OT Stick of Butter

All the different cookery and food terms are fascinating. I think I
have sorted out the different names for sugars and flours, know that
broiling is grilling, and I bought a set of 'cup measures' when
staying with friends in LA, but I am completely flumoxed by 'stick of
butter'.

Our butter comes in blocks of 250grams (though they will always be
half a pound to me - too old to change!). Could someone translate a
stick of butter into oz for me please, then I can make my cake!

Measuring butter by spoonfuls or cups seems difficult if the butter is
solid - bit too hit and miss with an angular lump!

Corn syrup defeated me too - can't think of an equivalent.

Sally

Sally Swindells wrote:
All the different cookery and food terms are fascinating. I think I
have sorted out the different names for sugars and flours, know that
broiling is grilling, and I bought a set of 'cup measures' when
staying with friends in LA, but I am completely flumoxed by 'stick of
butter'.

Our butter comes in blocks of 250grams (though they will always be
half a pound to me - too old to change!). Could someone translate a
stick of butter into oz for me please, then I can make my cake!
Measuring butter by spoonfuls or cups seems difficult if the butter is
solid - bit too hit and miss with an angular lump!

Corn syrup defeated me too - can't think of an equivalent.

Sally



A stick of butter would be 1/4 lb. - 4 ozs.

--
Bonnie
NJ

Good morning, Sally. I think I can do that for you.
A "stick of butter" is Four ounces.
So, if you have a block that is half a pound (8 ounces) and slice it in
half, you should have the "stick" equivalent.
Here's another way to measure cold, hard butter.
If you want half of one cup of butter - first you put 1/2 cup of cold
water into your cup size measure. Add butter - hunks, chunks, whatever -
until the water reaches the full cup line. Pour out the cold water and,
ta-dah!, you have 1/2 cup of butter.
Extreme accuracy in measuring the butter probably won't matter to your
cake. I put my butter out to soften one time and completely forgot to add it
to the cake.
It wasn't a prize-winner but I can make a cake frosting so good that I
could serve it on bricks. HTH, Polly

"Sally Swindells" wrote in message
news
All the different cookery and food terms are fascinating. I think I
have sorted out the different names for sugars and flours, know that
broiling is grilling, and I bought a set of 'cup measures' when
staying with friends in LA, but I am completely flumoxed by 'stick of
butter'.

Our butter comes in blocks of 250grams (though they will always be
half a pound to me - too old to change!). Could someone translate a
stick of butter into oz for me please, then I can make my cake!

Measuring butter by spoonfuls or cups seems difficult if the butter is
solid - bit too hit and miss with an angular lump!

Corn syrup defeated me too - can't think of an equivalent.

Sally

A stick is a quarter pound, or 453 divided by 4....113.25 grams.

Can't help w/ the corn syrup--I've always found it rather odd too. Maybe
Lyle's cane syrup? Something that isn't honey and isn't molasses but in the
sweet syrup category?

Good luck! Happy holiday cooking!

Dogmom
"Sally Swindells" wrote in message
news
All the different cookery and food terms are fascinating. I think I
have sorted out the different names for sugars and flours, know that
broiling is grilling, and I bought a set of 'cup measures' when
staying with friends in LA, but I am completely flumoxed by 'stick of
butter'.

Our butter comes in blocks of 250grams (though they will always be
half a pound to me - too old to change!). Could someone translate a
stick of butter into oz for me please, then I can make my cake!

Measuring butter by spoonfuls or cups seems difficult if the butter is
solid - bit too hit and miss with an angular lump!

Corn syrup defeated me too - can't think of an equivalent.

Sally

The corn syrup question was mighty brief. Do you mean you don't know what it
is or you don't know how to measure it? I decided you wanted a "what is it?"
answer.
In my pantry, I read the bottles and found two that say "corn syrup".
One is a golden color, one is perfectly clear. Don't confuse these with
molasses (unless you want to). Molasses has a very strong, definite flavor
and will make a difference in your creation.
If you just must make your own corn syrup - you take a cup of sugar and
1/2 cup of water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and boil the mix for 5
minutes. I've never tried it - just thought you might need to know what the
book says. good luck, Polly

Thanks - so the Corn is maybe the colour. Sounds as though its like
our Golden Syrup which says it is 'partially inverted refiners syrup'
and confusingly referred to as Treacle. (as in treacle tart)

Mollasses is called 'Black Treacle' here.

I make a syrup like you give the recipe for the Caramel part of Creme
Caramel, but it sets quite hard and isnt as 'gloopy' as Golden Syrup.

A treat when I was little (wartime and just after) was Golden syrup
sandwiches. Very healthy! and very sticky.

Sally

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:28:10 GMT, "Polly Esther"
wrote:

The corn syrup question was mighty brief. Do you mean you don't know what it
is or you don't know how to measure it? I decided you wanted a "what is it?"
answer.
In my pantry, I read the bottles and found two that say "corn syrup".
One is a golden color, one is perfectly clear. Don't confuse these with
molasses (unless you want to). Molasses has a very strong, definite flavor
and will make a difference in your creation.
If you just must make your own corn syrup - you take a cup of sugar and
1/2 cup of water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and boil the mix for 5
minutes. I've never tried it - just thought you might need to know what the
book says. good luck, Polly

Thanks everyone - all sorted now. Going to sit down now for the last
time for 4+ days!

Sally

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 12:13:38 +0000 (UTC), Sally Swindells
wrote:

All the different cookery and food terms are fascinating. I think I
have sorted out the different names for sugars and flours, know that
broiling is grilling, and I bought a set of 'cup measures' when
staying with friends in LA, but I am completely flumoxed by 'stick of
butter'.

Our butter comes in blocks of 250grams (though they will always be
half a pound to me - too old to change!). Could someone translate a
stick of butter into oz for me please, then I can make my cake!

Measuring butter by spoonfuls or cups seems difficult if the butter is
solid - bit too hit and miss with an angular lump!

Corn syrup defeated me too - can't think of an equivalent.

Sally

Ummm...not that I'm planning any brick desserts, but would you share your
frosting recipe? It MIGHT help to atone for that truly awful Christmas
joke...g

--Heidi

http://community.webshots.com/user/rabbit2b



"Polly Esther" wrote in message
news
It wasn't a prize-winner but I can make a cake frosting so good that
I
could serve it on bricks. HTH, Polly

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 12:13:38 +0000 (UTC), Sally Swindells
wrote:

You have already gotten info on the butter in other posts, so I will
skip the math bit (G)


Corn syrup defeated me too - can't think of an equivalent.

Corn syrup can be tricky to substitute for.
In a cake you might be able to use a light honey or syrup.
The thing with corn syrup when making candy or frostings is it keeps
the cane or beet sugar from crystalizing. In a cake you might not
need that. I know that with many (though not all) candies and such
you can substitute by increasing sugar and liquid and add a spoon of
invertase or glucose to avoid crystalization, sometimes you can
substitute honey though that is not reliable.

NightMist
--
"To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge
it, requires brains." -Mary Pettibone Poole

No, it is not the color.
Corn syrup is indeed made from corn. It is a sugar syrup wherein the
sugar is mostly glucose. The white cane or beet sugar out of the bag
is sucrose. If you buy cheap sugar, it may be a mixture of cane or
beet sugar with a cheaper sugar most likely dextrose.
Dextrose is mostly not fit for cooking. It is usually OK in a cake or
cookies, but will give you runny pies and unsolidified candies. Ok,
now you know why that batch of fudge didn't turn out back in '93.
Back to the corn syrup....
It comes in light (clear colored), dark ( coffee colored with a mild
mollasses taste) and golden (fairly new in my area, I haven't had a
use for it yet). It has considerably less sugar in it than just about
any other syrup on the market, or maybe glucose is less sweet than
sucrose. The table of substitutions in my cookbook has 2 cups of corn
syrup and reduce liquid as a subtitution for 1 cup of white granulated
sugar.
If you are useing it in a cake, Miz Polly's substitution will probably
be just grand. If it is a dietetic cake of any variety, you may be in
trouble unless you can get glucose for the subtitution.

NightMist

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 14:38:33 +0000 (UTC), Sally Swindells
wrote:

Thanks - so the Corn is maybe the colour. Sounds as though its like
our Golden Syrup which says it is 'partially inverted refiners syrup'
and confusingly referred to as Treacle. (as in treacle tart)

Mollasses is called 'Black Treacle' here.

I make a syrup like you give the recipe for the Caramel part of Creme
Caramel, but it sets quite hard and isnt as 'gloopy' as Golden Syrup.

A treat when I was little (wartime and just after) was Golden syrup
sandwiches. Very healthy! and very sticky.

Sally

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:28:10 GMT, "Polly Esther"
wrote:

The corn syrup question was mighty brief. Do you mean you don't know what it
is or you don't know how to measure it? I decided you wanted a "what is it?"
answer.
In my pantry, I read the bottles and found two that say "corn syrup".
One is a golden color, one is perfectly clear. Don't confuse these with
molasses (unless you want to). Molasses has a very strong, definite flavor
and will make a difference in your creation.
If you just must make your own corn syrup - you take a cup of sugar and
1/2 cup of water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and boil the mix for 5
minutes. I've never tried it - just thought you might need to know what the
book says. good luck, Polly



--
"To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge
it, requires brains." -Mary Pettibone Poole