Measuring Neat
I would be less than honest if I didn’t say that fats for pie dough can be kinda messy to handle but recently I was introduced to one of the best ways ever of measuring neat. Late last year when I was prepping for a Pie Camp in Seattle, Leigh Olsen of Epicurean Creative pulled out pre-measured and uniformly shaped discs of leaf lard. I was absolutely stunned. To me I was looking at discs of beauty. Leigh has been a baker for a very long time and even once had her own cookie business so I knew there had to be some amazing trick to this or else I was looking at someone with an extreme case of OCD!
“How did you do this?”, I asked.
She jumped up and with a bounce in her step, headed into to her food photography studio. Leigh does remind me of a joyous elf at times. Seconds later she returned with a big grin on her face and set down this on the counter in front of me.
“What the heck is that?”
“It’s my adjustable measuring cup!”
“No way! It measured out all of these? This is amazing!”
Now Leigh was laughing in a delightfully musical sort of way.
Although it’s called a measuring cup, it’s really more like a measuring tube. As you can tell, I had never seen one before so please don’t laugh at me too much if you have known about these long before I have. I don’t have too many gizmos in my kitchen.
So here’s how it works. You fill up the big tube with shortening, which can be lard, butter, vegetable shortening, or even duck or bacon fat if that’s what you use to keep your crusts flakey. Then keeping your eye on the measurement marks, push out and cut off the amount you need onto a waiting piece of plastic wrap. You may need to add or subtract a few grams to get to the exact amount but it will be pretty close. Wrap the disc up, and when you have a bunch of them, place them in a sealable freezer bag and pop them into the freezer for the big chill until needed. Easy-peasy…or in this case…Easy as Pie!
For each double crust pie dough I measure out 1/2 cup of leaf lard. If you like to measure by a scale, that would be 112 grams. With a measuring spoon it is 8 tablespoons. When you make the dough you’ll need an equal part of butter, too. Whatever way you like to measure, I like having pre-measured fat for dough and this little gadget is a super way for very neat measuring.
Here’s the link if you want one too,
Next Week I’ll be out on the pie-way in California. There will be several book events and I would love to see you if you are close by. Here are the details.
Can’t stand seeing a new (to me) gadget and not have it!! Ordered. Thanks Kate.
I hope you like it as much as I do, Jean!
Oh! I am heading to Seattle next week-and you are heading to CA!
Oh no! How long will you be in Seattle Sandy?
I have been using this type of measuring tool for years. They are also great for measuring sticky items such as honey. I like that you just push to release the contents and very little is left behind in a measuring cup. They also make a small size that measures up to 2 tablespoons. I have a couple of those.
I’m late to the party but glad that I found it!
I have one of these and have used it for such things as peanut butter and other items. Will definitely use for leaf lard!
I had no idea it would be so handy for SO many things.
What a great contraption! Can’t wait to try it! I foolishly froze my leaf lard once in a regular Ball jar – not the wide mouth. It was horrible getting it out when it was frozen. This looks much better!
Oops!
Have had these for years! Only way to measure peanut butter!!!
So I see!
Isn’t weighing the best way?
Debbi- In the blog, I mention the specific amounts for measuring by weight and by volume. I didn’t have a scale until I started standardizing the recipes to put in the book. Ultimately I think it comes down to what each individual is most comfortable with. That being said, I now demonstrate using a scale in addition to cups at workshops.
I assume I can transfer my leaf lard to this, and then safely store it in the fridge in this container?
Since I’m reading in the comments about the many other uses for it, I wouldn’t want to use it only for storage purposes.
This is so clever – I had actually bought some Amish butter to see what it was like – lovely – BUT I had a hard time measuring it – had to dig way back in my mind to remember my mother measuring solids in a big measuring cup half-filled with water. It was too much hassle, so I went back to the stuff in the sticks… but this would help with that, too…. I think I will be liking this as much as the angled measuring cups I use now for liquids – another brilliant idea! Don’t have to get down to counter level to see what you’ve got – you can see from looking at it from above…
https://smile.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-2-Cup-Angled-Measuring/dp/B00005RKOE/ref=sr_1_10?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1488059490&sr=1-10&keywords=measuring+cups