It's worth mentioning one of my favorite language facts of all time: the word dram (small unit still used for a portion of whisky in Scotland), drachma (the pre-euro Greek currency), and dirham (the currency of Morocco) are all cognates.
How much is a smidgen?
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Re: How much is a smidgen?
#52probably somewhere between 1 to 10% of “some”, and .1-5% of “a lot“
Re: How much is a smidgen?
#53In some professions where more precision is needed, the preferred unit is the "schtickle." For example, a dentist might say to his assistant: "Chrissy, give me a schtickle of flouride."
Re: How much is a smidgen?
#54I always figured it was part of the "made with love" measuring system. Metric, English, made with love.
One time my grandmother was trying to write down all the recipes of my Portuguese great-grandmother. My great-grandmother was having none of it (being used to oral tradition) and during one recipe while my grandmother was writing down the last ingredient, my great-grandmother dumped some extra water into the dough while her back was turned. My grandmother asked: "Hey! How much was that?" Great grandmother: "Just put…
My physics text book had metric to imperial conversions and I was surprised to see "mouthful" as the smallest volume measurement.
Re: How much is a smidgen?
#55A soupçon
Re: How much is a smidgen?
#56“A smidgen is just a teeeenie, little bit… 3 smidgens make one pinch. 4 pinches equals one little bit. 4 little bits equal one midlin’ amount. 3 midlin’ amounts equal one right smart and it takes 5 right smarts to make a whole heap.” -Jed Clampett of Beverly Hillbillies
I'd still rather use this than the metric system!
There is a metric smidgen. It's a gnats whisker bigger than the imperial one
Re: How much is a smidgen?
#57I’ve decided to entirely disregard the suggested measurements provided in recipes, which means that I guess I’ve decided not to follow recipes at all anymore. Except for bread, but as soon as I can commit a recipe for bread to memory, I’m through!
You're in luck - delicious bread can be made from a simple recipe with no suggested measurements. You'll need a large mixing bowl, a kitchen scale, and four ingredients:
- Put some flour into the bowl[1]. Make a note of its weight.
- Add 2% of the flour's weight in salt.
- Add 0.5% of the flour's weight in yeast[2].
- Add 70% of the flour's weight in warm water[3].
Stir until you get a rough, sloppy dough.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave to rise for 8-10 hours.
Set your oven to 450°F / 230°C.
Put in a Dutch oven, without its lid, to warm.
Scrape the bowl out onto a floured surface.
Dust your hands with flour and shape the dough into a ball.
Cover with plastic and let sit for 30 minutes.
Put the dough ball into the dutch oven.
Put the lid on and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and bake for 15 minutes more.
Take the loaf out of the dutch oven and let it cool completely.
2) Instant yeast is best; "active dry" yeast must be dissolved into the water before mixing into the flour and salt.
3) Warm like a cozy bath; too much heat kills yeast.
Re: How much is a smidgen?
#58My group of friends have agreed that a "dollop" is equal to the amount of creamer in a single-serving creamer tub.
Re: How much is a smidgen?
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Woman: Miss? What exactly is "a tad?" Elaine Dickinson: In space terms, that's about half a million miles.
wow don't see a lot of quotes from the sequel in the wild
I love the sequel, I think it's under-rated!
"Is that a good sign?" ... "it does the job."
Re: How much is a smidgen?
#60When you cook with Granny in her kitchen, these type of "measurements" become second-nature quite quickly. It's all about the proportions of each ingredient in relation to the others. It was not unusual at all to see Granny shake out an amount of seasoning or some other dry ingredient into her hand and then dump or shake it into a pot, or to just dip a coffee cup into the flour bag and always get the right amount.