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I have bought a product. In the use instructions, it is said to add

3 EL Wasser und 3 EL Öl

Now, I did a little bit of search, and EL definitely is not short for Exaliter. How much is it then?

hiergiltdiestfu
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Makan
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    I'd LOVE to have to put 3 exaliters of water and oil into a meal... – glglgl May 18 '16 at 13:15
  • it's not a proper unit. it's the same nonsense as all imperial units. – Dbl May 18 '16 at 16:41
  • @Dbl Imperial units can actually be transformed into metric ones by simple multiplication with constants. That put them above Esslöffel in forms of definition. – Jan May 26 '16 at 09:23

1 Answers1

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El stands for Esslöffel, meaning tablespoon. Unlike US volumetric measurements, it's not strictly standardized, but 15 ml per tablespoon is the usual amount.

For the sake of completeness:

  • Tl / TL = Teelöffel, teaspoon, – 5 ml
  • El / EL = Esslöffel, tablespoon – 15 ml
  • Msp. = Messerspitze, tip of a knife – the (very vague) amount you pick up with the tip of a knife
  • Pr. = Prise, pinch – what you pick between two or three fingertips
Stephie
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    15 ml sounds far too much to me for a liquid. Perhaps a gehäufter Eßlöffel of some powder is that much, but for water and oil, my tablespoons have room for perhaps 3 to 5 ml. I’m guessing the product from the question is something like Knorr Salatkrönung, and I heavily doubt one package of those is intended for 90 ml of liquid … – chirlu May 17 '16 at 21:44
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    @chirlu, then you have particularly small tablespoons: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Küchenmaße#Besteck – Stephie May 17 '16 at 21:47
  • As this useful Google search shows, a "standard" tablespoon is indeed 14.7868 ml! –  May 18 '16 at 00:56
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    That’s US standard, though. – Note in the Wikipedia article that it distinguishes between old-style and modern spoons, the latter being both smaller and flatter, and gives a volume of around 10 ml for the “modern” spoon. In a different article (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essbesteck#Verwendung_als_Ma.C3.9Feinheit), a “modern” spoon is estimated to contain 7.5 ml. – chirlu May 18 '16 at 03:29
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    In favour of the 15 ml interpretation, though: On the Salatkrönung packaging, it says “Inhalt: 10 g; ergibt 90 ml”. – chirlu May 18 '16 at 03:37
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    @chirlu Typisch! Nicht mal die Loeffel sind was sie mal waren! ;) –  May 18 '16 at 04:24
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    @chirlu oh. it's US "standard". now it makes sense why it does not make sense. – Dbl May 18 '16 at 16:43
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    For the sake of complete completeness, you should add the difference between gehäuften and gestrichenen Ess-/Teelöffeln ;) – Jan May 26 '16 at 09:25
  • @Jan I'd love to watch you add a heaping tablespoon of water ;-) Even with strong surface tension... – Stephie May 26 '16 at 09:27
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    @Stephie If we’re going there, please show be eine Prise Wasser ;) – Jan May 26 '16 at 09:32