Mistakes in recipes

1.6 litres?
Is that for the feeding of the 5,000?
(well, nearly)

I was just making for the two of us, but the recipe was for six - not six hundred ?

I find that very few mistakes really make much difference. I'm sure your chicken was lovely. I think one of the only things that matter is leaving out baking powder, but even then you end up with a rather flat cake that still tastes fine.

While on the subject of recipes what size in a "medium onion " or anything else. Then there are American recipes you find on tinternet and have to translate quantities from the American volume measurements. My objection here is with volume a cup of say pasta. the quantity will be very different depending on the shape of the pasta. A cup of flour is less heavy than a cup of sugar. These drive me to distraction .

I must confess that I rarely follow a recipe exactly. I replace ingredients, leave others out and change quantities, but I have often noticed that quantity of ingredients like cream and seasoning seem overstated, hence my casual attitude to recipes.

I think there was a famous Delia one where she had a tablespoon of chilli powder rather than a tsp in one of her early books. There is a funny book by Julian Barnes about his trials in the kitchen The Pedant in the Kitchen. DH is very similar

Nellie in the States they use a set of measuring 'cups' and the sizes are standard, so that's why their recipes say, half a cup, quarter cup, etc.

Cups

My huge error when recipe clearly stayed, 2 tablespoons piri piri, instead of tsp one bite was lethal !!!

I have a measuring flask marked with cup sizes - available, as far as I remember, from Lakeland.

I've got a set of 'cups' with handles of varying sizes and also a set of 'spoons' from tablespoon size down to 1/4 of a teaspoon.
Very useful when breadmaking etc!
www.debenhams.com/home/kitchen-cookware/weighing-measuring/measuring-cups-spoons

other retailers are available (I bought mine in TK Maxx)

Yes, I have those spoons, very useful.
Have you noticed ( am sure you have) how much cream,butter and salt chefs use?Ridiculous amounts.

I have noticed how much salt Rick Stein puts in dishes.
Some of them seem to throw it in without measuring at all; I tend not to use much salt at all.

I have a Tala measuring cone and, if I am going to use the recipe Iagain, I simply measure ingredients by the cup and then weigh them to turn them into weights again and write the recipe down or cut and save it then edit it as a document

I came in on the end of a Rick Stein programme and noticed that he seemed to be throwing in salt by the handful. I have always been rebuked by my nearest and dearest for adding too much salt to meals at table, but never over-seasoned dishes the way he appeared to do.

I have a set of measuring cups but trying to adapt a recipe from everything in millitres to our metric or Imperial measures is difficult .

www.jsward.com/cooking/conversion.shtml

If you scroll down the links you will see what I mean about different cup weights for different products.
I am tempted to print this table out laminate it and keep it as a quick conversion guide. I already have some of these. A job for tomorrow is to do the oven temperatures as well.