[herbman420]

First of all I am dealing with tablespoons. I need to cut 1 1/4 tbps in half. What is the answer to that? I am very bad at math. I would appreciate some help from somebody. Thanks

 

[suzanne]

Oh my. 1 1/4 tablespoons is a very strange way to describe a measure in the first place. But it equals 3 3/4 teaspoons, which you can divide in half to be (are you ready with all your measuring spoons?):

1 teaspoon plus 1/2 teaspoon plus 1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon.

So you see, it will use most of your measuring spoons.

 

[suzanne]

Wait -- in your other post you said you need to cut 1 1/2 tablespoons in half. That would be 2 1/4 teaspoons.

Which is the right starting amount??

 

[nowiamone]

Roughly, that's 3 teaspoons, so 1 teaspoon and a half should be fine.

But here's what you should remember; when recipes are created by someone, they add some salt....... let's say a tablespoon...... then they tasted it and thought it needed a little more, so they added another half of teaspoon of salt......... then it was too salty, so the next time they added a 1/4 th of a teaspoon, and said, "that's about right."
But if they had added a few salt granules more or a few less, maybe the recipe would have been perfect.

My point is, someone had to make an educated guess as to what common increment of measurement to use. Just come close, it will be okay.

One of the first things I tell my prep girls is to take ingrediants they've measured and pour them into their hand........get used to what a teaspoon of salt looks like in the hand, what a tablespoon of sugar looks like; it will save a multitude of time to measure into your hand and keep moving.

 

[herbman420]

2 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract recipe calls for. I need to cut that amount in half twice.
Once= 1 1/4 tbsp
twice= ?

 

[chefdrizzle]

i suck at math too.. working in the kitchen has helped my math skills tho which is sweet.. but the easiest way if you have your various sizes of measuring spoons.. you gotta take half of 1, which is 1/2 a tablespoon, and then half of 1/4, which is 1/8 of a tablespoon.. so just fill up your 1/2 tablespoon measuring spoon and your 1/8 tbsp measuring spoon and your all set... thats the easiest way i can think of doing it.. otherwise your getting into decimals if you go into milliliters and such.

 

[phatch]

First off, measuring 1 1/4 tablespoon is not simple either. At least I've never seen a 1/4 tablespoon measure.

So it's probably a teaspoon measure in the first place in my opinion.

But to be sure, we really need to see the recipe to judge the ratio and figure out what they mean.

 

[nowiamone]

So you are looking to cut the recipe into 4ths or halves?
Or is it a half recipe twice?

 

[nowiamone]

Suzanne, look at this again. The math looks wrong to me. Isn't one tablespoon just under 3 teaspoons?

 

[herbman420]

2 1/2 tablespoons of vanilla extract in half twice. Im halving every ingredient twice.

 

[erik]

You get a digital scale that will measure in 0.1 ounce increments and:

2 1/2 tbsp vanilla is about 1.2 ounces

1 1/4 tbsp vanilla is about 0.6 ounces

half of that is 0.3 ounces

Or, you could just use 'a splash' :roll:

 

[herbman420]

man i dont have a digital scale. I hope someone can simplify this for me.

 

[nowiamone]

So you are looking to make 1/4 of the original recipe?
Use 1 1/2 teaspoons........ it's close enough.

 

[chefdrizzle]

well, i dont even know what your fraction your trying to divide really anymore... and with a name like herbman420 i can hardly believe you dont own a digital scale lol...

 

[sadie1]

OK, here goes..original recipe calls for 2.5 Tablespoons. That would be 7.5 teaspoons ((2x3) + (.5 x 3)) = (6+1.5) = 7.5. Now, the best divisor would be 8th's. Just trust me on that one, unless you want a REALLY long post. So, you have 7 teaspoons divided into 8ths, which is 56 8ths. Then you have to add the .5 teaspoon, which in 8ths, is 4. 56+4=60. So the origional recipe calls for 60/8 teaspoons. Stay with me here. Now you want to divide the recipe into quarters, so divide 60 by 4, which is 15. This gives you 15 over 8 (can't figure out how to make my keyboard display the fraction) which is an improper fraction. To reduce this fraction to the simplist form, divide 8 into 15, which gives you 1 with a remainder of 7, or 1 and 7/8' s of a teaspoon. But the others are right, at this point, anywhere between 1 1/2 and 2 would work...depending on the recipe and what your are measuring. Since you are measuring vanilla I assume it is for a cookie, cake or cheesecake and it probably wouldn't matter that much. Take a look at exactly how much goes into 1/8 of a teaspoon sometime.

 

[jigz369]

IMHO, the only time exact measurement is required is in baking, where you are dealing with a chemical equation as opposed to a recipe. In almost all other applications, being exact is not essential.
Just my opinion though....

 

[bazza]

Herbman it really is not that critical, take another look at nowIamone's second post. One and a half teaspoons will be fine. The answer in tablespoons is 5/8ths which is too complicated. Cooking may be a science but it is more importantly an art. We all sound like we are trying to split the atom here. Good luck with the recipe.

 

[dc sunshine]

I reckon the answer is a good splodge.....measurements are different here to American system so I can't comment precisely, but my guess would be about 3/4 Tablespoon - I agree with Sadie.

Or just make the full amount with 2.5 tablespoons and take 3/4 of it home.....

 

[erik]

Splodge sounds good to me. It's just vanilla!

But then, I have measuring spoons for a pinch, dash, and smidgen....