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I cook a lot and anyone with cooking experience knows that many foods (honey, molasses, etc) stick to the inside of the measuring cups or food pan, in general. These foods include honey, and other viscous fluids. I have tried Pouring them faster so they have less time to stick, as well as pouring them on only one side of the container, which leaves less to clean.
What other ways can I keep these sticky ingredients from sticking so much?
Better to use stainless steel or TEFLON coated measuring cups, instead of plastic.
Traditional Method: Butter, Ghee, shortenings or oil rubbed inside the cup.
Drawbacks: This will change the taste mildly. Increase fat & calorie.
Cooking Spray: There are cooking spray available in market. They are clean & tidy.
Drawbacks: Little costly and may be bad for health.
Make own cooking spray:
Needed:
Mix equal quantity of oil, lecithin and water Put the content into a spray bottle and use as and when needed on the metal measuring cups. Shortenings can be coated on top of this as optional. There is no harm of using lecithin and also it will not change the taste.
You can use cooking oil: A bit of cooking oil rubbed on the inside stops all adhering. And if you are cooking a cake or other good, measuring dry items, then oily and then sticky allows you to use the same cup or spoon. From experience, oil and grease are easier to clean than sticky stuff (the molasses/honey or whatever).
Non-stick greases also work, but are sometimes really bad for peoples health and can have nasty flavours. Doing this will increase the accuracy of the recipe, as the sticky stuff goes into the food and does not stay stuck to the measuring cup. Using the cooking object directly after the oil was applied is important for stopping adherence, as the oil as less time to drip down.
Using metal measuring cups that are smooth/shiny are better than using rough ones or ones that are made from plastic; there's less surface area to stick to.
The easiest way to keep sticky foods from sticking to measuring cups is not to use a measuring cup.
Many recipes don't need exact quantities. With a bit of experience, you'll be able to eyeball the right quantities — and to know which ones can't be eyeballed.
If the quantity isn't too large, use the spoon that you'll be using to stir. That only works for one ingredient in a mixture though.
Instead of measuring by volume, measure by weight. Put the pot that you're pouring into on a scale, and pour until you reach the target weight. If your cookbook only gives volumes, keep a table of volume/weight conversions for the ingredients that you use often. There are tables and converters online for common ingredients (both of these are from the units program which you can also run on your computer).
If the ingredient is sold in a transparent cylindrical container, calculate the height that you need to pour based on the volume. If the ingredient is sold in some other form of packaging, you could transfer the contents to a glass pot that you finished using and washed.
As for the container that you're mixing into, if you have a choice, pour the sticky stuff into less-sticky stuff rather than the opposite. For cooking vessels that aren't non-stick, apply some grease (butter works well; apply it with a bit of paper towel).
For some sticky things, you can wet the measuring cup with cold water first, then scoop. It will reduce sticking. In the case of milk, it eliminates the milk sticking and sheeting on the sides of a glass measuring cup
