If you’ve been in the commercial kitchen trade for any amount of time you start to understand how important solid kitchen scales are. They take a beating day in and day out, and it’s how you make a product taste the same each and every time. This is also true of a home based kitchen, sure you can eyeball and be “close enough” on many recipes, all cooks do it. If you are trying to mimic a recipe for the first time though having the proper weights of ingredients is a sure fire way to ensure that you are tasting exactly what the recipe designer or blogger is wanting you to try.
Good kitchen scales are crucial for several reasons:
- Precision in Cooking and Baking: Many recipes demand precise measurements, especially in baking, where the correct ratio of ingredients is vital for the final outcome. Kitchen scales ensure accuracy in measuring ingredients like flour, sugar, and butter, crucial for achieving the desired texture and taste.
- Consistency: Consistency is key when preparing the same recipe multiple times. Kitchen scales enable you to consistently measure ingredients, ensuring uniform flavors and textures with each preparation.
- Ease of Use: Kitchen scales simplify the measuring process and save time by eliminating the need for multiple measuring cups and spoons. With a scale, you can measure all ingredients directly into one bowl, reducing the number of dishes to clean afterward.
- Portion Control: For those managing their calorie intake or adhering to specific dietary guidelines, a kitchen scale is invaluable for accurately portioning food. It allows for precise measurement of serving sizes, helping individuals stay on track with their health goals.
- Versatility: Kitchen scales can measure a wide range of ingredients, including both dry and liquid measurements. Some models offer additional features such as a tare function to subtract the weight of containers or the ability to switch between different units of measurement (grams, ounces, pounds, etc.), making them versatile tools in the kitchen.
- Precision for Spice and Curing Measurements: For tasks like measuring spices or curing ingredients, precision to the hundredth of a gram becomes crucial. This level of accuracy ensures the right balance of flavors and safety in curing processes. In such cases, having a scale that can measure to the hundredth of a gram is essential. Sometimes, it may even require having two scales—one for general use and another specialized scale for these precise measurements.
Investing in good kitchen scales, including those capable of measuring to the hundredth of a gram, enhances cooking and baking experiences, leading to better results and greater confidence in the kitchen.
Recommended Scales
We recommend Taylor scales, we used them for 15yrs at our restaurants and meat packing plant to weigh small portion control items. They are generally more than a lot of people would want to spend on a scale, although there are lots of good reasons to purchase one.
- They have removable platforms that can then be washed quickly and dried easily without fear of potentially getting the electronics wet.
- Made with heavy duty materials for use in commercial kitchens. They will withstand falls from height much better than most scales will.
- Multiple ways to get power. They accept batteries and a plug which allows them to either be placed in one spot, or they can be moved for your convenience.
This scale is the one I use at home (picture for this post). This is not a cheap scale, it will last through dropping and really hard kitchen use. We have this on our counter all of the time.
Amazon Canada
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Here is another Taylor Scale on Amazon that has a glass top and is considerably less money and would honestly do most people very well.
Amazon Canada
Amazon United States
The best style of scale to use that has 100ths of a gram (0.00) is a jewelers scale. You will need these and use them regularly if you are doing cured meats or blending spices. Fuzion Digital scales are one we used for years in our meat packing plants for weighing out smaller amounts of items as well.
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