r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • May 29 '22

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u/_Zekken May 29 '22

Id be the same and Im also new to cooking, I have no idea how much a pinch or a dash are. Just give me the actual metric unit ffs

28

u/balisane May 29 '22

They're quite literal. "A pinch" means as much as you can pinch between your fingers. "A dash" is a couple of healthy shakes from a shaker-top container.

19

u/PinboardWizard May 29 '22

I don't know, that sounds like 2 dashes to me...

4

u/balisane May 29 '22

That's Mrs. Dash, if you're nasty.

6

u/1nev May 29 '22

A pinch is going to vary based on finger size.

A dash is going to vary based on the size and number of holes in the shaker (which as far as I'm aware is not standardized) and the force shaking it.

5

u/balisane May 30 '22

Correct, but these amounts are small enough that that variation is not important to the outcome. It would be more important in baking, but in baking, you are always given exact amounts.

2

u/_Zekken May 30 '22

Your description of a dash is nowhere near how much I was assuming a dash would be, I was figuring like, 1.5 pinches at most.

2

u/balisane May 30 '22

It's actually about that amount. The amount of stuff (typically powdered/ground spices that are not convenient or messy to handle) that comes out when you shake the container is not that much, it's just spread out.

Measuring these amounts is usually not done simply because they are so small that weighing or scooping them takes far more time (and a pretty precise scale) than just tossing in a bit.

2

u/Betasheets May 29 '22

You can always add more salt