While today we use standardized measuring spoons and cup measures, you may find vintage recipes with outdated terminology. Here’s a handy guide to dozens of old-fashioned cooking measurements, and their modern-day equivalents!
We went through dozens of old newspapers and cookbooks to come up with information about as many vintage measurements as we could, including things like saltspoons, gills, and “butter the size of an egg.”
Although we have done our best with these vintage weights and measure cooking conversions, not necessarily every item will represent today’s equivalents. Because there was no standardization back then, one person’s teacup or saltspoon may have been different from her neighbor’s, and so on.
General vintage cooking measures
| 1 dessert spoon | 2 teaspoons |
| 1 teacup | 3/4 cup |
| 2/3 teacup | 1/2 cup |
| 1/3 teacup | 1/4 cup |
| 1 kitchen cup | 1 cup; 2 gills |
| 1 coffee cup | 1 cup; 2 gills |
| 1 tin cup | 1 cup; 2 gills |
| 1 tumblerful | 2 cups |
| 1 gram | 1/5 teaspoon |
| 1 dram liquid | 3/4 teaspoon |
| 1 dessert spoon | 2 teaspoons |
| 2 dessert spoons | 1 tablespoon |
| 4 tablespoons | 1 basting spoon |
| 2 basting spoons | 1 gill |
| 1 salt spoon (saltspoon) | 1/4 teaspoon |
| 4 salt spoons | 1 teaspoon |
| 1/4 peck | 2 quarts; 8 cups |
| 1 peck | 8 quarts |
Old-fashioned liquid measures
| 4 wine glasses | 1 cup |
| 2 wine glasses | 1 gill or 1/2 cup |
| 1 wine glass | 4 tablespoons, 1/4 cup, or 1/2 gill |
| 1 ordinary tumbler | 1/2 pint |
| 2 coffee cups | 1 pint |
| 1 coffee cup | 1/2 pint or 1 cup |
| 1 kitchen cup | 1/2 pint or 2 gills |
| 4 kitchen cups | 1 quart |
| 4 saltspoons of liquid | 1 teaspoon |
| 1/4 gill | 2 tablespoons |
| 1/2 gill | 4 tablespoons; 1/4 cup |
| 1 gill | 1/2 cup |
| 2 gills | 1 cup, 1 coffee cup, or 16 tablespoons |
| 4 gills | 1 pint |
| About 25 drops of any thin liquid | 1 teaspoon |
| 1 drachm | 1/2 tablespoon liquid |
| 31.5 gallons | 1 barrel |
| 2 barrels | 1 hogshead |
Dry measures
| 8 quarts | 1 peck |
| 4 pecks | 1 bushel |
| 1 heaping tablespoonful sugar | 1 ounce |
| 2 teacups (level) granulated sugar | 1 pound |
| 1 rounded tablespoon of flour | 1/2 ounce |
| 1 pinch or dash | 1/16 teaspoon |
| Pinch of salt | 1/8 teaspoon |
| Dash of pepper | 1/8 teaspoon, or 3 good shakes |
| 1 drachm | 1/4 tablespoon dry |
Dairy equivalents & measures
| Lump of butter | 1 well-rounded tablespoon |
| Butter the size of a walnut | 1 ounce |
| Butter size of an egg | 2 ounces, or 1/4 cup |
| Two teacups soft butter (well-packed) | 1 pound |
| 1 heaping tablespoonful butter | 2 ounces, or 1/4 cup |
| 10 medium eggs | 1 pound |
| 9 large eggs | 1 pound |
Other measures & equivalents
| 1 cake of yeast | 2-1/4 teaspoons dry yeast (0.25 ounces) |
| 2/3 cup liquid yeast | 1/2 cake compressed yeast |
| 1 grated lemon rind | 1 tablespoon |
| 1 grated orange rind | 3 tablespoons |
Find out more about using yeast here!
Standard imperial measures & equivalents
| 3 teaspoons | 1 tablespoon or 1/16 cup, or 1/2 ounce |
| 6 teaspoons | 2 tablespoons or 1/8 cup, or 1 ounce |
| 12 teaspoons | 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup, or 2 ounces |
| 1/2 pint | 1 cup |
| 1 pint | 2 cups |
| 1 quart | 4 cups |
| 1 gallon (gal) | 4 quarts |
| 1/8 cup | 2 tablespoons |
| 1/4 cup | 4 tablespoons |
| 1/3 cup | 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon |
| 1/2 cup | 8 tablespoons |
| 2/3 cup | 10 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons |
| 3/4 cup | 12 tablespoons |
| 1 cup | 16 tablespoons |
| 2 tablespoons | 1/8 cup, or 1 fluid ounce |
| 4 tablespoons | 1/4 cup, or 2 fluid ounces |
| 8 tablespoons | 1/2 cup, or 4 fluid ounces |
| 12 tablespoons | 3/4 cup, or 6 fluid ounces |
| 16 tablespoons | 1 cup, or 8 fluid ounces |
| 1 cup | 48 teaspoons |
| 1 cup | 16 tablespoons |
| 8 fluid ounces (fl oz) | 1 cup, of 1/2 pound |
| 16 fluid ounces (fl oz) | 2 cups, or 1 pound |
| 16 ounces | 1 pound (dry measure) |
| 1 pint (pt) | 2 cups |
| 1 quart (qt) | 2 pints |
| 4 cups | 1 quart |
One Response
I have an old recipe that calls for 1 tin of lard. I have no idea how much lard to use in the recipe.