If the amount of an ingredient is unspecific, you may need to go back to the writer or consult the recipe tester (if you haven’t tested the recipe yourself) or make an educated estimate based on your knowledge of that type of recipe. In most cases you can probably determine the volume or weight needed and make the conversion easily — a “rounded teaspoon” to 1 1/2 teaspoons; a “bunch of parsley, finely chopped” to 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley (or whatever quantity seems correct in context of the recipe).
I was once baffled by an ingredients list that called for a “wine glass” of a liquid that was not wine. It was in a very old cookbook and I couldn’t consult the author, who had long ago departed her earthly kitchen. Was this a wine glass filled as if for drinking – therefore containing perhaps 59 milliliters or 2 fluid ounces – or was it to be filled to the brim? And what size glass? I couldn’t find a clue as to the answer, and solved the problem by choosing a different recipe.
We’ve all seen – and have probably written – recipes that require the ‘juice of 1 lemon’ for adding to a vinaigrette or sauce or glaze. If you’ve gotten 2 1/2 tablespoons from your lemon and I’ve squeezed out 4, our results will be different but probably both will be acceptable. If we needed four lemons for the recipe, however, I will have used almost twice as much juice as you have, and that is sure to be a problem for one of us.
A look at online discussions of weights and measures will show that there is no consensus on many of the terms food writers use regularly. Measuring utensils and kitchen scales prevent misunderstanding and disappointment. The whole purpose of creating a recipe is to allow one cook to replicate the actions – and, more importantly, the results — of another. The job of the editor is to make sure the recipe is represented well in print, that it’s not missing any of its parts (ingredients or instructions), that it flows smoothly, and that it is, as far as can be determined from reading alone, as accurate as possible.
