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 · 16 dishes here use it

Out of coffee

Bitterness and roast, which is why it turns up in savory rubs as often as in dessert. Brew strength is the only variable most recipes get wrong, and hot coffee in a cold drink is a texture problem you cannot fix later.

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

instant espresso powder

a teaspoon per quarter cup of brewed coffee, dissolved

What it gets you
More coffee flavor per volume, which in a bake or a rub is what you actually wanted.
What it costs you
The liquid, which a batter may have been counting on. Add water back.

Instead · 2

strong black tea, or chicory

one for one

What it gets you
Bitterness, tannin and a dark liquid for a braise, a glaze or a marinade.
What it costs you
The roast. Nothing else smells like coffee and any dessert built on it will notice.

Instead · 3

cocoa powder plus a pinch of salt

a tablespoon per quarter cup, in a rub or a bake

What it gets you
Dark bitterness and depth in the same seat, and the two are frequently used together anyway.
What it costs you
The acidity and the caffeine bite. This goes rounder and sweeter.

Where the swap will be tasted · 15

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