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 · 113 dishes here use it

Out of chicken

Two different foods depending on the cut. Breast is lean and unforgiving and wants to come off early; thigh is fatty and patient and gets better the longer you leave it. Most recipes that disappoint were written for one and cooked with the other.

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

2 of the 113 dishes here that mention chicken list it as optional — 2% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.

What to reach for

Instead · 1

turkey breast or thigh

one for one, thighs for thighs

What it gets you
The same texture and nearly the same cooking times, and it takes seasoning identically.
What it costs you
Almost nothing. Turkey breast dries faster, so pull it earlier than you would chicken.

Instead · 2

firm tofu, pressed and torn

a pound for a pound

What it gets you
Something to brown, something to carry sauce, and the same role on the plate.
What it costs you
Fat and collagen. A braise that got its body from chicken thighs will be thin, so finish with oil or coconut milk.

Instead · 3

chickpeas or white beans

two cans per pound

What it gets you
Substance and protein in anything saucy — a curry, a stew, a tray bake.
What it costs you
Any browning worth the name, and the dish becomes a different dish rather than a version of the same one.

Where you can just leave it out · 2

These dishes list chicken 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 · 21

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