Home >> Lifestyle: Cooking Basics:

 

Simple Substitutions for Common Ingredients

By Thomas Jorgensen

Even the most accomplished and well organised cooks sometimes go to the cupboard and find that whatever they needed desperately and immediately is not there. Some of us live close to a grocery store and we can nip out, whilst for others it can be quite a challenge. Below are a few very common ingredients for which there are substitutes.

Some of the most commonly used ingredients have very simple substitutions available when you are in a bind. One teaspoon of baking powder can be replaced by 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda plus 5/8 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda plus 1/2 cup of buttermilk. One cup of butter can be substituted with 7/8 cup of shortening or 1 cup of margarine. Oil is not an exact substitute for butter especially if butter is needed in baking products.

It's difficult to always stock all types of sugar but there are alternatives that you can choose from. for one cup of light brown sugar, use one cup of white sugar and one teaspoon of molasses and for one cup of dark sugar use one cup of white sugar and one tablespoon of molasses. Instead of one cup of white sugar you could either use one and three quarters of a cup of powdered (confectioners') sugar or one cup of packed brown sugar. If you need a sweet liquid like corn syrup you could use one cup of sugar plus a quarter of a cup of liquid or honey.

If you need chocolate you'll find that one ounce of is the same as three tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa and one tablespoon of fat. Instead of one tablespoon of cornstarch you could use two tablespoons of flour; instead of one tablespoon of flour (for thickening) try half a tablespoon of cornstarch; and instead of one cup sifted flour (for cooking) you could be really radical and try one and a half cups of bread crumbs or one cup of rolled oats. Lastly, instead of one cup of shortening you could use one cup and two tablespoons of butter or margarine.

If you want to add flavour to your meals with spices you can try stocking dried herbs and spices rather than fresh. For instance, instead of one clove of garlic you could substitute one eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder or one teaspoon of chopped garlic. Instead of one teaspoon of dry mustard you could use one tablespoon of prepared mustard; one tablespoon of onion powder is the same as either one medium, or four tablespoons of freshly chopped onion.

Remember that some of the best recipes around have been 'cooked' up by people desperately trying to cover their tracks; so the advice would be 'be bold, be daring, but use your initiative!'

_______________________________________

Thomas Jorgensen is the editor and webmaster of "Cooking Flair" www.cookingflair.com a premier cooking and cooking school information site on the Internet. For more information following this article please pay a visit.

_______________________________________

ARTICLE POSTED February 21, 2007

• print this page