Cheesy Poof

Google will do the Celcius conversion for you. Just type "375F in C" into the query line (without the quotes). (With Firefox the answer (190C) appears as a suggestion right below your typing, even before you hit return!) It will also convert almost any other units, and solve math problems such as "sqrt 387".

Thank you for posting the recipe. This forces me to go out and finally buy a fairly accurate scale as my next kitchen purchase. And since it's January I've got $50 to spend. (My monthly kitchen gear stipend.)

Yes, what is with the metric weights? Kowtowing to your European readers, or to scientists in general? I need my recipes in cups and tablespoons, just as God and Mary Stewart intended.

Oh, fine. (I have the cookbook at the moment, so:)

flour: 9.5 oz / 2 cups
baking powder: 2 teaspoons
mustard: 1.5 teaspoons

sugar: 1 tablespoon
salt: 1 teaspoon

cheese: 8 oz / 2 cups

The metric weights are there for two reasons: First, Alton Brown, like many other cooks, argues that the only way to accurately measure ingredients for baking is by weight, as granular substances like flour and sugar and salt can be packed down, meaning that "one cup flour" can vary from one cook to the next. Baking is pretty unforgiving when it comes to the proportions of things, so measuring by weight is the way to go.

As for why metric weights, that's just because those were in the first column of the table of ingredients, and I'm too lazy to read over to the second column for the weight in ounces.

Unless your kitchen scale is much more accurate than my digital one (+/-2g), you'll be better off measuring your salt and mustard and baking powder with a teaspoon measure than with a scale. This only applies if you're cooking domestically -- commercial cooks can use weight measures even for seasonings because they need large amounts of them.

p.s. Kosher salt is a fetish - ordinary salt works fine for all ordinary food.

Keep using the metric measures; they're no problem for me.

Way back in the mid-1950s, my high school teachers in biology, chemistry and physics hammered the conversions into our heads because "the US will be converting to the metric system in a few years." The US is the only country in the world that *still* doesn't use metric measures.

I think it's the responsibility of scientists who do know and use the metric system to use it as often as possible in all communications with the general public, perhaps providing conversions in parentheses. The US will only convert to the metric system when the majority of people realize that it actually hurts our economy not to be on the world standard. For example: One reason US cars don't sell well in other countries is because mechanics there don't want to buy the second set of tools needed.

> p.s. Kosher salt is a fetish - ordinary salt works fine for all ordinary food.

While I agree that cooks are a little ga ga over it, there are reasons to use it:

It pinches much nicer then iodized salt due to the larger grandules

It dissolves slower (which is good for some things)

Recipes written for it are not a straight conversion from kosher salt to iodized. Multiply amounts for "normal" salt by 1.5-2x to get the correct amount of kosher salt.

There are also reasons not to use it:

Goiter is bad. Iodine is good

It's more expensive

Recipes written for it are not a straight conversion from iodoized to kosher salt. To get the correct amount of iodized salt when the recipe says kosher salt, use 1/2-3/4 as much iodized salt as you would have kosher.