This month’s recipe from Chef Ferrán Adrià of El Bulli called for a 1/3 scant cup white rum. This was a term that was new to us, so maybe it is for you too.
In other uses, scant can mean barely sufficient: as in “He paid scant attention to the lecture”. When you see the term ‘scant’ in a recipe, it means just falling short of a specific measure, or “not quite”. It is put in recipes where the measurement is important – don’t be tempted add a dash more like some people are prone to do.