How much exactly is a "pinch" of salt?
Or pepper.
How much is a “knife tip”?
A tea/tablespoon? Is it heaped, flat?
Why do people insist on being so inaccurate with their instructions?
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19 Answers
Well, a pinch is just a little bit. Smaller or larger than a dash? I don’t know.
I don’t think of these measures as inaccurate. They’re just inexplicit. Approximate. I have a number of things I make where I don’t actually measure anything, and it would be very hard to write them down. When someone asks how much of this or that, I usually have to say “Some.” It means go by your own taste, judgment, and experience.
A specified teaspoon, though, would be a specific measure in a standard set, leveled off.
I have little measuring spoons for a dash and a pinch. They are itty bitty.
I think of a pinch of salt as what you hold between thumb and forefinger before sprinkling to taste. Some people like more salt than others. Personally, I don’t add salt to anything.
Loli may be German after all.
A pinch is that what remains between the thumb and the index finger, after they went into the salt jar.
@chyna, how many milligrams is “itty bitty”? ;-)
One pinch. Less than two pinches.
@flutherother, I would agree. I just don’t stick my fingers in the salt supply. I sprinkle a little into the palm of my hand and measure it that way.
Some recipes need salt for the chemical action of baking, or so I believe.
Measuring spoons and cups should be leveled unless the recipe says heaping.
A dash is a liquid measure, like of Tobasco or Worcestershire.
A teaspoon of tablespoon is flat/level unless it says heaping.
Pinch is the amount you pinch with your fingers.
Knife tip I never hear used.
@Hawaii_Jake You really have the best and funniest answer. I did LOL. Although, I’m a little shocked you wrote out what would be construed as a stereotype.
@ragingloli Not really, I have heard “knife tip” used as a measure, and “generous knife tip” refers to a broader bladed knife.
Exactly the amount that fits between your thumb and finger.
This is probably up there already , but it’s what can be held between the index finger and the thumb. I see it’s already just above.
I’ve seen “knife tip” in one or two old family recipes and also now and then in someone else’s, posted online. It’s rare, though.
I take it as whatever amount that you like in whatever you are making so as not to overpower the recipe.
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