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 · 58 dishes here use it

Out of carrot

Sweetness that survives long cooking, which is why it sits under so many braises. Cut small it disappears into a base; cut large it stays a vegetable you eat.

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

8 of the 58 dishes here that mention carrot list it as optional — 14% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.

What to reach for

Instead · 1

parsnip

one for one

What it gets you
The same sweet root in the same soffritto or the same roasting tray, cut the same way.
What it costs you
Color, and parsnip is sweeter and more aromatic, so it shows up in a stock rather than disappearing into one.

Instead · 2

sweet potato or squash

one for one by volume

What it gets you
Sweetness and body in a soup, a curry or a tray bake.
What it costs you
Structure. Both go soft much faster than carrot, so they go in later or they turn to puree.

Instead · 3

red bell pepper

one pepper per two carrots

What it gets you
Sweetness and color in a base, without the long cooking time carrot needs.
What it costs you
The earthiness that makes a mirepoix taste like a mirepoix.

Where you can just leave it out · 8

These dishes list carrot as optional. They were written to work without it, so no ratio is needed and nothing has to be bought.

Where the swap will be tasted · 6

These need it and are short enough that nothing hides: 4 required ingredients or fewer, which makes carrot 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 carrot 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 carrotRank what I can actually cookAll substitutions