Historical Russian Cooking Measures and Weights
Convert pounds, lots, zolotniks, poods, vedros and other measures found in the 1901 edition of Elena Molokhovets' cookbook.
Recipes from the 1901 edition use units that do not always match modern kitchen measures: the Russian pound, lot, zolotnik, pood, vedro, old bottles, arshin, and vershok. The values below are rounded historical conversions, not ingredient-specific estimates.
Weights
| Russian term | Historical relation | Approximate metric value |
|---|---|---|
| Pood (пуд) | 40 Russian pounds | 16.38 kg |
| Russian pound (фунт) | 32 lots = 96 zolotniks | 409.5 g |
| Lot (лот) | 3 zolotniks | 12.8 g |
| Zolotnik (золотник) | 1/96 Russian pound | 4.27 g |
Volumes
Historical measures for liquids and bulk goods could belong to different systems. The garnets is therefore listed separately as a dry measure.
| Russian term | Historical relation | Approximate metric value |
|---|---|---|
| Barrel (бочка) | 40 vedros | 492 L |
| Vedro (ведро) | 4 quarters = 10 shtofs | 12.30 L |
| Quarter of a vedro (четверть ведра) | 4 wine bottles or 5 vodka bottles | 3.07 L |
| Shtof (штоф) | 1/10 vedro | 1.23 L |
| Wine bottle (винная бутылка) | 1/16 vedro | 0.769 L |
| Vodka bottle (водочная бутылка) | 1/20 vedro | 0.615 L |
| Garnets (гарнец) | Dry volume | 3.28 L |
Lengths
| Russian term | Historical relation | Metric value |
|---|---|---|
| Arshin (аршин) | 16 vershoks = 28 inches | 71.12 cm |
| Vershok (вершок) | 1/16 arshin | 4.445 cm |
| Inch (дюйм) | 10 lines | 2.54 cm |
Molokhovets' own household equivalents
Her cookbook also supplies practical relations between ingredients and household cups or spoons. Examples include one pound of fine wheat flour equalling three cups; one pound of fine sugar equalling two cups; one pound of sour cream equalling one and two-thirds cups; twelve egg yolks equalling one cup; and six whole eggs equalling one cup. These are the book's historical conventions, not standardized modern measurements.
Read the original 1901 table of weights and measures →