distinction while following a recipe.
An Actifry spoon is named separately. Do not silently replace a named appliance spoon, an unspecified scoop or a heaped spoon with a level household tablespoon. A recipe may be using the supplied measure. If you no longer have it, check the manual for that model and ingredient before substituting another measure.
A cup is a volume, not a weight
A cup of chopped cabbage and a cup of chicken stock do not have the same weight. Converting both to grams by using one fixed number would give misleading ingredients. Use weighing scales where the contributor has provided a weight, and a marked measuring jug where the quantity is a liquid volume.
Cup conventions also vary. Our conversion tool lets you choose a 240 ml or 250 ml cup deliberately; it does not decide which convention an older contributor intended. Where the source already gives both a cup and a millilitre amount, use that stated amount. Where it does not, clarify the convention before making a precise conversion.
Watch what the quantity describes
“One can of milk, using the soup can” is a relative measure: it depends on the soup can used in that recipe. “A packet of seasoning” depends on the product and packet size. Check the rest of the ingredients and the method rather than treating either as a standard number of grams.
Likewise, a quantity can refer to a raw ingredient or a prepared one. Cooked rice, uncooked rice, peeled potatoes and whole potatoes are not interchangeable quantities. Keep the preparation words with the ingredient when you copy a shopping list.
Change quantities without changing the method blindly
The quantity buttons on a recipe apply a multiplier to clear leading numbers. The original ingredient list remains available, and unquantified ingredients remain unchanged. Alternative quantities in brackets are not treated as extra ingredients.
Scaling is an arithmetic aid, not a new tested recipe. Recheck seasoning, coatings and the amount the pan can hold. Cooking time does not scale in the same way as ingredient weight. For unclear quantities, leave the recipe at its original scale and ask for clarification through the community.