Re: Sizes

[Andreas Ramos <andreas -at- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

I seem to remember that British kitchens don't have standardized spoon
sizes. An American tablespoon holds the same, regardless of manufacturer,
but

yrs,
andreas
_____________________________________________________________________________
Andreas Ramos, M.A. Heidelberg                         Sacramento, California

On Fri, 24 Jun 1994, David L. Bergart wrote:

> Ann Balaban <annb -at- DADD -dot- TI -dot- COM> passed on this info

>   >For example, in Germany there was a common measurement
>   >called Elle, which is somewhat like a yard. Depending upon where you
>   >happened to be this was different. The one in Munich was shorter than
>   >the one in Hamburg. Same with all other kinds of measurements ....

> It used to be that musicians needed different instruments for each town they
> played in because the pitch 'standard' wasn't.

>   >I have some old cookbooks (pre-1850) that state everywhere what they
>   >measure and how. For example, something like "one cup is approximately
>   >3 large eggs when gathered before dawn and put into cold water".

> Before temperature scales were weeded down to the two we use today,
> there were all sorts of creative scales. My favorite used the temperature of
> the dirt in the basement of a house in Paris (why am I not surprised?) as the
> low temperature reference, and the rectal temperature of a cow (an ISO cow?)
> in a field at noon on a sunny summer day as the high temperature reference.
> Now *that* is what I call a standard.

> David






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