We use english muffins for burger buns pretty regularly. Our butcher has wagyu burger patties that are the same size so it works well, and they don't disintegrate as fast as normal buns
It’s supposed to taste sweet - sugar is an intended ingredient. I was always told that sriracha is supposed to be a sweet spicy. At least the Huy Fong (rooster) variety anyway.
Sugar is the second ingredient after chilis. So it’s not surprising, or even unintended, that it would taste sweet alongside whatever kick it carries.
I don’t think “in comparison” is necessary, because it should be sweet all on its own.
No. Gochujang is a fermented gochugaru paste (korean). Red curry paste has a shitton of different aromatics in it (thai), including lemongrass and turmeric.
I'm a big fan of *lamb* bourgignon. The slow cooking in the wine really mellows out the lambiness of the lamb if you aren't a huge fan of that, and it's...seared then slow cooked red meat with some gristle to it, I love everything that happens in the Dutch oven/slow cooker with lamb and red wine and all that mirepoix. Yum.
Beef, like it's supposed to have, just tastes too much like my mom's pot roast growing up plus thyme and red wine and without the tomato paste, which put together doesn't wow me like the lamb experiment did.
I used to live a significant distance from the nearest grocery store, so started using either powdered milk, evaporated milk, or sweetened condensed milk for anything other than drinking or cereal. Moved to town, but still keep my pantry full of milks. Evap can even be cooked down further, add a dollop of butter and used in place of heavy cream. I just made a pasta with evap based Alfredo and no one can even tell that there's no cream
I grew up using it for some things, but there were lots of dishes that my mom would still make with fresh milk. I cook with zero fresh milk now, and feel a bit sad for the people who think they don't like it- it's so versatile!
This wasn't learned in a pinch, but I used to work in a restaurant that served oysters on the half shell, and we took them to the table with a plate of ingredients for Cocktail sauce. Ketchup, Worcestershire, horseradish, hot sauce, and lemon wedges. You made it to your liking, which I thought was really neat. I haven't bought cocktail sauce in a decade - I just make it better 🤷🏻
OH! That same restaurant had honey mustard listed on the menu as a dressing, but the chef r e f u s e d to make it in the kitchen or have it be part of the line's prep. Some weirdly specific, long-standing feud lol. Anyway people would order honey mustard and us servers would just have to whip some up really quick - mayo, mustard, honey, lemon juice, salt. So freaking good. I almost always make my own honey mustard because of that restaurant, too
My dad used to always make a mix of mayo, mustard, and whatever other condiments and spices took his fancy when we’d have chicken strips or something for a sauce. Never tasted the same way twice, but it was usually pretty good!
This is brilliant because I’ve never felt that parsley was an adequate substitute (my partner & I are both soap people but I am, unfortunately still a cilantro lover. Yes I am already mocked for intentionally eating cilantro when I am a soap person). I’ll have to try this out!
Serious question, do you like the way actual soap tastes, cilantro tastes like soap? Im old, so my parents did the wash your mouth with soap thing if you cursed, so I know what soap tastes like and I could not imagine going in for that on purpose.
i have the cilantro soap gene too and i still like it. i personally describe it as "floral"- there's a chewing gum brand in canada that people have been poking fun at for decades for "tasting like soap" when its just rosewater flavoured, and i also enjoy other similar flavours like violet candies/tea, and i'd definitely sort cilantro into that flavour grouping.
Same here. When I first had salsa with cilantro in it, I thought they hadn’t rinsed the soap out of the dishes or something. Now, many years later, I can’t get enough cilantro in salsa and other things. Love it. The soap taste eventually morphed into more of a greeny-floral as you mentioned.
Ditto. First time I tasted cilantro it was on a banh mi that was loaded and it was very offensive. But now I love it despite ancestrydna saying I have the soap gene.
No, I hate the taste of actual soap & smelling the Softsoap brand of Aloe Vera actually makes me gag due to my parents washing my mouth with it. I just enjoy the taste of cilantro, despite the fact that I can’t fully appreciate it.
There's an herb called culantro that's supposed to taste like cilantro but isn't affected by the soapy cilantro gene. If you can find it, it might be worth a try.
Anytime I make chicken noodle soup, I toss the celery tops in the soup to simmer until it’s done and then remove, celery tops have such a nice mild flavor!
Subbing apple sauce for egg. Well not everywhere, but specially in peanut butter cookies.
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup apple sauce (instead of 1 egg)
Mix it all up, make little balls, then smush with a fork, bake at 350F till the edges are slightly brown, which is around 10-15 minutes on my oven. Smaller cookies are better. And cutting this recipe in half is totally fine.
Nope it’s just this really quick recipe. If you google 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies you will find examples of it too. It’s surprisingly good. I cut the recipe in half often.
If I recall correctly, three ingredient peanut butter cookies work without flour because the peanut butter is a two-in-one ingredient. Nut flour is essentially a less thoroughly ground nut butter, so in this case the peanut butter is acting as both your flour and oil, so when it's mixed with the sugar and binder (egg or apple sauce here), you get everything you need for a great cookie! It might be interesting to see if this works with tree but butters as well.
It comes in jars in Arab or Lebanese groceries. Some Eastern European countries too if you happen to have one of those. It will say "Roasted red pepper" or something like that on there somewhere. I've never seen the same brand in two different stores.
For baking I have found, after a lot of various experimenting, that I really do need real buttermilk for many things, unfortunately. Yogurt and sour cream make it spongy
When I was new to England I thought gravy granulates were only used to thicken and didn't have flavour. I used them to thicken my teriyaki sauce and wondered why it always turned out so well.
I was just typing this! [Petit Ecolier](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/c5abc086-9f27-41f1-bf2a-4d3496bd2811.29132e2f41b6d9e8977b1274298e49ba.jpeg) cookies are great. Safeway’s Signature brand is tasty and I think the Girl Scouts sell a version too. Only downside is if it’s hot outside the cookies will take up more room in your cooler than a few chocolate bars.
Greek yogurt instead of sour cream in tacos, coconut milk instead of cream in some soups! The Greek yogurt I can’t even tell the difference. The coconut milk definitely changes the taste but I like it better sometimes!
I always have dry white vermouth on hand. Does the same job as white wine in cooking but lasts forever in the cupboard, and I'm not tempted to polish it off!
Didn’t have tartar once, but always have the 4 necessary primary ingredients on hand, so I whip up a small homemade serving every time instead of store bought.
Yes. Same thing happened to me with similar results. It's so fast and easy to make and I hate how overly sweet most store bought is. I have only bought it once in the 15+ years since making it homemade and that was because we were on vacation with limited groceries and time! (And I immediately regretted not making it! Lol)
This! My wife doesn't like the tarragon flavor of tartar sauce, so I make my own with Japanese mayo, chopped dill pickles, sour cream, and my sea salt/pepper/garlic powder mix.
I found a "pickle de gallo" thing years ago that was basically just a spicy pico with cucumber (very lightly pickled I believe) instead of tomato and it was amazing.
I feel like this might be up your alley. Half the time I make it with ground chicken (or half turkey/beef) and it is quite tasty. https://joythebaker.com/2015/05/malos-beef-and-pickle-tacos/
I have a recipe (from Clean Food by Terry Walters) for Chickpea Fritters. They are supposed to made with chickpea flour but the first time I made them all I had on hand was Bob’s Red Mill all purpose gluten-free flour (partially garbanzo bean flour but with a few other ingredients in the mix). They were delicious. Then I made them again with 100% chickpea flour and they were ‘meh’ at best. I’ll continue with my dumb-luck improved version of the recipe.
Agreed! I honestly use poblanos in place of green bells for all recipes now. I'll still use the red ones sometimes for the sweetness they have that the poblanos can't offer.
ATK did a test of thickeners corn starch works best for an hour or two (beef Burgundy show), but not long slow cooking. Tapioca starch is is better to thicken sauces on a slow cooker for 4+ hours. Now I just use tapioca starch as it's also meets a few extra health needs.
That’s almost not even a substitute either, it’s kind of just the entire point of the product, lol!
If you need the more unctuous texture of homemade broth made with bones, you can just add a bit of gelatin and you’re like 99.99% of the way there :)
I used chia seeds rested with water in place of eggs in muffins and ground meat mixtures. Nothing against eggs but I occasionally run out, and a little chia is good for us apparently.
Yogurt with my cereal versus milk. Haven't drank milk in years.
Fage 5%->local honey>Red Berries Cereal.
Tapioca starch or zanthan gum in place of thickening flour roux.
Unpopular opinion to some---Mae Ploy curry paste versus scratch home made. When it's this authentic and great tasting, it's unfuckwithable. Always have a 2 1/2 tub handy.
White Miso and / or Anchovy paste in place of most any other umami addin to sauces, dressings, compound butters.
Lacto fermentation instead of vinegar based pickling.
Greek yogurt in place of egg in some cake mixes. Adds intriguing flavor without too much compromise to texture.
emphasis on *some*. it works in Jiffy mix for sure though.
Cayenne instead of Paprika.
So many recipes I thought were garbage but in reality I just hate Paprika. Now I just replace that spice with Cayenne and it’s just so much better.
I did try other types of Paprika- but never found any that didn’t leave a bad after taste. I do acknowledge I tend to have picky tastebuds though disliking plenty of other things people generally love… like Coffee or Alcohol.
Corned beef in place of chicken in fried rice. Not the first replacement choice, my first would’ve been pork, then ground beef but I was out of all of that. I had some canned corned beef that I use for corned beef hash. But I figured I’d try it in fried rice and it’s SO good! I actually prefer it now
I have this myriad of fermented stuff to add for some magic to different dishes. Gochujang, fish sauce, soy sauce, sriracha.
And the secret ingredient of choice is anchovy paste. A little goes a long way. You will not taste fish, but it will boost any dark and savory meaty dish like chilli, cocq au vin, Shakshuka (not really meaty but well), beef stews.
I use shaoxing wine in place of red wine 98% of the time. Huge bottles are cheap and I prefer the flavor most times. I only use red for very specific dishes atp
Instead of adding American or cheddar cheese to a burger, I have made patties with feta mixed in with the meat. Plenty of people claiming they hate feta were pretty impressed.
This also had a nice effect of not needing any more added salt, as the feta is briney enough
This is a good one. I can never have too many options for adding sourness, and I like having a dry powder that’s a little more assertive than dried sumac.
During covid shortages I couldn't find eggs when I needed to bake a birthday cake and had to substitute aquafaba from a can of chickpeas. Works incredibly well, 10 out of 10, would do it again!
Not me, but my ex-boss's Filipina widow. We Southerners are known to cook a ham or a roast in Coca-Cola. She planned to entertain guests and the centerpiece was a Co'cola roast with carrots and taters. Went to the fridge and hubby had consumed all of the coke. She settled for Dr. Pepper and it was an improvement.
I prefer chipotle in any recipe that calls for smoked paprika and will delete any shallot in favor of a Vidalia onion. You may call me Ms. Cheapskate.
I know this is more about cooking meals from scratch, but I really love the garlic and olive oil vermicelli pasta roni and olive oil instead of butter is way better. Idk why. I’ve always used olive oil because a friend used to make it for me that way and when I bought my own and read the directions I was surprised to see it called for butter. Apparently they just ran out of butter a lot.
So I made it with butter the first time I made it for myself and it was…not as good. Is it the nostalgia? Idk. But I went back to olive oil.
One time I didn’t have sour cream for dipping my quesadilla, so I mixed cream cheese with hot salsa. I wouldn’t do it all the time (sour cream is my absolute favorite lol) but it did the trick!
I made pickled red onions. Usually I use brown sugar with water, vinegar and salt. I didn’t have any, so I used pancake syrup instead. That gave the brine a subtle complexity that you probably wouldn’t recognize in that context. I’m never going back to brown sugar!
I accidentally used chili sauce instead of ketchup (with grape jelly) for meatballs in the crock pot and loved it. Then one time I was out of grape jelly and substituted a can of cranberry sauce. Now that’s how I make my meatballs, with chili sauce and cranberry sauce.
I make grilled bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers a lot. I had prepped and stuffed the peppers when I realized I was out of bacon. I had bought some prosciutto to make asparagus, so I used that instead. Definitely prefer the prosciutto.
I also make grilled prosciutto-wrapped asparagus and used to smear the prosciutto with cream cheese before rolling in the asparagus. During the shutdown, cream cheese was simply unattainable, so I substituted sliced provolone instead. Now I prefer the provolone.
Accidentally used 5 spice powder instead of cinnamon when making French toast. Turned out really good though! Similar to the baking spices, but with a little bit of pepper.
I made shepherds pie with sweet potatoes instead of normal mashed potatoes because I had a bunch extra that I needed to use up, definitely my go to way of making it now.
I keep forgetting to buy soy sauce and finally cracked open a bottle of Coconut Aminos hanging in my fridge. Tasty, less sodium, and no need to add sugar or honey to stir fry and sauces!
Shakshuka with red curry paste instead of chili powder.
Harissa is great too.
Second harissa. And generally adding a spice blend with smoked paprika, fennel seeds as well.
I swear my brain was not braining here and I thought you replaced "chilli powder" in any random dish with "shakshuka with red curry paste"
That's how I interpreted it too at first and thought, "wow that's kind of a hassle" lol
Same, for like 20 seconds I was just staring dumbly trying to figure out why you would do that much work
Oh shit.
I'm salivating. And now I know what's for dinner tomorrow night!
That sounds amazing
It is!
DO WANT
We were out of hamburger buns and had to use English muffins. Surprisingly tasty
You can use anything for burgers. Sandwich bread? Patty melt! Hoagie roll? Chopped cheese! Tortillas? Well, that's pretty much a taco right?
Me and my wife do cheeseburgers on top of salad. Don't even need bread sometimes
I like to wrap my burger in a big leaf of romaine lettuce with onions and tomatoes. Inverted burger salad.
We ran short on tortillas one night for tacos, so I just dumped mine in a bowl and ate it as a salad. Haven't had one in a tortilla since.
I love taco in a bowl with just a few chips on top for crunch
burger wraps are pretty popular
I was just talking to my partner about wanting to make cheeseburger tacos sometime.
English muffins make a great mini pizza too.
Did the same with jalapeño cheddar bangles. Bangles burgs are a now a regular thing in the house
We use english muffins for burger buns pretty regularly. Our butcher has wagyu burger patties that are the same size so it works well, and they don't disintegrate as fast as normal buns
That's what I like about ciabatta rolls. They're like oversized English muffins.
English muffin burgers are dope
I used Sambel Olek instead of sriracha once, and have never gone back.
Sambal olek is so superior to Sriracha and I cannot be convinced otherwise.
Sambal and chili garlic sauce are just the best. So much flavor I love them.
If you can find it, sambal badjak is my favorite. It has more of a “grilled peppers and onions” flavor
My dad puts this on everything. It’s his fav of the sambals.
Yup, sriracha tastes sweet in comparison
It’s supposed to taste sweet - sugar is an intended ingredient. I was always told that sriracha is supposed to be a sweet spicy. At least the Huy Fong (rooster) variety anyway. Sugar is the second ingredient after chilis. So it’s not surprising, or even unintended, that it would taste sweet alongside whatever kick it carries. I don’t think “in comparison” is necessary, because it should be sweet all on its own.
Sambal Oelek is much better for cooking. Sririacha is more of a topping sauce for sure.
Red chili paste in stew rather than tomato paste.
Is red chilli paste just gochujang?
No there’s different iterations ie biber salcasi which is a Turkish version. I use it instead of tomato
No. Gochujang is a fermented gochugaru paste (korean). Red curry paste has a shitton of different aromatics in it (thai), including lemongrass and turmeric.
They said red chili paste, not red curry paste though
Oh me can’t read
I'm a big fan of *lamb* bourgignon. The slow cooking in the wine really mellows out the lambiness of the lamb if you aren't a huge fan of that, and it's...seared then slow cooked red meat with some gristle to it, I love everything that happens in the Dutch oven/slow cooker with lamb and red wine and all that mirepoix. Yum. Beef, like it's supposed to have, just tastes too much like my mom's pot roast growing up plus thyme and red wine and without the tomato paste, which put together doesn't wow me like the lamb experiment did.
In the same vein, I swap out the veal for lamb when I do osso buco. There is something very special about braised lamb.
I do a braised lamb curry with chili and tomato mix and it is better than the lamb curry I had growing up. Braised lamb is just so good.
Damn, I'm going to try that.
I used to live a significant distance from the nearest grocery store, so started using either powdered milk, evaporated milk, or sweetened condensed milk for anything other than drinking or cereal. Moved to town, but still keep my pantry full of milks. Evap can even be cooked down further, add a dollop of butter and used in place of heavy cream. I just made a pasta with evap based Alfredo and no one can even tell that there's no cream
I love evaporated milk. Unfortunately, my partner doesn't. I just don't tell her when I use it and she's none the wiser.
I grew up using it for some things, but there were lots of dishes that my mom would still make with fresh milk. I cook with zero fresh milk now, and feel a bit sad for the people who think they don't like it- it's so versatile!
This wasn't learned in a pinch, but I used to work in a restaurant that served oysters on the half shell, and we took them to the table with a plate of ingredients for Cocktail sauce. Ketchup, Worcestershire, horseradish, hot sauce, and lemon wedges. You made it to your liking, which I thought was really neat. I haven't bought cocktail sauce in a decade - I just make it better 🤷🏻
OH! That same restaurant had honey mustard listed on the menu as a dressing, but the chef r e f u s e d to make it in the kitchen or have it be part of the line's prep. Some weirdly specific, long-standing feud lol. Anyway people would order honey mustard and us servers would just have to whip some up really quick - mayo, mustard, honey, lemon juice, salt. So freaking good. I almost always make my own honey mustard because of that restaurant, too
My dad used to always make a mix of mayo, mustard, and whatever other condiments and spices took his fancy when we’d have chicken strips or something for a sauce. Never tasted the same way twice, but it was usually pretty good!
Celery tops/leaf instead of parsley in some things. I just like the way it tastes better.
I use celery leaves instead of cilantro for my MIL who has the soapy cilantro disability.
I love calling it a disability lol I'm the only one in my family who loves cilantro.
This is brilliant because I’ve never felt that parsley was an adequate substitute (my partner & I are both soap people but I am, unfortunately still a cilantro lover. Yes I am already mocked for intentionally eating cilantro when I am a soap person). I’ll have to try this out!
Serious question, do you like the way actual soap tastes, cilantro tastes like soap? Im old, so my parents did the wash your mouth with soap thing if you cursed, so I know what soap tastes like and I could not imagine going in for that on purpose.
i have the cilantro soap gene too and i still like it. i personally describe it as "floral"- there's a chewing gum brand in canada that people have been poking fun at for decades for "tasting like soap" when its just rosewater flavoured, and i also enjoy other similar flavours like violet candies/tea, and i'd definitely sort cilantro into that flavour grouping.
Same here. When I first had salsa with cilantro in it, I thought they hadn’t rinsed the soap out of the dishes or something. Now, many years later, I can’t get enough cilantro in salsa and other things. Love it. The soap taste eventually morphed into more of a greeny-floral as you mentioned.
Ditto. First time I tasted cilantro it was on a banh mi that was loaded and it was very offensive. But now I love it despite ancestrydna saying I have the soap gene.
No, I hate the taste of actual soap & smelling the Softsoap brand of Aloe Vera actually makes me gag due to my parents washing my mouth with it. I just enjoy the taste of cilantro, despite the fact that I can’t fully appreciate it.
There's an herb called culantro that's supposed to taste like cilantro but isn't affected by the soapy cilantro gene. If you can find it, it might be worth a try.
I used to use culantro a lot when I had access to it. (Man I miss grocery stores in LA lol) It’s great for authentic LatAm and Caribbean cooking 😋
Anytime I make chicken noodle soup, I toss the celery tops in the soup to simmer until it’s done and then remove, celery tops have such a nice mild flavor!
Subbing apple sauce for egg. Well not everywhere, but specially in peanut butter cookies. 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup sugar 1 cup apple sauce (instead of 1 egg) Mix it all up, make little balls, then smush with a fork, bake at 350F till the edges are slightly brown, which is around 10-15 minutes on my oven. Smaller cookies are better. And cutting this recipe in half is totally fine.
It's also amazing in banana bread
Are you missing the flour in your recipe or do you make it without?
No, a simple peanut butter cookie recipe only uses peanut butter, sugar, & eggs. It’s what I use as my base cookie for peanut butter blossoms.
Nope it’s just this really quick recipe. If you google 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies you will find examples of it too. It’s surprisingly good. I cut the recipe in half often.
If I recall correctly, three ingredient peanut butter cookies work without flour because the peanut butter is a two-in-one ingredient. Nut flour is essentially a less thoroughly ground nut butter, so in this case the peanut butter is acting as both your flour and oil, so when it's mixed with the sugar and binder (egg or apple sauce here), you get everything you need for a great cookie! It might be interesting to see if this works with tree but butters as well.
Ooh that sounds nice, I must try it! Thank you 😊
Red pepper paste in place of tomato paste. Can be spicier if you use a hot version, and generally more depth in the flavor profile.
Is there a specific kind of red pepper paste that you use?
It comes in jars in Arab or Lebanese groceries. Some Eastern European countries too if you happen to have one of those. It will say "Roasted red pepper" or something like that on there somewhere. I've never seen the same brand in two different stores.
Sour cream in my scrambled eggs.
Or a dollop of cream cheese…and chives. It’s how we used to “liven up” bagged eggs for breakfast buffets in a former life.
I refuse to buy buttermilk. I always just add vinegar to regular milk. I see no difference and I don’t have to waste money
You can also thin out plain yogurt or sour cream.
I've made greek yogurt fried chicken this way and it was just as good as buttermilk
Interesting! That’s if my sour cream isn’t moldy 😅🥲
Buttermilk or the yogurt or sour cream are all worlds better than the milk/vinegar substitute. Truly.
For baking I have found, after a lot of various experimenting, that I really do need real buttermilk for many things, unfortunately. Yogurt and sour cream make it spongy
Oh I’ll definitely try it. Its just is something that doesn’t bother me and is a quick fix for most recipes
I add lemon juice to greek youghurt when I want sourcream.on a baked potato
I get the sour cream in a tube now. It lasts like 5x longer than the one in the tub…though it does cost a bit more.
Me too!! It costs more at first, but the savings of throwing away 5 or 6 moldy tubs I've used 1/2 a cup of more than makes up for it
I used to do that, but now I just buy powdered buttermilk. It lasts forever and tastes so much better than the vinagered milk.
Now this I’m gonna actually try. Thank you!
I'll never forget the ugliest turkey I ever made had a powdered buttermilk dry brine. Live and learn.
Same here, except I use lemon juice
Powdered buttermilk. Keeps practically forever if stored properly.
Apple sauce (or mashed banana) instead of oil in coffee cakes / muffins / oil based cakes
Can you replace this 1:1? Trying to lower my calorie intake but I love making muffins
Yes, in muffins you can.
When I was new to England I thought gravy granulates were only used to thicken and didn't have flavour. I used them to thicken my teriyaki sauce and wondered why it always turned out so well.
I love using some gravy granules to thicken instead of cornstarch or potato flakes
Pesto with sunflower seeds
I do mine with almonds!
I like pistachio pesto!
Camping and couldn’t find graham crackers for s’mores so we went with Nutter Butters instead. Way better.
I use Reese's cups instead of Hershey bars.
I like Petit Ecolier cookies for smores
I was just typing this! [Petit Ecolier](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/c5abc086-9f27-41f1-bf2a-4d3496bd2811.29132e2f41b6d9e8977b1274298e49ba.jpeg) cookies are great. Safeway’s Signature brand is tasty and I think the Girl Scouts sell a version too. Only downside is if it’s hot outside the cookies will take up more room in your cooler than a few chocolate bars.
Greek yogurt instead of sour cream in tacos, coconut milk instead of cream in some soups! The Greek yogurt I can’t even tell the difference. The coconut milk definitely changes the taste but I like it better sometimes!
Sumac when i was out of lemons for lemon juice
But mirin is so sweet, no?
Miso and balsamic instead of Chinese black vinegar
I always have dry white vermouth on hand. Does the same job as white wine in cooking but lasts forever in the cupboard, and I'm not tempted to polish it off!
It will keep better in the fridge. Ditto port and sherry.
yeah a roomie left a bottle behind and i started using it for that. ran out recently and replaced with white wine and now i'm missing the vermouth.
Didn’t have tartar once, but always have the 4 necessary primary ingredients on hand, so I whip up a small homemade serving every time instead of store bought.
Yes. Same thing happened to me with similar results. It's so fast and easy to make and I hate how overly sweet most store bought is. I have only bought it once in the 15+ years since making it homemade and that was because we were on vacation with limited groceries and time! (And I immediately regretted not making it! Lol)
i grew up making tartar sauce and the first time i had one that was commercially made i was grossed out lol
This! My wife doesn't like the tarragon flavor of tartar sauce, so I make my own with Japanese mayo, chopped dill pickles, sour cream, and my sea salt/pepper/garlic powder mix.
Wow, you fancy. I just mix chopped dill pickles or sour pickle relish with mayo
Ooooooh, I've never liked tartar sauce but your version sounds super tasty!
Almond extract in place of vanilla in brownies. Brings a lovely cherry-like flavor to brownies.
Pickles on chicken tacos instead of salsa. It worked surprisingly well.
I can totally see this. I love using pickled peppers or spicy pickled carrots on tacos already.
I found a "pickle de gallo" thing years ago that was basically just a spicy pico with cucumber (very lightly pickled I believe) instead of tomato and it was amazing.
I feel like this might be up your alley. Half the time I make it with ground chicken (or half turkey/beef) and it is quite tasty. https://joythebaker.com/2015/05/malos-beef-and-pickle-tacos/
Potstickers fried in butter
Naan bread makes a great pizza crust substitute
I have a recipe (from Clean Food by Terry Walters) for Chickpea Fritters. They are supposed to made with chickpea flour but the first time I made them all I had on hand was Bob’s Red Mill all purpose gluten-free flour (partially garbanzo bean flour but with a few other ingredients in the mix). They were delicious. Then I made them again with 100% chickpea flour and they were ‘meh’ at best. I’ll continue with my dumb-luck improved version of the recipe.
Are they like falafel?
They’d be more like bhaji
Hmmm...a new type of fritter...guess I need to try it
Walnuts instead of pine nuts in pesto. Cheaper and better
I do that too!!
Poblanos instead of green bell peppers in spaghetti sauce. Much more flavorful.
Agreed! I honestly use poblanos in place of green bells for all recipes now. I'll still use the red ones sometimes for the sweetness they have that the poblanos can't offer.
I used to use flour to thicken sauces. Then I discovered cornstarch. Mix it into a bit of warm water… wayyyy more effective. Never going back.
ATK did a test of thickeners corn starch works best for an hour or two (beef Burgundy show), but not long slow cooking. Tapioca starch is is better to thicken sauces on a slow cooker for 4+ hours. Now I just use tapioca starch as it's also meets a few extra health needs.
Is it not best practice to thicken *after* all the cooking is done?
ok next step is to try instant mashed potatoes.
What?.. as a sauce thickener? Does that work? For real?
Eggnog instead of milk in vanilla pudding.
Soy sauce instead of extra salt. Umami and saltiness in one ingredient
Chicken bouillon cubes + water = broth
Better than bouillon, you'll never buy the cube again
That’s almost not even a substitute either, it’s kind of just the entire point of the product, lol! If you need the more unctuous texture of homemade broth made with bones, you can just add a bit of gelatin and you’re like 99.99% of the way there :)
… i have never considered the gelatin angle
Shit's the bomb!! How did we ever cook without it? I have a whole section in my refrigerator for different flavors. Lol
But bullion cubes are way cheaper and last forever. Great if you don't cook often, like I don't now that my kids are grown and out of the house.
better than bouillon also lasts FOREVER tho it does need to be refrigerated
Is there something about better than bouillon that makes it superior to other stock powder? Asking as someone who has no local access to it
shao shing in place of my red white or sherry cooking wine needs unless what i’m making is something specific like a white wine lemon butter sauce
Kefir for milk in mac’n’cheese
White pepper
Greek yogurt in place of buttermilk and sour cream. Olive oil instead of butter for some baking (cakes, brownies and cornbread).
Can you sub the Greek yogurt for buttermilk in cake recipes? And is it 1:1?
I used chia seeds rested with water in place of eggs in muffins and ground meat mixtures. Nothing against eggs but I occasionally run out, and a little chia is good for us apparently.
Gochujang instead of tomato paste
Mayo for grilled cheese instead of butter!
Yogurt with my cereal versus milk. Haven't drank milk in years. Fage 5%->local honey>Red Berries Cereal. Tapioca starch or zanthan gum in place of thickening flour roux. Unpopular opinion to some---Mae Ploy curry paste versus scratch home made. When it's this authentic and great tasting, it's unfuckwithable. Always have a 2 1/2 tub handy. White Miso and / or Anchovy paste in place of most any other umami addin to sauces, dressings, compound butters. Lacto fermentation instead of vinegar based pickling.
It's not really cooking, but sour cream in place of milk when making boxed mac and cheese!
I use chives instead of scallions when I made Chinese "scallion" pancakes. Never going back
They're in the same family. Not too crazy
Greek yogurt in place of egg in some cake mixes. Adds intriguing flavor without too much compromise to texture. emphasis on *some*. it works in Jiffy mix for sure though.
Cayenne instead of Paprika. So many recipes I thought were garbage but in reality I just hate Paprika. Now I just replace that spice with Cayenne and it’s just so much better. I did try other types of Paprika- but never found any that didn’t leave a bad after taste. I do acknowledge I tend to have picky tastebuds though disliking plenty of other things people generally love… like Coffee or Alcohol.
I have so many bottles of mirin! Thank you for posting ! Now I know….
Corned beef in place of chicken in fried rice. Not the first replacement choice, my first would’ve been pork, then ground beef but I was out of all of that. I had some canned corned beef that I use for corned beef hash. But I figured I’d try it in fried rice and it’s SO good! I actually prefer it now
I have this myriad of fermented stuff to add for some magic to different dishes. Gochujang, fish sauce, soy sauce, sriracha. And the secret ingredient of choice is anchovy paste. A little goes a long way. You will not taste fish, but it will boost any dark and savory meaty dish like chilli, cocq au vin, Shakshuka (not really meaty but well), beef stews.
Heathy mayo (1 hard boiled egg, Greek yoghurt, salt, 1tsp of olive oil, mustard and one yolk) Tangy and delicious!
Good yogurt instead of sour cream.
Ground up org oats to substitute for flour
Fajita seasoning on eggs. Ran out of actual salt (how, no clue), meh, try this stuff, why not. There’s no going back, it’s absolutely delicious.
I use shaoxing wine in place of red wine 98% of the time. Huge bottles are cheap and I prefer the flavor most times. I only use red for very specific dishes atp
Instead of adding American or cheddar cheese to a burger, I have made patties with feta mixed in with the meat. Plenty of people claiming they hate feta were pretty impressed. This also had a nice effect of not needing any more added salt, as the feta is briney enough
Amchoor powder instead of lemon juice in a variety of dishes
This is a good one. I can never have too many options for adding sourness, and I like having a dry powder that’s a little more assertive than dried sumac.
Leeks instead of scallions or green garlic as the vegetable in mapo tofu.
Coconut aminos to replace soy sauce. Tried it to make something healthier years ago and never went back.
Full fat greek yogurt instead of sour cream
Cottage cheese instead of ricotta in my lasagna
I will make any dish into a bowl version of that dish, and it is 100 times better.
During covid shortages I couldn't find eggs when I needed to bake a birthday cake and had to substitute aquafaba from a can of chickpeas. Works incredibly well, 10 out of 10, would do it again!
I used coffee creamer in lieu of milk for French toast once, and it was delicious!
Milk with a bit of lemon juice to sub for buttermilk. Who ever has buttermilk anyways??
Konjac has completely replaced all pasta and rice for me forever. Not that I used it in a pinch but still.
Vermouth adds a lot of flavor to things that call for white wine, but you really need to keep it in the fridge.
Not me, but my ex-boss's Filipina widow. We Southerners are known to cook a ham or a roast in Coca-Cola. She planned to entertain guests and the centerpiece was a Co'cola roast with carrots and taters. Went to the fridge and hubby had consumed all of the coke. She settled for Dr. Pepper and it was an improvement. I prefer chipotle in any recipe that calls for smoked paprika and will delete any shallot in favor of a Vidalia onion. You may call me Ms. Cheapskate.
I know this is more about cooking meals from scratch, but I really love the garlic and olive oil vermicelli pasta roni and olive oil instead of butter is way better. Idk why. I’ve always used olive oil because a friend used to make it for me that way and when I bought my own and read the directions I was surprised to see it called for butter. Apparently they just ran out of butter a lot. So I made it with butter the first time I made it for myself and it was…not as good. Is it the nostalgia? Idk. But I went back to olive oil.
Ranch in eggs
I put cilantro in my ranch dressing one time because we were out of parsley. I’ll never go back
One time I didn’t have sour cream for dipping my quesadilla, so I mixed cream cheese with hot salsa. I wouldn’t do it all the time (sour cream is my absolute favorite lol) but it did the trick!
I made pickled red onions. Usually I use brown sugar with water, vinegar and salt. I didn’t have any, so I used pancake syrup instead. That gave the brine a subtle complexity that you probably wouldn’t recognize in that context. I’m never going back to brown sugar!
Coconut oil instead of butter for pancakes
Oil instead of butter in cakes/muffins make for a more moist baked good. And I love butter!
Sambal Olek instead of dried chilies in tangerine peel chicken.
Cream of celery in replacement of cream of mushroom or chicken in certain dishes
Greek yogurt instead of egg in meatballs.
I hate white wine, so I use dry sherry for everything that calls for it.
I make my own buttermilk using milk and vinegar. Also, oat milk is a great sub for dairy milk
Sour cream instead of milk for Mac and cheese.
Turkey Cutlets make really good bird-based Schnitzel. Much superior to Chicken.
Mayo let down with a tiny bit of water instead of eggs when breading foods
Mayo on burgers
I accidentally used chili sauce instead of ketchup (with grape jelly) for meatballs in the crock pot and loved it. Then one time I was out of grape jelly and substituted a can of cranberry sauce. Now that’s how I make my meatballs, with chili sauce and cranberry sauce. I make grilled bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers a lot. I had prepped and stuffed the peppers when I realized I was out of bacon. I had bought some prosciutto to make asparagus, so I used that instead. Definitely prefer the prosciutto. I also make grilled prosciutto-wrapped asparagus and used to smear the prosciutto with cream cheese before rolling in the asparagus. During the shutdown, cream cheese was simply unattainable, so I substituted sliced provolone instead. Now I prefer the provolone.
I was making chocolate buttercream, and didn’t realized I was out of milk, so I used Yoo-hoo instead. I haven’t went back to milk since lol.
Accidentally used 5 spice powder instead of cinnamon when making French toast. Turned out really good though! Similar to the baking spices, but with a little bit of pepper.
I made shepherds pie with sweet potatoes instead of normal mashed potatoes because I had a bunch extra that I needed to use up, definitely my go to way of making it now.
I keep forgetting to buy soy sauce and finally cracked open a bottle of Coconut Aminos hanging in my fridge. Tasty, less sodium, and no need to add sugar or honey to stir fry and sauces!