Thursday, September 07, 2006

A Poor Person's Guide to Substituting Ingredients

This is very important information for us extremely poor people, because we so often don’t have (and can’t afford to buy) an ingredient that is called for in a recipe. Since I’ve written this, I’ve referred to it a number of times myself. I hope you also find it useful.

Substitute Thickeners

1 tablespoon of flour = ½ tablespoon of cornstarch
¾ tablespoon of instant tapioca (shudder) = 1 tablespoon of flour

Substitute Sweeteners

1 cup of honey = 1 ¼ cups of sugar (use ¼ c. less liquid in the recipe)
1 ounce of chocolate = 3 tablespoons of cocoa (use 1 T. less fat in the recipe)
¾ cup of granulated sugar = 1 cup of brown sugar

Substitute Fat

1 cup of butter = 1 cup of margarine (use ½ t. less salt in the recipe)
1 cup of butter = cup of lard or rendered fat (use ½ t. less salt in the recipe)

Substitute Leavening

1 teaspoon of baking powder = ¼ teaspoon of baking soda (you may need to add an acidic ingredient like ½ T. of vinegar to the recipe)
1 tablespoon of double-acting baking powder = 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
1 tablespoon of double-acting baking powder = 1 ½ teaspoons of phosphate baking powder

- Hulles

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