Does this sound familiar? You find a recipe you want to make and when putting your shopping list together you see a lot of things that are going to drive your grocery bill sky high or send you all over town trying to find. While I love to buy exactly what a recipe calls for, sometimes it just isn’t worth it. For example if I need one tablespoon of something but I don’t see using that ingredient again do I really want to spend $9 on it or is there something else that I could use instead? If you have a good idea of what the ingredient is and what flavors or characteristics it brings to the dish you are likely able to come up with something to substitute that you may have already or can buy at a more reasonable price. Think about what the ingredient brings. Is it sweet, salty, spicy or acidic? What about texture is it silky, creamy or is it crunchy and crisp? Try to find something similar to replace it. Some examples that come to mind of what I have frequently subbed out are listed here: Specialty Vinegar's – if a recipe calls for Champagne Vinegar, or Tarragon Vinegar or something similar, you can easily use any other mild white vinegar in its place. I recommend having Rice wine Vinegar in your pantry. Specialty Wines or Liquors – yes, that special bottle of Sherry or the French Bordeaux will provide beautiful layers of flavor to you dish but, so will many other things. If your recipe calls for a red, pretty much anything will do same for white wines. That said, it must be something that is drinkable and no, “cooking wine” from the grocery store is never an option. Additionally, if the recipe calls for wine but you don’t have any, you can always substitute with an equivalent amount of water, stock or juice with a dash of lemon or vinegar to add some acidity. Specialty Sauces – if you look for example at the Asian sauce isle there are so many to choose from. I find that you can improvise a lot in the sauce category if you have the basics. I don’t buy Tempura Dipping Sauce, I make my own by taking Soy Sauce and adding a bit of sugar, lemon and water. Same for Ginger Sauce, I add ginger to my Teriyaki Sauce and I’m good to go. You get the idea. If you look on line you can also find list of standard substitutions for things like buttermilk and other baking ingredients. Use your imagination, your palate and go with what makes sense. What do you substitute one ingredient for another when cooking?
I actually don't mind cooking wines at all - I know they always get a bad rap on cooking shows, but in recent years I've been buying both the cooking marsala wine and cooking white wine, and both worked perfectly in the dishes I was preparing. They are already salted, but it's convenient since I don't have to worry about over salting the dish I am making, I simply add black pepper and that's it. Another bonus is that these wines have preservatives in them so they will last a lot longer in your fridge, if you only need a little at a time. However if I am at a place like Marc's or Trader Joes, who sell the "two buck chuck" wines, I will just grab those instead, since they taste great too and are actually cheaper than cooking wines. Another great type of wine to cook with would be either sweet or dry vermouth. If you bought these for making martini's at a party and you're stuck with them afterwards, use them in cooking. Vermouth is just wine that's been fortified with extra herbs and spices, and it will actually give more depth to your sauces or whatever you are using it in place of normal cooking wine, such as in a beef stew or a meat sauce. Teriyaki sauce you can make yourself rather easily with some soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and brown sugar. You can also easily make a sauce very similar to "General Tso's" sauce, by simply combining some garlic chili paste with honey and soy sauce.
Yes, vermouth is a great wine to use for cooking. It also has a longer shelf life than regular wines do and like the cooking wines, will last a good amount of time kept in the fridge. I should think up something to make to use up the red vermouth I have taking up space. Thanks for the "General Tso's" sauce recipe. Adding it to my list of things I no longer need to buy at the grocery store because I can make them myself at home.
One thing to NEVER substitute is margarine for butter. Recipes call for butter for a reason! Margarine may taste similar, but it will make your baking taste bad! Remember, kids: Butter = Better
I do a lot of substitutions. I see a lot of recipes I'd like to try, and they will call for specialty ingredients that I may not even be able to find at my local Walmart or Kroger. There's a larger Kroger in the next city, and I'm over that way about once a month. I might wait and pick the item up at that time, but more likely, I'll substitute a more common ingredient that I have on hand, as long as it won't affect the outcome of the recipe. One such substitution that comes to mind is when I've been baking, and a recipe called for chocolate chips, which I don't often have at the house. If I have a candy bar here, I'll chop it up and use that instead.
