Cooking Conversions and Equivalents

Food Ingredient Equivalents

Different names, same thing. Some foods in Britain have a different name to what it’s called in the US, here are the most common confusing foods.

Food Equivalents, Substitutions, and Common Measurements

British	American
aubergine	eggplant
beef, Rump Steak	beef, Top Round
bicarbonate of soda	baking soda
caster sugar	granulated sugar
clotted cream	no equivalent
coriander	cilantro
cornflour	cornstarch
courgette	zucchini
cream, clotted	no equivalent
cream, double	heavy cream
cream, single	half and half cream
digestive biscuits	Graham crackers or other crackers
emethaler	swiss cheese
flank steak	London broil
flour, strong	bread flour
flour, wholemeal	flour, wholewheat
gelatine	gelatin
glucose syrup	light corn syrup
golden syrup	corn syrup
icing sugar	confectioners' sugar
madras curry powder	curry powder
mince "meats"	ground "meats"
pastry case	pie shell
pine kernel	pine nut
plain flour	all purpose flour
polenta	cornmeal
salad onion	spring onion, scallion
self raising (SR) flour	use all purpose flour adding a raising agent
swede	rutebega
tomato puree	tomato paste
vanilla essence	vanilla extract
whipping cream	heavy cream

Butter/Margarine

1 pound/ 450grams	2 cups
4 ounces	1/2 cup
2 ounces	1/4 cup
1/2 ounce	1 Tablespoon

Flour

1 pound/ 450grams	4 cups
8 ounces / 250 grams	2 cups
4 ounces / 125 grams	1 cup
2 ounces	1/2 cup
1 ounce	1/4 cup

Sugar (Granulated/Caster)

1 pound/ 450grams	2 cups
8 ounces	1 cup
4 ounces	1/2 cup
2 ounces	1/4 cup
1/2 ounce	1 Tablespoon

Equivalent Measures

To aid you in your kitchen, this area includes the most common cooking conversions and tips such as dry measure, spoons, liquid measures, and metric equivalents.

Spoons - British Tablespoons vary slightly, UK holds 17.7ml while the US version holds 14.2 ml.

UK	US
1 teaspoon	1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon	1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons	3 tablespoons
3.5 tablespoons	4 tablespoons
4 tablespoons	5 tablespoons

Metric Conversion - US to Metric

Capacity		Weight
1/5 teaspoon	1 milliliter	1 oz	28 grams
1 teaspoon	5 ml	1 pound	454 grams
1 tablespoon	15 ml
1 fluid oz	30 ml
1/5 cup	47 ml
1 cup	237 ml
2 cups (1 pint)	473 ml
4 cups (1 quart)	.95 liter
4 quarts (1 gal.)	3.8 liters

Oven Temperatures - Farenheit, Celsius, and Gas Marks

degrees F	degrees C	Gas Mark
150	70
175	80
200	100
225	110	1/4
250	120	1/2
275	140	1
300	150	2
325	160	3
350	180	4
375	190	5
400	200	6
425	220	7
450	230	8
475	240	9

Liquid - British Pints differ to US Pints, UK pint measures 20 fluid ounces while the US pint holds 16 fluid ounces.

UK	US
1/4 pint	2/3 cup
1/2 pint	1 1/4 cups
3/4 pint	2 cups
1 pint	2 1/2 cups
1 1/2 pints	3 3/4 cups
2 pints	5 cups (2 1/2 pints)

Note the UK and US Gallons actually differ by a bit!

Metric Conversion - Metric to US

Capacity		Weight
1 milliliter	1/5 teaspoon	1 gram	.035 ounce
5 ml	1 teaspoon	100 grams	3.5 ounces
15 ml	1 tablespoon	500 grams	1.10 pounds
100 ml	3.4 fluid oz	1 kilogram	2.205 pounds35 oz
240 ml	1 cup
1 liter	34 fluid oz4.2 cups2.1 pints1.06 quarts0.26 gallon

Bakeware Sizes - Equivalents

1 Round Cake Tin	1 Square Pan 1 inch smaller
800ml/1-1/2pint pudding basin	14cm/ 5-1/2 inch round deep cake tin
1.2 litre/2 pint pudding basin (UK Pint)	15cm/6inch round deep cake tin or 12.5 cm/5inch square deep tin
1kg/2lb loaf tin	18cm/7inch square shallow cake tin or a 33 x 23 cm/13 x 9 inch Swiss roll tin

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