I realize that if you don’t have a scale and you come across a recipe that only uses weight as a measurement it is annoying. I get it. It is just so darn simple to measure things in your handy dandy measuring cups. It is what you are used to, and it’s probably how you grew up cooking. I am not saying it is wrong, but if you want to become a better cook or baker - ditch the cups and get a digital kitchen scale.

I’m a visual person. So let us take a look at one of the best examples of why it is superior to measure by weight instead of volume: brown sugar.

What made the difference? How much I compressed the sugar when getting it to meet the 1-cup mark. The problem lays in the fact, how do you know how hard the author of your recipe pressed down? Sometimes the author says, “lightly pressed” or “hard packed” - but let’s be honest, their version of “lightly pressed” and mine are probably completely different things! There is a big difference in 152 grams and 218 grams of sugar, and it is going to have a huge impact on the final dish.

The one way to get around this conundrum - measure by weight. It doesn’t matter whether you lightly press or you pack that sugar in - 100 grams of sugar is 100 grams of sugar.

Go ahead, get yourself a scale. It’s totally worth it.