Basics of Cooking – What do all those abbreviations mean?

Have you ever been reading a recipe and wondered what in the world an abbreviation stood for?  Well, I’m here to let you in on that little secret….

Many recipes shorten or abbreviate words to make it easier to write, but when I was kitchen challenged this made me run in the other direction.  I didn’t know what these things meant and I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.

Needless to say, I didn’t cook much at first, because most all recipes have these abbreviations in them.  So I did the only thing I could  do…I searched for the answers and found them.

But so you don’t have to search any farther, I’ve listed the most common ones below:

t or tsp = Teaspoon

T or TBL or TBS or TBSP = Tablespoon

c = Cup

pt = Pint

qt = quart

gal = gallon

pk = peck

bu = bushel

oz = ounce or ounces

# or lb = pound

lbs = pounds

sq = square

min = minute or minutes

hr = hour or hours

mod = moderate or moderately

doz = dozen

pkg = package

Hope this helps you figure out your recipes a little better.  There’s nothing that will change the taste of a recipe when you should have put a teaspoon of something and you thought it meant Tablespooon…yikes…