A diminutive but dynamic “country home cook” I met in South Wales not only introduced me to the kitchen scale, but taught me how to use it. As Penny Lewis stood in her cottage kitchen, complete with its shining blue Aga cooker (for Americans who are unfamiliar with this British marvel, an Aga is the holy grail of kitchen equipment,) she measured all her ingredients in one bowl, sequentially, without taking the bowl off the scale.

Curious, I asked why she wasn’t putting the flour, sugar, corn starch and her dash of salt into individual dishes to measure them. She looked at me as a mother would to an errant child.  “You don’t have to.  Just zero out the scale and start again with each ingredient.”  Huh?

So she showed me, dummy that I was:

Put a bowl on the scale. Push the “zero” button, or whichever button your scale classifies as the zero button. That brings the measurement to zero, even with the bowl on the scale. Add the first ingredient until the scale reaches the specified amount. Zero it again. Add the second ingredient. Zero. Each time you zero, you’re starting over — but everything’s going into that one bowl!  Cleaning up just got easier!  Is that neat, or what?!!!!!