Jan’s Essential Gadget #4: The Kitchen Scale
As we continue to share the kitchen gadgets that we love.. those we would not want to do without, I looked down the list of favorites I had compiled. I was torn about which gadget to highlight next when I had to pause to start a crockpot recipe. THIS entailed breaking up a large package of ground beef into thirds, freezing the portions not to be used. Instead of guesstimating the weight of each portion I broke out this weeks gadget…
The Kitchen Scale! This is the Taylor Kitchen Scale that has earned a prized spot to be stored on my counter (tucked behind the flour canisters). As a gadget there is no higher praise than countertop storage!
When I am cooking I am good at estimating how much of any ingredient I am adding to a dish. I do not need to use measuring spoons when cooking, my palm shows me how much I am adding (after years and years of cooking).
However, when I am baking, I use the kitchen scale to measure how many grams of an ingredient I am adding. I appreciate recipes that give the weight of ingredients in the instructions instead of giving amounts in cups. It is ever more precise and provides great results with less effort. If you are shopping for a scale be sure to an accurate one that has the option for read outs in ounces and grams.
A scale is also wonderful when starting a new diet. It is amazingly difficult to estimate serving sizes. The scale gives you the information as you learn the recommended portion size or to refresh your knowledge when you fall off the wagon!
Carol’s Borrowed Essential Gadget…the Kitchen Scale
I will admit that I often scoffed at the need for a kitchen scale. That was until I began creating sourdough bread. With the pandemic causing a full blown lockdown last summer, I requested starter from my neighbor. To be honest, I had not played with sourdough for the past 40 years…not since the days of “Friendship Bread.” That was quite the fad those many years ago.
Back to now. My newly acquired starter in tow, I researched the internet and became a student of sourdough bread making. I decided I could make due with most of the suggested equipment…but the kitchen scale was not an option. Luckily my daughter had a scale and offered to let me borrow it. Seven months later and multiple sourdough recipes created, the kitchen scale has a permanent home in my baking cabinet.
I don’t do a lot of baking, so I use the scale only when making the sourdough recipes. I have become better and better at guesstimating weight and measurement, but have come to totally rely on the scale.
Sourdough baking has become a permanent activity in the kitchen and the ‘Ole Buckeye is overjoyed! My beginner and go to recipe Beginner’s Sourdough Bread is from Little Spoon Farm.
I will admit that in the past if a new recipe called for weight measurement (requiring a scale), I would disregard that recipe as an option. Having used the scale these past months will now open up even more avenues of new recipe exploration.
Pat’s Gadget – the Scale that lives in the kitchen
Yep, I have one. I use it VERY occasionally for cooking or baking. In fact, I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of the last time I had it out for food prep use – I think I had a two ounce seasoning packet and the recipe called for one ounce.
The (sad?) fact of the matter is that I do little baking anymore on our keto plan (c’mon, admit it, almond or coconut flour just does taste the same as good old wheat flour, right?). Probably the biggest use is, as Jan mentioned, breaking large packages into smaller portions.
But fear not – this mighty multitasker has other uses in my house:
- Kitten scale – our house is also a cat sanctuary. When we have kittens, weighing is critical to make sure they are growing normally. I put a plastic kitchen storage tub on top of the scale, tare it to zero, and pop in a wiggly kitten to catch a weight. Easy peasy.
- Postage/shipping scale – for smaller packages and envelopes, this is a cheap alternative to buying a dedicated one, and USPS.com has the ounces/pounds to postage needed conversion.
So whether for the kitchen or other tasks, it’s still a handly little unit to have around!
