It is generally not a good idea to scale a recipe up or down by more than 3 or 4 times.
Liquid Measurements
In the United States, liquid measurement is not only used for liquids such as water and milk, it is also used when measuring other ingredients such as flour, sugar, shortening, butter, and spices.
| teaspoon | tablespoon |
fluid ounce |
gill | cup | pint | quart | gallon | |
| 1 teaspoon = | 1 | 1/3 | 1/6 | 1/24 | - - - | - - - | - - - | - - - |
| 1 tablespoon = | 3 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/8 | 1/16 | - - - | - - - | - - - |
| 1 fluid ounce = | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1/4 | 1/8 | 1/16 | - - - | - - - |
| 1 gill = | 24 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/4 | 1/8 | - - - |
| 1 cup = | 48 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/4 | 1/16 |
| 1 pint = | 96 | 32 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/8 |
| 1 quart = | 192 | 64 | 32 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1/4 |
| 1 gallon = | 768 | 256 | 128 | 32 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| 1 firkin = | 6912 | 2304 | 1152 | 288 | 144 | 72 | 36 | 9 |
| 1 hogshead = | 48384 | 16128 | 8064 | 2016 | 1008 | 504 | 252 | 63 |
| MISCELLANEOUS | EQUIVALENT |
| 1 pinch | 1/8 teaspoon or less |
| 1 teaspoon | 60 drops |
Dry Measurements
Dry measurements are not typically used in U.S. recipes; dry measurements are used mainly for measuring fresh produce (e.g. berries are sold by the quart, apples by the bushel, or peck). Do not confuse dry measure with liquid measure, because they are not the same.
| Pint | Quart | Gallon | Peck | Bushel | Cubic Feet | |
| Pint | 1 | 1/2 | 1/8 | 1/16 | 1/64 | 0.019445 |
| Quart | 2 | 1 | 1/4 | 1/8 | 1/32 | 0.03889 |
| Gallon | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/8 | 0.15556 |
| Peck | 16 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1/4 | 0.31111 |
| Bushel | 64 | 32 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1.2445 |
| Cubic Feet | 51.428 | 25.714 | 6.4285 | 3.2143 | 0.80356 | 1 |
Liquid Measurements vs. Dry Measurements
The table below shows the differences between dry measurement and liquid measurement.
| DRY UNIT | LIQUID UNIT |
| 1 pint, dry = | 1.1636 pints, liquid |
| 1 quart, dry = | 1.1636 quarts, liquid |
| 1 gallon, dry = | 1.1636 gallons, liquid |