1. Korean cup (200 ml) vs US cup (240 ml)
Korean cookbooks and blogs typically treat "1 cup" as 200 ml (the standard Korean measuring cup). US recipes use 240 ml. That is a ~20% difference — enough to matter in baking.
- Following a Korean recipe verbatim: this site's default (200 ml) is correct.
- Following a US baking blog: prefer grams on a scale when possible.
- When unsure, trust the density table on the home page.
2. Tablespoon and teaspoon precision
- 1 tbsp = 15 ml = 3 tsp — the same in Korean, US, and EU standards.
- A regular dinner spoon holds ~10–12 ml, which is smaller than a measuring tablespoon. Use measuring spoons for accuracy.
- For dry goods (flour, chili powder), level the spoon with a straight edge for consistency.
3. Cook time and temperature when scaling
Ingredients scale linearly, but cooking time does not.
- 2x scale (e.g. 4→8 servings): keep temperature, extend time by 10–20%. Use a larger pan.
- 0.5x scale (e.g. 4→2 servings): keep temperature, shorten time by 10–20%. Use a smaller pan.
- For baked goods, when pan thickness changes, bake time changes non-linearly. For cakes and loaves, prefer keeping the same pan and adjusting time only.
4. Fraction rounding
When scaling produces an odd value like 1.33 cups, this tool snaps to a friendly fraction (1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4) when close enough. Otherwise the decimal is shown.
5. When precision matters
- Baking: grams are ~30% more accurate than cups for flour and sugar.
- Marinades & sauces: soy-to-vinegar ratio defines the flavor. After 2x scale, always taste and adjust.
- Meat marinade: absorption plateaus, so at 10x scale increase marinade only ~1.5x rather than 10x, then adjust by taste.
6. When to use a kitchen scale
A $10–30 digital scale measures to 0.1 g. If you bake regularly or log nutrition, a scale pays off very quickly.
7. Home vs restaurant vs bakery — different scaling needs
Home cooks usually scale 4-person dinners to 2 or 8 servings. The tricky part is jumping to 10x or 20x for parties or kimchi day — flavor absorption plateaus and marinades become disproportionate. Restaurants and cafes work in grams and milliliters with a fixed per-portion mass; the discipline is what keeps the taste consistent across staff.
- Home: 4 → 2 / 8 / 10 servings is the most common scale.
- Restaurants: 1 portion = 200–250g standard; maintain a recipe book in grams.
- Cafes & bakeries: 1 batch = 50–100 pieces; gram measurement is mandatory.
8. Four Korean seasonings that break linear scaling
- Soy sauce: brewing vs concentrate have different salt levels. 1 tbsp brewing soy ≈ 0.7 tbsp jin-ganjang.
- Gochujang: heat and sweetness vary by brand by up to 30%. Add 2/3 of the calculated amount first and adjust by taste.
- Sugar: white, brown, and oligosaccharide have different sweetness ratios. White 1 = brown 1.05 = oligo 1.4.
- Minced garlic: jarred minced garlic has higher water content than fresh. 1 tbsp jarred ≈ 3 cloves fresh.
9. Why baking standardized on grams
One cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 110g to 150g depending on sifting, packing, and humidity — a 30% swing that changes a cake's structure entirely. That is why baking standardized on grams globally. This calculator defaults to 150g per Korean cup for cake flour and auto-converts to 125g per US cup for all-purpose flour.
10. Common pitfalls
- Liquid vs dry measuring cups: pyrex-style liquid cups have a different read line than straight-edge dry cups, producing 5–10% error if swapped.
- "A pinch" / "to taste": not reproducible. Standardize as roughly 0.5g per pinch in this tool's notes.
- °C vs °F confusion: 350°F = 177°C. Setting a US recipe's 350 as 350°C will burn anything in minutes.