Pinch

A pinch is the small amount of a dry ingredient you can pick up between your thumb and your first one or two fingers. Recipes use it for salt, sugar, spices, chile flakes and saffron. It is not exact, but measuring spoon sets that include a "pinch" spoon set it at 1/16 teaspoon, about 0.3 ml. In Swedish recipes it is en nypa.

How to do it

1. Use dry fingers. Damp fingers pick up more and make the salt clump.
2. Take the ingredient between your thumb and fingers.
3. Hold your hand 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) above the food and rub your fingers together as you move across it. This spreads it evenly instead of dropping it in one spot.

Keep salt in a small open bowl by the stove so you can pinch from it while you cook.

How to use it

How you pinch changes the amount:

Pinch	Rough amount
Thumb and one finger	about 1/16 teaspoon
Thumb and two fingers	about ⅛ teaspoon
A "good" or "big" pinch	up to ¼ teaspoon

A pinch is smaller than a dash and about a third of a Swedish krm. Coarse salt flakes take up more room than fine salt, so a pinch of flaky salt is less salty than a pinch of fine table salt.

Common mistakes

• Pinching straight over a steaming pot. The steam wets the salt in your fingers and it clumps.
• Using a pinch of fine salt when the recipe means coarse kosher-style salt, which is less dense. The dish ends up saltier than intended.
• Skipping a pinch of salt in sweet recipes. It makes cakes, cookies and caramel taste more of themselves, not salty.

In recipes

You will see "a pinch of salt", "a pinch of chile flakes", "a generous pinch of saffron" and "pinch of sugar". At the end of a dish, a pinch of finishing salt adds crunch. "A pinch, or to taste" means start there and adjust.