Digital scale

Now that I bought one, specifically to make the spice mixes in the Mourad New Moroccan cookbook and simply because I do not yet trust my ability to "wing it" and not get an Italian version of the intended I wonder how I lived without it for so long. Now I find myself terribly annoyed with recipes that do not specify weights. You soon find out that there is tremendous variability. I bought a cheap Sharper Image one at Bed Bath and Beyond and am very happy with it.

[Robin Garr]

Agreed. We got a cheap, no-name digital scale many years ago, and it's still working, still on the original batteries. I weigh ingredients that I would never have bothered to weigh before - pasta and rice, for particular example - and really appreciate knowing that I've got the portions right. I'm not into Adkins - they'll have to pry my pasta, rice, bread and potatoes out of my cold, dead hands - but I'm not crazy about eyeballing portions and getting twice as much as I need, either.

For baking bread I weigh the flour - much, much more accurate than measuring by volume - and even weigh the water (!) Peter Reinhart's artisan breads in particular seem to come out much better when I do.

In addition to what Robin mentioned, I like to use our cheapie scale to measure/weigh bags of our fresh garden produce (tomatoes, beans, eggplant) before bagging and putting in the freezer. I'm another guy who seems incapable of eyeballing portion sizes.

Count me in. Digital scale--yes!

But I keep my little right and left tray-gram scale around because I love it.

Bakers have long relied on digital scales because it's far more reliable to measure flour by weight rather than volume. The same holds true for rice and pasta, too.

Mark Lipton

The purveyors of "local herbal pharmaceuticals" also find the scales useful....or so Ive been told.

The purveyors of "local herbal pharmaceuticals" also find the scales useful....or so Ive been told.

Since my days as an undergrad, we've had to keep close tabs on the balances -- digital, analogue, libra, whatever -- lest they evaporate in the night. At Columbia, various members of the janitorial staff were dismissed when balances went missing under their watch.

Mark Lipton

Christina wrote;
Now I find myself terribly annoyed with recipes that do not specify weights.

The following chart might be helpful
http://calorielab.com/foods/herbs-and-spices/49

Salute

I find I use a scale more often when I am preparing from a recipe that has international weights. But, for American recipes, like most cookies I make, I still use the tin cup and spoons measures. And, I do love using my kitchen scale. Bought one about 8 years ago.

The purveyors of "local herbal pharmaceuticals" also find the scales useful....or so Ive been told.

Since my days as an undergrad, we've had to keep close tabs on the balances -- digital, analogue, libra, whatever -- lest they evaporate in the night. At Columbia, various members of the janitorial staff were dismissed when balances went missing under their watch.

Mark Lipton

Of course if you lose your balance you can always rectify it by listening to Koyaanisqatsi for a few hours! (sorry, 1980s reference - and you have to be into Glass!)

I just use a regular scale as I don't bake much, and I have an antique back up for heavier materials, which has the useful attribute of having steel weights suitable for compressing terrines and such.

[Jenise]

Of course if you lose your balance you can always rectify it by listening to Koyaanisqatsi for a few hours! (sorry, 1980s reference - and you have to be into Glass!)

Love Glass--and the movie.

Of course if you lose your balance you can always rectify it by listening to Koyaanisqatsi for a few hours! (sorry, 1980s reference - and you have to be into Glass!)

Love Glass--and the movie.

Yes, I've observed your love of the glass personally....

Of course if you lose your balance you can always rectify it by listening to Koyaanisqatsi for a few hours! (sorry, 1980s reference - and you have to be into Glass!)

Love Glass--and the movie.

Yes, I've observed your love of the glass personally....

I also really like Koyaaniqatsi, and even more the sequel Powaqqatsi. Glass's soundtrack was good, too, but Einstein OTB still represents my favorite work of his.

Mark Lipton

We used a non-digital kitchen scale almost every day since acquiring it in 1968. It is as essential as my right arm.

We have two digital scales. I use them once in a while and my wife uses them a lot for baking. Why two? Well, the first one we got only weighs in 2 g. increments and the switch to change from g. to oz. is on the bottom, so you have to turn it upside down to make the change. My wife complained about both of those aspects, so I went and bought one that weighs to 1 g. and which has the kg/oz switch on a panel on the front. You can also detach that panel if there's something big on the scale that would otherwise block the view. I like the new one much more than the old one. And for reasons I have yet to divine, my wife will only use the old one.