Here’s to the Sub Team
In my last blog, I gave an example of a subject which I explore further under The Ds, in The Plan included in this Blog, showing how using substitute ingredients can simplify a recipe and/or make it economically feasible. In my book, Dinners With Joy, dinnerswithjoy.com, I give alternative solutions for all recipes using pork or shellfish for those on religiously restrictive diets. There’s an industry built around providing people with food allergies and medical problems optional dietary products so they might enjoy an unimpaired lifestyle.
As great as these substitutions are, however, and much as we may rely on them, they’re product for product replacements. The real fun begins when you have to improvise; to combine, or alter ingredients to make them fit a need. The recipes in my book are formatted into weekly segments, each with its own categorized shopping list. I explain the importance of making a menu and compiling a complete list in The Plan. Each list starts with a Pantry Check section, which includes all the seasonings, condiments and staples needed for the week. Checking the list against your supplies, you can cross off what you have, and see exactly what you need, so you won’t forget anything or buy duplications.
Still, there will be times when you want, or need an ingredient you don’t have, can’t find or, perhaps, would have to buy a larger quantity then you can readily use. These are the times when it’s a real life-saver to have a list of directions on how to make acceptable substitutions for, at least, frequently used ingredients. Just this past weekend, I decided to add a children’s cake to the menu, but didn’t want to buy a whole box of cake flour, for ¼ cup, nor a quart of buttermilk for ½ cup called for in the recipe I chose to make. Fortunately, I knew that I could measure ¼ cup all-purpose flour, sift it twice, subtract 1 Tbs. and use it in place of the cake flour. As for the buttermilk, I did a double substitution. I used 1/3 cup skim milk, plus half and half to equal ½ cup whole milk, then added 1 ½ tsp. white vinegar and let it stand for 5mins.
I knew these things because, in the past few years, I’ve had a lot of experience in making substitutions. I always lived in urban areas, the last one held more than a dozen cosmopolitan supermarkets, numerous specialty and gourmet shops, an array of ethnic markets, two all year produce markets and a lot of farms selling seasonal produce around the edges of a 10 mile area. There was no cuisine I couldn’t try, or ingredient I couldn’t find. Then I moved to a more rural location in another state. Here, in twice the area, there are, perhaps, half the supermarkets, stocked with basic merchandize, a hand full of specialty shops, no ethnic markets, one farm and a farm market open seasonally only. It’s a 4 hr. trip to a shopping center in another state, and to order on line involves shipping fees. So, for regular cooking, I have learned to make substitutions, and to like them. My Christmas cookies taste better, are less messy to make, and easier to roll, using butter and unsweetened cocoa powder, rather than melting chocolate squares. Now, I use the powder, adding sugar with the butter to replace semi-sweet and then cream to replace milk chocolate in all my baking. A few other items with easily concocted substitutions are:
- Baking powder
- Combination spices and seasonings, like pumpkin pie or Italian herb
- Corn syrup
- Cracker crumbs
- Cream-heavy or light
- Honey
- Flavored liqueurs for baking
- Rum, brandy, port, sherry, sake and mirin for cooking, not finishing
- Powdered sugar
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Some of these, I find quite handy, Since my children are grown, I do far less baking and need fewer of those ingredients, especially the sweet items, crowding my shelves. It’s also a relief to know that, in a pinch, I have directions I can follow to make acceptable substitutions for items I may be lacking, without having to revamp my plans or run out and buy something.
Please understand, I’m not talking about artificial substitutes. I don’t like them either. These are whole foods, real products that can be used to replace products that would cost you more in time, energy and expenses to get, than you can, or are willing to spend at the moment. Take the buttermilk for example. I would have to buy a quart to use only 1/8th of the amount, and since I really hate buttermilk, except in baking, the rest would probably sit around, expire and be thrown out, making 7/8ths of the price a loss. By using the substitution, I never have to purchase buttermilk again—this alternative is always on hand, when and as much as I want. That’s just good sense!
So consider using substitutions. You can start by downloading free directions for many of them from my book web site dinnerswithjoy.com. Simply visit the site, click to open, scroll to The Charts and click to download. I guarantee a few of them will make life easier for you.
