| German Cooking Abbreviations
I was just browsing through my keyword searches with Google Analytics, and someone found me searching for the meaning of "el" in German recipes. In another bout of post-facto on-demand blogging, here's the answer:
| German Abbreviation | German Meaning | English Meaning |
|---|
| el | Esslöffel | Roughly one tablespoon (tbsp) |
| tl | Teelöffel | Roughly one teaspoon (tsp) |
| ms | Messerspitze | A pinch |
| pck | Päckchen | A full packet (most often applies to baking powder and vanilla sugar, which come in packets that are about a tablespoon (tbsp)) |
| | Tasse | Roughly one cup (c) |
| ca. | circa | Approximately |
Keep in mind that in German recipes, the small measurements are not exact. Cooking something from a German recipe often involves more than just following the instructions. I've usually found that it takes a couple of tries before I get something that tastes right.
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I've come across a recipe for Lebkuchen that uses the following abbreviations:
TL
Tl
EL
Does anyone know if "Tl" is simply a typo and it was supposed to read "TL", or is this an abbreviation for some other measurement? It's confusing, because I suspect rhat "Tl" refers to a teaspoon and not to a tablespoon. It's rather critical because it refers to the amount of baking ammonia and too much ammonia would thoroughly ruin the cookies.
Posted by Margie Gibson on November 21, 2007 at 05:34 AM PST #
I strongly suspect that it's just a capitalization error and does really mean TL. Because the measure (a teaspoon) is meant literally, a German TL is probably going to be a little less than an American TSP.
Posted by Daniel Templeton on November 21, 2007 at 10:56 AM PST #