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 · 6 dishes here use it

Out of coffee liqueur

Sweet, roasted and thick, so it brings body as well as flavor. It sweetens hard — a drink built on it usually needs no other sugar at all.

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

strong cold espresso plus simple syrup and a splash of vodka

half an ounce of espresso, a quarter of syrup, a quarter of vodka per ounce

What it gets you
Coffee, sugar and alcohol in the right proportions, and fresher than the bottle.
What it costs you
Body and shelf life, and it needs making each time.

Instead · 2

a chocolate or nut liqueur plus a dash of coffee bitters

one for one

What it gets you
A dark sweet liqueur in the same seat with a coffee note on top.
What it costs you
The roast, which is the whole flavor.

Instead · 3

amaro plus a spoon of simple syrup

three quarters ounce amaro, a bar spoon of syrup per ounce

What it gets you
Bitterness and sweetness in the same balance, which carries an espresso martini adequately.
What it costs you
The coffee. Use actual espresso in the drink and let the amaro do the sweetening.

Where the swap will be tasted · 6

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