Looking for Measuring Cups

May 16, 2005 9:36 PM

Alton Brown Filter: Hey, does anybody know where I can get those great measuring cups Alton Brown uses on Good Eats?

I think that they're probably not meant for use as measuring cups but they sure look handy. (You know -- the cups that sort of look like giant syringes, but without the needle, that squeezes the indredients out?)

posted by ebeeb to food & drink (15 comments total)

he sells them on his website:
http://www.altonbrown.com/pages/shop.html
posted by Julnyes at 9:45 PM on May 16, 2005

They are definitely meant to use as measuring cups: you can "stack" several ingredients in them. Similar items should be available at all kinds of decent cooking equipment stores. I got ours for CDN$10 on Bloor St. in Toronto.

And hey -- look at this! The Good Eats fan page has a huge list of various models that can be bought both online and in brick and mortar stores.
posted by maudlin at 10:07 PM on May 16, 2005

Wow, thanks guys. For some reason I couldn't find anything (maybe I was just looking the wrong place...I thought for sure the Food Network page would have something).
posted by ebeeb at 10:38 PM on May 16, 2005

Or you could just get a good scale and measure things the accurate way. A good scale does liquid too, just tell it what liquid. Better cooking results all round by using weight instead of volume.
posted by Goofyy at 10:45 PM on May 16, 2005

Better cooking results all round by using weight instead of volume.

Sure, as long as you're on Earth.

I saw a set of those measuring cups in a Fred Meyer recently, but couldn't figure out how they were supposed to work, so I passed 'em by.
posted by kindall at 11:22 PM on May 16, 2005

I got the push up cups, and they're great.

What I'd really like to get is the lab beaker with a handle he has, but I haven't found one.
posted by Marky at 12:31 AM on May 17, 2005

That's a great question...can you buy lab beakers, etc., from scientific sources? It seems like they would be ok as long as they aren't previously used.
posted by ebeeb at 3:48 AM on May 17, 2005

Marky - I found some at Crate and Barrel. They're not authentic lab beakers, but I liked knowing that they were food-safe and unused.
posted by boomchicka at 3:59 AM on May 17, 2005

American Science and Surplus sells lots of interesting stuff, including lab beakers, etc. I've also picked up test tubes and beakers for mixology purposes from one of the electronics surplus stores on Queen West in Toronto - I'm guessing there's stores like that in most major cities.
posted by Gortuk at 4:47 AM on May 17, 2005

Being the sort of person that loves kitchen gadgetry I bought a set of these pushup measurers -- at Target, I think -- along with a push measuring spoon and eventually just put them in a free box out on the street. They're difficult to clean and I found them awkward to use for all of my measuring needs.

Alton's show does place emphasis on using the proper tool for any given job, but I'm of a mind that a common gadget like a measurer ought to do all such jobs, or none of them. Unless you plan to throw out your existing measuring kit and use the gadget set exclusively, I'd suggest passing these up.
posted by majick at 6:28 AM on May 17, 2005

I got a set at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
posted by abbyladybug at 6:58 AM on May 17, 2005

You can get them at pretty much any kitchen store. I don't use them very often but I find they are handy for measuring things like honey that will really stick to a normal measuring cup. They are not hard to clean because you just separate the 2 parts, slosh your sponge around inside the tubular part, and clean the outside of the plunger part.
posted by matildaben at 7:47 AM on May 17, 2005

Majick, there's one thing that these are good at, for which regular measuring cups suck - measuring and portioning out sticky irregular masses, like honey (as previously mentioned) and especially peanut butter.
posted by Caviar at 9:14 AM on May 17, 2005

Or you could just get a good scale and measure things the accurate way. A good scale does liquid too, just tell it what liquid. Better cooking results all round by using weight instead of volume.

So what, you just pour the honey on the scale? You could use these in conjunction with a scale if you want to do things by weight, but the point is to make it easier to work with sticky stuff, and I don't see how using a scale would help with that.
posted by rorycberger at 10:02 AM on May 17, 2005

So what, you just pour the honey on the scale?

Uh, no. You would put the measuring bowl on the scale, zero it out, then add honey until you had the desired weight.

Except honey isn't a good example since it easily absorbs moisture from the air.
posted by snout at 10:45 AM on May 17, 2005