Spare Spoons Kitchen
Kitchen Notes
Short, practical notes that don't fit on a single recipe — the why behind a cue. More will land here over time.
Why we weigh in grams
The short version: a kitchen scale is faster, more accurate, and means fewer dishes. Recipes here default to grams — the US cup/spoon measures are still on every page (tap “US measure”), but the gram weights are the ones to trust.
Cups measure volume, and volume lies for solids. A “cup of flour” can weigh anywhere from about 120 to 150 grams depending on whether you scoop, spoon it in, or sift first — a swing of a quarter, enough to turn tender into tough. A gram is always a gram, so weight is the only way to get the same result twice.
It's actually less work. Set the bowl on the scale, press tare to zero, add the first ingredient up to its number, tare again, add the next. One bowl, no nested measuring cups to wash, no “half a cup plus two tablespoons” arithmetic — and scaling a recipe up or down is just multiplication.
And it lowers the mental load. This site is built for cooks who find vague recipes hostile, and nothing is vaguer than “a cup, packed.” A number on a scale is unambiguous: one clear target, one motion, nothing to second-guess. That's why precision sits at the heart of how these recipes are written.
None of this is anti-cup. Measuring cups and spoons are still the right tool for plenty of jobs — scooping, and quick measures where a little more or less won't change a thing (a cup of rice to cook, a handful of this into that). They're faster than hauling out the scale for the small stuff. The rule of thumb: weigh when it matters (baking, where a 25% swing wrecks things), and scoop when it doesn't. (A favorite set is in the Tool Drawer.)
No scale yet? It's the single best inexpensive upgrade you can make — a basic digital one that tares to zero and switches between grams and ounces is all you need (the Tool Drawer has picks at a few prices).
Chicken doneness: pull it early, let it rest
The short version: for boneless white meat, pull at 145–150°F / 63–66°C and rest — carryover finishes it safely, and it stays juicy. Dark meat and whole birds still go to 175°F.
Most recipes — ours included — tell you to cook chicken to 165°F / 74°C. That's the temperature at which chicken is safe instantly. But it isn't the only safe number, and for boneless white meat it's the wrong target: pull a breast at 165°F, let it rest, and carryover heat climbs it to 175°F or higher — dry, tight, and stringy.
The fix for boneless white meat is to pull it at 145–150°F and let it rest. Safety is a matter of time and temperature, not one magic number: 165°F kills the bacteria on contact, and 145°F does the same job if the meat holds there for about 8–9 minutes — which is just what happens as a thick breast rests and the temperature drifts up. You get meat that's every bit as safe and far juicier.
How to catch it: a fast or leave-in thermometer makes the low pull easy — Stephan uses the ThermoMaven. Pull at 145–150°F, tent loosely with foil, and rest 5–10 minutes; the number keeps climbing while it sits.
The exception — dark meat and bone-in pieces. Thighs and drumsticks are best at 175°F / 80°C, where their connective tissue finally turns tender. And when you roast or fry a whole cut-up bird, you cook to the dark-meat target, so the white meat climbs past 145°F — that's the trade-off of cooking mixed pieces. The early-pull trick is for boneless breasts and cutlets cooked on their own, like the Chicken Piccata or the morel-cream seared chicken.
One caution: this time-and-temperature approach is standard and safe, but if you're cooking for someone pregnant, very young, elderly, or immunocompromised, play it safe and cook to 165°F.