Kitchen & Bar

On this phone

How to get around

The bar under the name is the map. Swipe it sideways if a destination sits off-screen. On Tonight, the button pinned to the bottom cooks the lead dish.

  1. Tonight — What you can cook first, plus drinks that fit the same shelf.

  2. This week — Five dinners from the shelf, urgent things cooked first.

  3. Shelf — Edit what you actually own.

  4. Written methods — Every dish and drink with a method somebody wrote out.

  5. The pantry — Start from one ingredient: what it does, and everything built on it.

  6. Out of it — What to use instead, judged by the job the missing thing was doing.

  7. Photo review — Review a demo shelf photo and confirm every item before adding it.

  8. Flavor Lab — Pairings with a track record: classic matches and the mixology behind them.

  9. Wild cards — Combinations with no tradition behind them, only shared aroma notes.

  10. Send to Occasion OS — Prepare confirmed shelf availability for Occasion OS.

  11. The field — The gap this layer owns.

Keep it on the home screen

  1. iPhone — tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.
  2. Android — open the browser menu, then Install app or Add to Home screen.

After that it opens as Kitchen & Bar, not a browser tab. Inventory stays on this device.

Substitutions · 9 dishes here use it

Out of canned tomato

Picked and packed in season, which is why it beats a pale fresh tomato most of the year. Whole tomatoes crushed by hand give a better texture than the chopped ones, which are firmed with additives.

Everything below is judged against that job. A swap that covers it is a swap; one that only looks similar is not.

What to reach for

Instead · 1

fresh tomatoes, chopped and cooked down

a pound and a half of fresh per 14 ounce can, cooked twice as long

What it gets you
The right thing in high summer, when the fresh ones are actually ripe.
What it costs you
Time and reliability. Out of season this is a worse ingredient and a longer cook.

Instead · 2

passata or tomato puree

one for one

What it gets you
The same tomato, already smooth, which suits a sauce that was going to be blended anyway.
What it costs you
The chunks, and passata is thinner, so a braise takes longer to reduce.

Instead · 3

tomato paste plus water

three tablespoons of paste in a cup of water per can

What it gets you
Tomato flavor and body from the cupboard when there is no can.
What it costs you
All the acid and all the texture. A squeeze of lemon and a pinch of sugar gets partway back.

Where the swap will be tasted · 2

These need it and are short enough that nothing hides: 4 required ingredients or fewer, which makes canned tomato a quarter of what is in the pan. Make the swap a decision rather than a repair.

Check what else is in the pan

The company canned tomato keeps in this library, counted off required ingredients. A swap that argues with the top two is the wrong swap, whatever a chart says.

What to make with canned tomatoRank what I can actually cookAll substitutions