Cooking Tips And Substitutions - Tips For Substituting Ten Common Ingredients

A Combination Of Ingredients As A Substitute

By using substitutions when you are cooking a great meal, and if you do not have the specific ingredients for your particular dish, you will find that every ingredient has a substitute which could enhance the flavor of your dish.

With regard to tips on substituting ingredients, you will find that almost every ingredient can be substituted and will be as close to the original. Sometimes, you may have to use two or three different ingredients to be able to get the taste of the original.

The following list will give you an idea of the common substitution tips for ingredients that take place in everyday cooking.

Common Substitutes

Flour

In case you have all purpose flour and the recipe required self raising flour, add 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder to every cup of all purpose flour.

Baking Powder

If you do not have baking powder, you could use 1/2 cup buttermilk added to 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and bring down the liquid in your preparation by half a cup or you could use 5/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar and 1/4
teaspoon baking soda.

Crumbs with crackers

If bread crumbs are available and the recipe calls for cracker crumbs, in place of each cup of cracker crumbs, use 1 1/4 cups of bread crumbs.

Bread Crumbs

Similarly, if you need one cup of bread crumbs, and you do not have it, just use cracker crumbs (3/4 cup).

Corn Starch

If the recipe required corn starch and you do not have it, just use 2 tbsps. of all purpose flour.

Butter

If you do not have butter when the recipe requires it, use 7/8 cup shortening for every cup of butter or 7/8 cup of vegetable oil could also be used.

Buttermilk

If you do not have buttermilk, you can use plain yogurt with the same amount. You could also use 1 cup of milk with 1 tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar.

Sour Cream

Substitute a cup of sour cream, with 3/4 cup of sour milk or plain yogurt of the same quantity

Chocolate Substitutions

3 tbsps. of cocoa powder that is not sweetened, and 1 tbsp. butter is used in place of one ounce of unsweetened chocolate. For semi-sweet chocolate, use 1 ounce of unsweetened chocolate and 1 tbsp. sugar.

Lemon Juice Substitutions

A simple substitution for lemon juice is vinegar in the same amount as the recipe requires.

The above substitutions for ingredients come in extremely handy when you find that you are all set to bake or cook, and find some of the ingredients are missing. By keeping this list in your kitchen as a guideline, you can make use of the ingredients that you have at your disposal instead of rushing out to the store.