Conversion to Metric and Imperial

Asked by maddy168. Answered on 12th February 2012

Full question

Hi there, I received ' How to be a Domestic Goddess' as a Christmas present and absolutely love it. The only challenge is with the measurements - in this edition, Nigella uses 'cups' in her measurements for all the ingredients. How do I get a conversion to metric calculation - e.g. grams, and mililitres. Appreciate your help!

Is there a convenient way to convert from metric to Imperial? (oven temperature too please). P.S. Love this site - I was looking for something gluten free and after 15 minutes of fruitless surfing it was your recipe that solved my problem, plus I enjoy reading the 'story' that goes with it. Many thanks, Chick Pea Flour 'chick' in Canada

Our answer

Nigella's books tend to come in European form, using grams, and American form, using cups. In addition, most digital weighing scales have a switch to go between metric and imperial for ease of use so you may find that your scales will weigh both.

For US cup measures the cups are 240mls volume. Cups in Australia and Europe tend to be 250mls but the difference is very small so the slightly larger cups usually work for measuring ingredients. As cups measure by volume the weights of different ingredients per cup will vary due to the difference in densities. Unfortunately we don't have space to give all conversions but here are some basic ones that may help.

Metric/imperial

1oz = 27g, 4oz = 110g, 8oz = 225g, 12oz = 340g, 1 lb = 450g, 1kg = 2 lbs 4oz. A 400g can tomatoes = a 14 oz can tomatoes.

Oven temperatures

150c = 300F, 170c = 325F, 180c = 350F, 200c = 400F, 220-230c = 450F

US Cups

1 cup flour (unsifted) = 150g, 1 cup sugar = 200g, 1 cup rice = 200g, 1 cup butter = 2 sticks = 225g, 1 tablespoon butter = 15g, 1 cup icing sugar or cocoa = 110g, 1 cup rolled oats = 100g, 1 cup cream cheese or ricotta = 250g.