Delia Smith’s new book, “How to cheat at cooking”, was published on 15 February, and it is ALL METRIC! Not an ounce, pint, cup or Fahrenheit is to be found between the covers of this latest volume, targeted as it is at busy people who like cooking but don’t have time for elaborate preparation.
It is 5 years since the doyenne of tv cooks last published, and in the intervening period, Delia (or more probably her publisher) appears to have accepted that imperial conversions of every metric ingredient are no longer necessary or desirable. The only arguably non-metric measures given are teaspoons and tablespoons, but as these are now standardised at 5 ml and 15 ml respectively, this is perhaps forgivable. So, well done, Delia! (Examples of her recipes can be seen at this link).
Whether to give recipes in dual metric/imperial units (and if so, which should be primary) has been a difficult issue for publishers for many years. The argument used to be that older cooks would not understand grams and millilitres (obviously, anybody over 50 is unable to learn anything new) and in any case their kitchen scales would be imperial. Then it was argued that even younger people, despite doing “home economics” exclusively in metric at school, really prefer to use the same traditional units as their parents and grandparents. Neither argument proved to be valid – but there was a potentially more weighty argument: the American market.
As the British and the Americans (not to mention Australians, Irish and others) share a common language, it is convenient for publishers if they can produce a single edition of a book for sale in all English-speaking markets. Thus even though publishers find it economic to produce cookery books in minority languages like Danish or Slovak (population ca. 5 million in each case), they have used this argument to resist producing metric-only editions for the British/Australian market and US customary editions for the American market. (This is rather like the threadbare arguments used in the recent controversy about separate metric and US customary packaging for the EU and USA markets).
In reality the argument was always somewhat shaky. Leaving aside the separate culinary tastes and traditions of the national populations, European recipes tend to measure liquid ingredients by volume (in ml) but dry ingredients by weight (in grams) whereas American recipes tend to measure both liquid and dry ingredients by volume (hence “cups” of flour). The American pint (473 ml) is of course smaller than the imperial pint (568 ml).
Problems also arise over how to convert. If the starting point is a traditional imperial recipe, do you convert 1 lb to 450 g or round it up to 500 g? Similarly, should a pint be converted to 570 ml, or rounded up to 600 ml – or down to 500 ml? Note that too much rounding can throw out the relative proportions of ingredients – e.g. if you round dry ingredients up and liquid ingredients down, your cake may dry out and burn.
Undoubtedly, the best answer is to forget about imperial/US customary units, re-measure your recipe in the correct proportions and publish it exclusively in metric units. This appears to be what Delia has done. Congratulations!
Many celebrity cooks, women’s magazines and cookery sections of newspapers have actually preceded Delia in going metric-only. Let us hope that, with Delia’s splendid example in mind, the remaining imperial holdouts will also soon fall into line.
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Good for Delia! …and how relevant it is on the 36th anniversary of introducting decimal currency (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/15/newsid_2543000/2543665.stm). The decimal currency introduction was very successful in the UK despite a few silly mistakes (like the 1/2 p). The metric conversion here has sadly been pussyfooting and has been less successful.
I must admit, when I learned to cook in the late 1970s, Delia’s books were a real help. However, I found using imperial was so awkward compared with what I had learned at school or was learning at University on my courses. What a sad reflection on our country that we could not get our act together!
As a metric-educated person in my fifties, I think it disgraceful that so many people use the excuse that “older people cannot cope with metric”. I first heard about metric from my grandmother (who would be 109 if she were alive today) who described metric as “very sensible but we don’t use it here in Britain”. My late mother – with no prompting from me – converted her cooking to metric around the age of 70. It is patronising to say that older people cannot adopt an easier set of measures!
Again, good for Delia!
This is quite good news, indeed!. Now, I wonder how Janet Devers (latest “metric martyr” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7196583.stm) would react to the notion that her customers, whom she so adamantly asserts insist on buying in Imperial units, might be using a cook book from Delia without an “ounce” of metric in sight!
Hmmmm, if Delia is persuaded that metric is the “way to go” for cooking, mabye she would be amenable to advocating for metric road signs as well. It’s hard to beat having a congenial, well-known and well-liked personality who has “come around” to help convince skeptics that, to paraphrase Victor Hugo. metric is an idea whose time has come!
And there are those of us Yanks who would prefer to purchase not only a metric cookbook or ten but would also like to be able to purchase all of our produce in metric (preferably round metric sizes).
By the way, how many mL in a dessertspoon (see “1 dessertspoon olive oil” in http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/good-old-shepherds-pie,2138,RC.html)
Bill
A Metric Yank
Bill – a dessertspoon is 10ml.
Glad to hear this cookery book is all metric as I placed a pre-order for it. To be honest, I assumed it would be all metric – the thought of it also including imperial hadn’t crossed my mind. I don’t think I have a cookery book with imperial measures in, and can’t remember the last time I saw a recipe with imperial measures. I’m including those free supermarket magazines in that too.
Bill,
Standard measuring spoons in the UK (and rest of Europe) are in rational metric sizes
1 teaspoon (tsp) = 5 ml
1 dessertspoon (dsp) = 10 ml
1 tablespoon (tbsp) = 15 ml
For small quantities of liquid that are conveniently measured in a spoon rather than measuring jug recipes refer to the above spoon measures.
A dessertspoon is 10 ml.
A dessertspoon is 10 mL. a tablespoon is 15 mL in most places but 20 mL in Australia. This difference must be confusing in some recipes.
Putting 10ml of olive oil in your skillet should do the trick as well as a dessertspoon in the frying pan.
I just popped over to the Amazon UK web site to see what readers were saying about Delia’s new book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Delias-How-Cheat-at-Cooking/dp/0091922291?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197556115&sr=8-2
Lots of debate pro and con about how good (or bad) the book is. What was most telling for me is that the question of whether Imperial should appear at all in the recipes never came up. Certainly a good sign!
Ezra,
I’m sure both Delia, her supporters and publishers researched the matter carefully and decided to go metric only after learning that there would be no adverse effects to their decision. It is really a non-issue. When you consider, despite the claims of anti-metric persons, that the vast majority of British people have been exposed to metric only products in the shops for a long time already. People have adjusted to metrication and no longer need the crutch of imperial measures tagging along.
Anti-metric people like to site biased polls or polls from the past that claim the majority prefer imperial. But as Delia experienced and you experienced, metric is not an issue at all. People accept metric only now as normal.
Don’t allow yourself to be persuaded otherwise by anti-metric persons who can’t face the reality that metrication is now accepted everywhere and is anormal part of people’s lives.
Rick Stein’s book “Mediterranean Escapes�, published in 2007, doesn’t use imperial measure for recipes either, all metric with the occasional “spoon measure� thrown in. The book does, however, include a conversion table and peculiarly mentions that it takes 13,000 crocus stigmas to make one ounce of saffron. Not that I would say that these “infringements� detract too much from what is otherwise an engaging and well-presented publication.
Personally, what I find most bizarre in relation to issues around food and diet is that the “slimming industry� appears to persist in predominantly using imperial measure, not only in relation to recipes but also food energy values as well as body weight and height for people. In the latter case this means that “fiddle factors� have to be applied when calculating a person’s body mass index. At best all seems rather silly.
It isn’t just the “slimming industry” that clings to imperial for personal height and weight. It’s deeply ingrained in the UK population even among health professionals who ought to know better and in spite of the fact that they routinely weigh in metric for official records.
Daniel said: “I’m sure both Delia, her supporters and publishers researched the matter carefully and decided to go metric only after learning that there would be no adverse effects to their decision.”
I wish what you say were true.
Unfortunately the book in question is themed around how you can cheat by using packaged items to make a recipe. Packaged items are almost always metric.
Sean Weisthal Says:
Unfortunately the book in question is themed around how you can cheat by using packaged items to make a recipe. Packaged items are almost always metric.
I could agree with this answer if for a moment I thought the recipes intended for one to use the entire package at one time. But if one is expected to use portions from any number of individual packages, then one will have to do some measuring.
This is where the choice to use metric or imperial would come in. Someone who would claim not to have any metric instruments in her/his kitchen would have a problem with the recipes if they are metric only. Proper research from the publishers would determine if such claims are valid or hot air. If there was some research and we know the result of the book is that it is only metric, then we can deduce that from the research no qualms about metric only recipes would present a problem and those who claim to only have imperial instruments in their kitchen are in fact so few as to not make a difference or their claims are in fact hot air.
Either way you look at it, it is a trend and a good one at that.
Unfortuately you may have not seen her new BBC show to accompany the book.
It appears (from the shows I have seen) that she does not mention units at all.
No I haven’t seen her show(s) nor have I read her book. Even if in her shows she doesn’t mention units, that should not detract from the fact that she does use units in her book (according to the introduction to this thread) and the units are all metric.
Using units in her book tells me that she doesn’t intend for people to use the entire package, but to measure out specific amounts. For some reason she chose to have people measure out those amounts in metric units. Not dual and not imperial. Even if the packages are all rounded metric, she could still use imperial only or dual, just as she could use metric only if the packages were imperial only.