While today we use standardized measuring spoons and cup measures, you may find vintage recipes with outdated terminology.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 cooking measurement conversions for old-fashioned recipes, and their modern-day equivalents!
We went through dozens of old newspapers and cookbooks to come up with information about as many vintage cooking measurements as we could find, including things like saltspoons, gills, and “butter the size of an egg.”
Although we have done our best with these vintage weights and cooking measurement 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 measurement conversions
| 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 |
SEE MORE: Oven temperature conversions: Master vintage recipes with these 3 useful tools
Old-fashioned liquid cooking measurement conversions
| 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 cooking measurement conversions
| 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 cooking measurement conversions
| 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 cooking measurement conversions
| 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 |
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2 Responses
I have an old recipe that calls for 1 tin of lard. I have no idea how much lard to use in the recipe.
I have several of my granny’s recipes that call for “a helping/halping” of flour, sugar, lard, etc. Any idea how much that is? Maybe a handful? Thank you!